Well, Cr00cy pointed this contest out to me that Perfilles-Studio over at DeviantArt was putting on to come up with a Dragonslayer story based off their fanart (Cover Image). And what can I say? I'm weak for Dragonslayer, so here we are. If we win, I might ask for a cover picture for Analogies as a prize, since the artist likes the pairing. I suppose that means I'd have to write another chapter of Analogies...how would I live with the pain haha.

To avoid confusion, this takes place in canon, not the 'Fighting' universe.

Cr00cy is Chief Editor for Life

Soft Spots

Yang sighed as she walked out the back doors of the house into the fading light on the day. The talk with Blake had gone both better and worse than she had expected.

She was still pissed, and probably would be for a while. But seeing her friend alive and safe? It had somehow taken some of the sting out of it.

That, and the promise that she was going to beat the hell out of her partner the next time they sparred.

But for now, she needed a minute, and the house's gardens seemed like the perfect place.

She perked up when she heard a faint noise coming from the edge of the property. It sounded almost melodic, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. In the end, curiosity won out, and her feet began to carry her toward the sound.

Guess I can't make anymore jokes about 'curiosity and the cat' at Blake's expense. She thought with a smirk.

She passed through the homes long abandon gardens, which still somehow had flowers in bloom, despite the weeds reaching out to strangle them, and made towards the tree line.

It was humming she realized. She couldn't make out the song, but she could tell that's what it was. A smile found its way to her lips as she reached the fence line, overlooking the edge of the hill the house sat on, and saw Jaune sitting atop the fence, legs gently kicking back and forth as he hummed along.

She leaned against the side of a small tree and listened, trying to place the song. It was sweet, but also…sad, in a way she couldn't quite describe.

She shook her head. It'd drive her crazy if she couldn't remember what it was. She crept closer to the knight, a grin spreading across her face as a plan took form. She waited until she was almost directly behind the boy before taking a deep breath and…

"WHAT YOU DOING LADYKILLER?"

Jaune squawked and leapt a foot in the air, struggling to maintain his balance on the fence as his head whipped around trying to find his attacker.

The howling laughter was a good hint as to their location.

He sighed as his eyes found her. "Dammit Yang!"

She continued to chuckle as she hopped up on the fence facing opposite the knight with an easy grace.

"It was funny." She argued.

"You almost gave me a heart attack." He complained.

"Then it would have been REALLY funny."

He rolled his eyes. "For you, maybe."

She poked him in the side, causing him to squirm away on the fence. "With only me out here to give you mouth-to-mouth? You would've loved it."

He chuckled. "I'm making it a personal goal NOT to have to have my heart stop to attract the ladies."

"That why you're out here? Working on those musical skills? You're going to have to step up your game from your serenade of Weiss." She teased.

He groaned. "Looking back, it might have been better if I DID have a heart attack during that one."

She laughed. "I think Weiss almost did. What is that song anyway? I can't place it."

He shook his head. "Just something I've been working on on the road here. Something to pass the time."

"Something for your Snow Angel?" She pointed a thumb back towards the house. "I can go get her if you want. This is probably your best shot, what with you being her knight in hoodie armor."

He smiled back at her. "I think I'll pass, I think the message has finally sunk in."

Yang hummed. "She does consider you a friend, you know?"

"I know." He shifted in place. "But, I really just came out here to think."

"About going to Atlas?" She asked.

He shrugged. "A little, but more about our time here." He sighed and looked out the steadily dipping sun. "This might be my last sunset in Mistral."

"You going to miss it?"

"More like…there's still things I wanted to do here. Things I needed to do here. Guess it's just another thing I missed out on."

She slugged him in the arm.

"Ow!" He cried, his hand coming up to rub his arm. "What was that for?"

She glared at him. "You've got to stop beating yourself up."

"Is that your job?"

She smirked. "Well yeah, but also, I can tell you from experience, it's not very productive." She sighed. "Besides, you did way more than I did."

He cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"Jaune, when Ruby decided she was coming out here, I couldn't even begin to think about going with her. I was broken, in more ways than one. But there you were, a knight in dingy armor, standing outside our door with your team, ready to go." She shook her head. "You were where I should have been, doing what I should have been."

"Yang-"

"No, it's ok, I've accepted it. It's…better now." She smiled at him. "Thank you Jaune, thank you for watching over her. I mean that from the bottom of my heart."

He smiled back. "What are friends for?"

"What about you? You had to be hurting pretty bad, you doing ok?"

He looked down. "Yeah."

She waited.

"Maybe...I don't know."

"I know the feeling." She commiserated.

He sighed. "I-I wanted to visit her folks, you know?" He swallowed. "I'm not even sure if they know for sure, what with the CCT going down."

She winced, she hadn't thought of that.

He continued. "I wrote a letter…I wrote a lot of letters, trying to get it right." He looked back to the sunset. "I finally just…forced myself to send one. They had to know. They deserved to know." He choked. "They deserved a lot more."

"We'll come back." She offered gently. "We'll all come back after Atlas."

He nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good." He gave her a weak smile. "Thanks Yang."

She patted him on the arm. "No problem Ladykiller."

He chuckled. "I guess it's better than Vomit Boy." He paused and considered her for a second. "How you holding up after the thing with your mom?"

She tensed. "Raven." She corrected tersely.

He winced. "Sorry, if you don't-"

She sighed. "No, I asked you. Fair is fair."

"That's not how it works Yang."

"I know, but…I kinda do want to vent."

He held out a hand for her to continue. "Vent away."

"It's just-" She hesitated. "I'm not sure how or why it hurts so much. She was never there, left when I was just a kid, so it's not like I really lost anything." She closed her eyes. "But at the same time, I-" She shook her head. "It felt like I was so close to having it work, like maybe she cared." She groaned. "I'm not making any sense."

He put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't think it have to make sense."

She laughed. "Words to live by?"

He smirked. "It's gotten me through so far."

She stopped at that, and looked at him, really looked at him. "Has it?"

He shifted uncomfortably. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "Jaune, I saw you back at the academy."

"Yeah?"

She grabbed him by the collar, her eyes flashing red. "Are you out of your damn mind?"

"I-"

"That was suicide Jaune."

He scowled. "I was fighting Cinder."

"Suicide by proxy then. She was going to kill you. You've gotten better, but you know you're not that good. So, what were you thinking?"

He swallowed, eyes shifting as he looked for the words. "If-" He hesitated. "If I could just buy you guys enough time-"

"That's what that was? A last stand?!" She snapped.

"What would you have me do!?" He shouted back. "I wasn't a match for any of them Yang, never was, never will be. At least this way, we could get something out of it."

"Yeah, another dead friend!"

He shrank back at that. "It would have been worth it." He whispered.

She shook her head sadly. "Jaune…you can't really believe that. Can't believe that I believe that. That any of us believe that."

He sighed. "Yang, it's just the truth. It doesn't have to be nice. It's only thing I'm good for, taking those hits."

"Gods you're reinforcing the 'dumb blondes' stereotype." She groaned. "Jaune, do you think Ruby would have made it here without you?"

"Ren and Nora-"

"Wouldn't have been here without you." She cut him off. "What about Weiss, you think that fight would have gone better with her fighting Vernal AND Cinder?"

"I-"

"You think we could have sealed that wound? Jaune, it was over. I was sure we lost her." She smiled at him. "That was a miracle. You guys getting here was a miracle. Us winning at Haven was miracle. All ones that you had a hand in. You think that this fight is unwinnable without us? I think it's unwinnable without YOU."

He shook his head. "I think YOU'RE crazy." He said softly.

She smirked. "Careful now, you'll hurt a girl's feelings."

He raised an eyebrow. "The great Xiao Long? I hear she's invincible."

She hummed. "Close, but not quite. Got a few soft spots here and there."

He laughed as he looked out into the sunset once more. "I can't imagine what they migh-"

His mouth snapped shut as he felt a hand take his. He didn't dare look down.

"Like I said, a few here and there." She said. She closed her eyes. "Jaune?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Sing for me?"

He swallowed and nodded, slowly starting in on a one of his sisters' favorites.

"Look at that." She said softly. "Your heart didn't have to stop after all."

Man, it feels weird basically going back and having this happen again while I'm already writing about it.

It maybe a little on the short side, but...'Fighting Smart' must march on. Hope you all enjoyed.