It's nice to be back on this fic again. I have been slacking on my writing overall during these past few months, but it's back to the grindstone both for my fanfics and my original stuff. So, expect to see more frequent updates. I definitely plan on at least finishing the four chapters I had planned for this. I hope you enjoy some Dragon Arkos!

"Deeper breaths, Jaune. That's it!" Pyrrha watched eagerly as her companion drew in a long, loud breath. The sun shone on her bright red scales, reflecting off of the black horns on her head, and sparkling in her emerald-green eyes. "Now, let it out through the second airway. Make it forceful."

Jaune squinted his sky-blue eyes before blowing out a breath as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, it went through both airways, causing him to cough and sputter. In the end, all that came from his mouth was a cloud of black smoke. He shook his large head, scratching his white horns as the smoke smudged his yellow scales. "I'll never get this."

Pyrrha stepped forward and nudged his shoulder encouragingly. "Of course you will. You have fire in you. If you didn't, there wouldn't be smoke coming from your mouth right now. You just need to get the right measure of control."

"Why is this so hard for me?" Jaune groaned, turning to rub his blackened muzzle against a patch of moss growing on the nearby stone. "If I run into any human slayers, I'm dead."

"You're good with your claws and fangs. And your flying has improved a great deal," Pyrrha pointed out. "It's not like you're completely defenseless." She took a bit of moss and rubbed it gently against a spot Jaune had missed. "Why don't we stop for today? We could play chess. It's been a few days since I beat you at our last game."

Jaune brightened considerably at this. He loved chess, but the only friends he could really play against were Pyrrha, Ren, and Blake. Everyone else lost way too easily. "Sure! We still have time, right? I know we're supposed to hunt with Ren and Nora today."

Pyrrha looked up at the sun. "We have at least an hour."

"Okay. Hope you won't feel too bad when I take my champion's title back," the yellow dragon boasted as he stepped back to allow his best friend to take off first. When she did, he took the opportunity to admire the shimmering of her fire-colored scales in the sunlight and the grace of her sinuous form as she effortlessly took to the sky. Casting a mournful glance at his large, clumsy wings, he followed, tripping as he left the ledge and taking a few seconds to get his bearings.

Once the two dragons were aloft, all sense of worry and doubt faded away. Flying, at least, was something Jaune could do effortlessly once he actually took off. The wind cooled his scales and lifted his leathery wings as they manipulated the air like clay. He banked as they neared the cave they shared with Ren and Nora, spreading his claws to land.

Once he hit stone, he immediately stumbled, nearly falling head-over-tail. He groaned, shaking his head ruefully as Pyrrha gracefully touched down, her claws barely scratching the ground. "You didn't lose any scales that time," she pointed out.

Jaune huffed. "Yeah. Big accomplishment."

As he righted himself, Pyrrha fetched the large, stone chess board and the quartz and onyx pieces they had gotten from Ozpin a few years ago as a gift. Out of all the things learned from humans by dragons in the past, the concept of strategy games was probably Jaune's favorite. Nora's was the ritual of draining sweet sap from trees.

Once the board was set up, Jaune walked over and spun it. The side with the quartz pieces ended up facing Pyrrha, so she went first. Immediately, she moved the left center pawn forward. She liked to play offensively, while Ren and Blake were more defensive players.

Jaune tapped his chin as he regarded the board before making his move. As the game went on, he felt his earlier worries move into the back of his mind. His focus honed in on two things: the game and the look of pure concentration that came to Pyrrha's face whenever she was deciding her next move. Next to her smile, that expression was probably his favorite. The way her green eyes narrowed and her entire body became erect made her seem like a sharp, beautiful statue of some dragon warrior from ages ago.

He sighed internally. Thoughts like these had been surfacing more and more often lately.

Despite being partially distracted, Jaune managed to get Pyrrha's king in a vulnerable position. After a few checks, he finally got the piece trapped. "Checkmate!" he declared with a grin.

"Good job," Pyrrha said as she put the pieces away. "I suppose I'll have to up my game for next time." It was good to see that smile and that familiar, relaxed stance on her friend once more.

She walked over and lightly nuzzled the side of his neck. "Feeling better?"

Jaune blushed as he nodded. "Y-Yeah. Thanks." He lightly rubbed his cheek against her shoulder. "I just needed to remember that I'm still good at some stuff."

"Your fire-breathing will get better."

"If anyone can help me, it's you."

Pyrrha felt her scales warming as she pulled back, secretly grateful that their red color would hide it. "M-Maybe tomorrow after training, we can-"

"Guys!" Nora's voice cut in as she landed on the outside ledge and bounded over. "You'll never guess what happened." The pink and ginger dragon was bouncing up and down, her turquoise eyes alight.

"What is it, Nora?" Pyrrha asked, her voice tinged with amusements as her eyes calmly followed the excited up and down movements of her friend. She couldn't bring herself to be irritated with the interruption. It was practically impossible to be mad at Nora.

"Weiss. Got. A. Mate. Today!" Nora said, emphasizing each word with another bounce.

Ren, who had landed a second after Nora, padded over and placed a black paw on her back, gently urging her to stand still.

Jaune gaped. "Wait, what? Who flew with her?"

Among the Beacon dragons, there was a very specific method of courtship used to decide who mated with whom. In a designated area near the center of the valley, adult dragons would perform various aerial maneuvers, signaling their interest in finding someone. Other dragons would try to fly with them. Eventually, the flight ended with two dragons flying in harmony together.

Of course, there were times when a dragon wouldn't choose anyone and would simply retire after an hour or so. This had been the case with Weiss for three previous flights. The others had started to wonder if she would ever choose someone.

Nora smirked, sitting back on her haunches. "Guess."

"It was Ruby," Ren said.

"Ren! You're no fun," Nora whined.

Jaune's ears flickered happily. "It's about time! She's been telling me about her crush on Weiss for weeks now."

"Really?" Pyrrha tilted her head. "She never mentioned it to me."

"She was kinda shy about it," Jaune explained. "Only Blake, Yang, and I knew. That's seriously awesome!"

Ren cleared his throat pointedly, glancing at the reddening sun. "We should probably hunt soon. I'll partner with Jaune and look for deer in the eastern woods."

"Oooh, boy and girl teams," Nora said, her tail lashing back and forth with excitement. "That means we get the boars in the west, Pyrrha!"

"Sounds good to me," Pyrrha replied. "We'll meet back here in a few hours." She jumped from the ledge and into the sky, followed closely by her smaller friend.

Jaune watched them leave before turning to look at Ren. The green and black dragon's expression was thoughtful, the way it often was when he wanted to talk about something. "What is it, Ren?"

"When are you going to fly with Pyrrha?" Ren asked, cutting right to the chase.

Jaune felt his scales grow hot and quickly looked at his claws. "I…I don't know."

"You told me over a moon ago that you love her. Anyone can tell that she feels the same way about you." Ren blinked his magenta eyes in confusion. "What's holding you back?"

"You should talk!" Jaune retorted. "You and Nora have loved each other practically since you both hatched."

Ren scuffed a forepaw on the ground. "That's different. Nora's still too nervous to broach the subject." He shook his head before looking at Jaune again. "It's different for you."

"I…yeah," Jaune sighed. "I guess I don't think I'm exactly worthy of being her mate."

"Shouldn't she be the judge of that?" Ren asked.

"Mates are supposed to protect each other! How can I do that if I can't even breathe fire or land correctly? I don't want her to have to carry me through everything." Jaune scratched at his throat, above where his second airway was. "She deserves someone who can take care of her when she needs it."

"You're a good hunter, though," Ren pointed out. "You can hold your own in a fight. You're also great with hatchlings. Most importantly, you care about Pyrrha enough to have these doubts. Think about that, okay?"

Jaune nodded slowly. "You know, you can be really deep when you actually start talking."

Ren snorted. "Don't get used to it. Ready to hunt?"

"Sure!" Jaune followed him to the ledge. "So, about you and Nora…"

Ren was off the ledge and in the air within seconds.

As they approached the forest, Jaune was forced to push his tangled thoughts aside and focus on the ground beneath them. Their best bet would be to catch some deer grazing in one of the open fields. To do that, however, they'd have to position themselves so that their shadows wouldn't fall on the wrong spot and spook their prey into hiding in the thick trees.

Jaune circled a few times, getting a good look at where the deer were positioned. Most of them were clustered toward the center, though close enough to the trees on one side to cause concern. He signaled Ren to attack from that side while he would try to intercept a few when they scattered.

He hovered over the trees, waiting for Ren to strike. When the deer started to scatter, Jaune wasted no time in diving down and seizing one in his claws. He broke its neck easily while swinging his tail to stun one. He finished that one off with a swift bite.

When he turned to look at Ren, he saw that the black and green dragon was holding a third deer in his jaws. The dragons only needed one good-sized deer or boar each to make a meal. If Nora and Pyrrha's hunt was as successful, they'd be able to give some prey to the elders and new mothers. That was always a nice feeling.

Sure enough, Nora and Pyrrha had gotten a boar each. Nora immediately volunteered to take hers to the mothers and flew off before anyone could answer.

Jaune smiled to himself. Nora loved playing with the hatchlings and had started doing so more frequently. Usually, he would teasingly bring up this fact to Ren and hint that maybe Nora was starting to think of having her own. After their conversation earlier, however, he felt that that would be a bit hypocritical.

A short while later, the four dragons were happily eating their kills in their shared den. All was silent except for the occasional scraping of fangs against bone. Jaune finished first and excused himself to go bury the bones and wash up in the lake. His distracted state of mind must have been obvious, because Pyrrha gave him a concerned look as he gathered the carcass and lurched clumsily off of the ledge.

After burying the remains of his deer next to a tree, he walked over to the lake, where Yang and Ruby were chatting. He dipped his muzzle into the water, allowing the blood to slowly fade away as he listened to their conversation.

"The same human town? Are you trying to get slain?" Yang was scolding. Her lavender eyes were brimming with worry and her golden tail was twitching. "I mean, I love a good thrill, but that's just dumb."

"I'm serious, though," Ruby insisted, scratching at her brown-streaked muzzle with a red claw. "They weren't scared this time. They get less scared every time I fly over. Now, they just look. I swear, some of the hatchlings were cheering when I flew low."

"Maybe because they were thinking of how nice your scales will look on their armor when they grow up!" Yang shook her head. "Look, could you keep your human explorations to a minimum? Doesn't Weiss have a problem with this?"

Jaune took his muzzle out of the water and started cleaning his claws, noting the guilty look that entered Ruby's silver eyes.

"She doesn't like it. I haven't done it as much lately, but still…"

Yang sighed. "Look, just promise me you won't go alone next time. Take me or Weiss or Blake with you, okay? If these humans are as nice and not scared as you think they are, they shouldn't freak out when they see two of us flying over them."

Ruby brightened immediately. "Sure! I can do that." She noticed Jaune at that moment and waved her tail in greeting. "Hey, Jaune."

"Hi." Jaune finished washing his claws and splashed some water on his chest for good measure before walking over. "I heard about you and Weiss. Congrats!"

"Thanks!" Ruby's ears flicked happily. "I still feel like I dreamed that flight.

Yang nudged her sister's shoulder with a grin. "Look at you, all grown up and mated with the Ice Dragoness."

"Yang, you know she hates being called that," the red and brown dragon scolded, rolling her eyes.

"I'll call her what I want. I'm her friend, not her mate," Yang laughed.

"What was it like?" Jaune asked, his voice tinged with hesitation. "The flight, I mean."

The laughter faded and both dragons regarded him curiously for a moment. He started to wonder if he shouldn't have asked when Ruby finally spoke. "I'm not sure how to describe it, really." Her claws dug into the ground as a thoughtful frown came to her muzzle. "It was like… You know when you have a successful hunt and feel really satisfied when you bring down the prey you were looking at? I'm thinking mostly of the blood-rushing, thrilling part of that."

Jaune nodded. "Sure do."

"Well, combine some of that with the happiness you felt when you flew for the first time. And add the feeling of sunbathing on a perfect day to that." Ruby tilted her head before nodding slowly. "That's kinda what it felt like."

"Huh." Though interesting, that did little to clear things up.

"Thinking of finally going over there yourself?" Yang asked, nodding in the direction of the courtship airspace.

When Jaune nodded, Ruby let out an excited squeak. "It's Pyrrha, isn't it?" She bounced up and down at his second nod. "That's great! Why do you look so gloomy, though?"

Jaune sighed and repeated to them what he had told Ren. The two listened patiently. When he was done, Yang let out a snort. "Never thought you'd be one for self-pity, or insulting Pyrrha for that matter."

"Huh? I'd never insult-" Jaune started to protest before he was cut off.

"Do you honestly think Pyrrha would love someone who doesn't deserve it? Yeah, you aren't the strongest dragon around, but so what? No one's perfect. That's why we all live together. We make up for each other's flaws. Even if you were unable to help Pyrrha with something on your own, one of us would be able to help you so that you could." Yang shook her head, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, for someone so smart, you're so freaking dense sometimes."

"I…" Jaune blinked dumbly at Yang. "When you put it that way…"

"If you were a total weakling, you wouldn't be able to hunt and some human would have already picked you off," Ruby pointed out. "Don't sell yourself short." She put a paw on his shoulder. "Why don't you just go into the airspace tomorrow and see what happens? That's what Weiss did."

"Speaking of which," Yang said, looking toward the sky.

Weiss was circling nearby, her white scales turning pink in the light of the setting sun. Her blue gaze was fixed on Ruby and a gentle smile that Jaune had never seen on that particular muzzle before illuminated her face. "Aren't you finished yet, Ruby? The fireflies won't wait, you know."

"Coming!" Ruby called back. "We're going to look at the fireflies in the southern field," she quickly explained as she opened her wings. "Good luck!" Turning, she bounded across the grass, flapping her wings until she had enough momentum to take off. She joined her mate in the air, twirling playfully around her before the two flew off together.

Yang yawned, stretching her wings out a bit. "I'd better go too. Think about what we said, okay?"

Jaune nodded. "Yeah, I will. Thanks, Yang." He watched his friend fly off before turning and walking along the edge of the lake. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were a few dragon-lengths away. "Hey," he called as he approached.

"Hello." Pyrrha smiled at him. "We didn't want to interrupt your conversation."

"Oh, I was just congratulating Ruby," Jaune lied quickly. "Are you guys ready to head back?" He avoided Pyrrha's gaze as they flew back to the den.

That night, as he tried and failed to fall asleep through his racing thoughts, he felt a familiar form snuggling up against him. He opened his eyes to see a pair of green ones regarding him. "Hey, Pyrrha."

"You've been preoccupied lately, Jaune," she began without preamble. "If you have anything going on that's troubling you, you can always talk to me about it. You don't have to, but you can if you want to."

Jaune's chest warmed as he smiled at Pyrrha. This was one of many things he loved about her: She was always a shoulder to cry on when necessary, but would never pressure anyone into saying anything they didn't want to. Yang, Nora, and a bunch of other friends would insist on knowing what's wrong. Pyrrha never did, though. She always trusted people to talk on their own time.

"I'm okay, Pyrrha," he promised. "I've been thinking about stuff lately, but I feel close to figuring it out on my own. Thanks for asking."

"Okay." The red dragon extended a wing so that it was draped over her friend's yellow shoulders. She felt him shift closer and let out a soft sigh as she nestled against him. There was still some tension in his muscles that seemed to be stemming from whatever he was thinking about. He didn't seem close to falling asleep at all.

"I visited Blake and Sun the other day," she said, resting her head on her forepaws.

"Yeah?" Jaune knew that Pyrrha was trying to ease his mind with casual conversation, and was grateful for it. "How are they? Their hatchlings should be close to flying at this point."

"Luna has already tried," Pyrrha chuckled. "Thankfully, their cave is close to the ground and she landed in some moss. Sun says she takes after him."

"I can believe it." Jaune realized that, at some point, he had twined his tail with Pyrrha's. She either hadn't noticed, or didn't care. "I should stop by within the next few days. Those kids are adorable."

Pyrrha nodded. "They are. They'll definitely be happy to see you. All of the hatchlings love you."

"Well," Jaune muttered. "When you have seven little sisters, you learn a thing or two about how to deal with kids."

"I suppose so. You'd make a wonderful father."

A definite blush rose on the yellow dragon's muzzle at that comment. His ears twitched and he stared at the cave floor. "Th-Thanks," he mumbled. "I…I'd like to have hatchlings. Someday."

Could that be what he's been thinking about? Pyrrha felt a surge of hope at the thought, but quickly tried to push it down. Don't get ahead of yourself. It could be something completely different. Tread carefully.

"So would I. Eventually." She felt him fidget and wondered if he was starting to feel uncomfortable with the conversation. Then, she noticed a tiny smile on his face and felt her own muzzle heating up.

The two continued to talk quietly for another hour before falling asleep snuggled up together. By that point, Jaune knew exactly what he was going to do. Before drifting off, he asked, "Pyrrha, will you be in the valley at midday?"

"I should be. Why?"

"Just wondering. Goodnight, Pyrrha." Jaune closed his eyes.

"Goodnight, Jaune." Pyrrha chanced a quick nuzzle to the side of his neck, her eyes shimmering happily when he scooted a little closer in response, closing the remaining distance between them.

When she woke up that morning, she felt a definite coldness where Jaune had been. Slightly disappointed, she sat up and glanced toward Nora, who was wide awake and poking a sleeping Ren's snout. "Did you see where Jaune went?"

"Nope! Not at all! No idea!" Nora said quickly before turning her head to the side to giggle in what she thought was a discreet manner.

Pyrrha tried to get her to say more, but was unsuccessful. Did this have to do with whatever was on Jaune's mind? If so, why did it seem like Nora was hiding something? Did she know more about whatever was going on?

She didn't get an answer until later in the day, when the sun was at its highest. She was in the den, polishing some of the chess pieces, when Nora bounded in and started tugging on her arm. "Nora, what-? Ow! What's going-? Ouch! Careful!" Pyrrha shook her friend's tight claws off and stood up. "Is something wrong? What's happening?"

The shrill squee that Nora let out was enough to show that nothing was wrong, per say. "Just follow me." She rushed out of the den, looking over her shoulder. "Hurry up!"

"Okay, I'm coming." Pyrrha carefully put away the quartz knight she had in her paw before following Nora onto the ledge, where Ren was also sitting. They were both looking intently at something. Pyrrha turned to look at whatever they were staring at. "So, what-? Oh!" Her eyes widened and her heart started pounding.

In the courtship airspace, doing a perfect spinning dive, was Jaune! The midday light reflected off of his yellow scales, making them shine like gold. She watched as he pulled out of the dive, extending his wings and banking to the side. A smaller, silver-colored dragon started to swoop toward him and Pyrrha felt her teeth lock together. Her shoulders tensed briefly before relaxing when Jaune veered away with a polite smile and a gentle shake of his head. The silver dragon looked disappointed, but flew back to her den without protest, perching on the ledge to watch the others.

Pyrrha turned to look at Nora and Ren, only to see that they were already staring at her. She felt her scales warming.

"What are you waiting for?" Nora urged. "Go get him."

"I don't know if- What if he doesn't-?" Pyrrha stuttered as Ren moved behind her and gave her a firm push toward the edge.

"You're the one he's waiting for, Pyrrha," he told her. "Go on."

Pyrrha felt as if fire was running through her veins as she gripped the ledge with her claws. This was really happening. She was going to do this. Jaune would be hers today.

Taking a deep breath, she launched herself from the stone and flew toward Jaune. It was just like when they played chess or hunted, except that all of her focus was on the twisting, dipping form of the yellow dragon before her. She got close to him just as he turned in her direction and stopped, hovering in front of him.

Jaune felt warmth flooding his chest when he turned to see Pyrrha. Gathering his courage, he started hovering as well, edging forward until his muzzle was softly brushing hers. He drew back and beckoned toward the surrounding air before folding his wings and diving.

Pyrrha let out a breathless laugh as she immediately dived after him, folding her wings close to her body. When she saw his wings starting to open, she opened hers fully, so she could playfully graze his back with her claws when he started flying forward. She banked to the side, giving him a coy smile as she passed.

Trying desperately not to fumble or lurch, Jaune followed, pumping his wings until he was flying next to her, but a little higher so that his left wing went up and down over her right one. Their wingbeats and breaths were in perfect harmony. Jaune was faintly aware of some voices cheering him on in the distance, likely those of Nora and Yang, but he didn't listen to what was being said. At that moment, Pyrrha and the surrounding air were the only things that mattered.

The two circled the airspace once more before Pyrrha lightly bumped against Jaune. When he turned to look at her, she beckoned toward the lake. Once they landed near the water's edge, she ran over and eagerly twined her neck with his, nuzzling his shoulder.

"What took you so long?" she murmured, feeling a few happy tears leaking from her eyes. "I hoped you felt the same way, but…I was starting to wonder if I was just imagining things."

Feeling the moisture on his scales, Jaune disentangled himself from Pyrrha and wiped her cheeks with a gentle paw. "That's what I was thinking about for the past while," he admitted. "I was worried that I wasn't good enough to be your mate."

Pyrrha frowned at this. "That's not true. You know I hate it when people assume I'm above them. Why would you think that?"

Jaune ducked his head. "Well, I thought that I wouldn't be able to protect you if you needed it. It wasn't that I thought you were above me. I just thought I should make myself better before trying." He shrugged. "Thankfully, talking with some of the others got me thinking, and I realized that I was being an idiot. So, I decided to just go for it and let you decide. Think you can handle being mates with the clumsy screw-up who can't breathe fire?"

"No," Pyrrha declared. "But I am ready to be mates with the kindest, funniest, smartest, most gorgeous dragon in the valley."

"Huh. I didn't know you had a thing for Neptune," Jaune said, trying to keep a straight face. His twitching muzzle and sparkling eyes gave him away, though.

Pyrrha playfully cuffed his head before touching her muzzle to his. "I love you, Jaune," she said, her warm breath caressing his scales. "I always have, and I always will."

Jaune sighed, nuzzling her cheek. "I love you too, Pyrrha."

Meanwhile, on the ledge to their den, Nora was running in circles, unable to contain her excitement. "I can't believe he finally did it! Did you see them flying together? Of course you did, but did you see? Omigosh they were so cuuuute!"

Ren watched with a patient smile, nodding occasionally when appropriate. The sun was still high, causing his friend's rosy and ginger-flushed scales to take on a pearly sheen. He glanced toward the courtship airspace, then at the lake, and then back at Nora.

Tomorrow, he decided. It's about time I took my own advice.

Phew. It took a good while to finally finish this one, mainly because of the aforementioned slacking. Next up will either be the Cat AU Black Sun or the Horse AU Team Sloth. There may or may not be more after that. It'll depend on inspiration, and whether my readers want to see more.

Also, there seemed to be some confusion in the reviews as to what I meant in the last chapter when I referred to anthros. Anthropomorphic animals are animals who act human in any way. They don't necessarily have to be humanoid. The rabbits in Watership Down could be seen as anthros. These stories are written with animal AUs, not humanoid animal AUs, just to clarify. I may write a humanoid animal AU fic in the future, but that will be separate from this one, if it does get written.

Review, but please don't flame. Peace out!