Round 2 had barely ended just a few minutes ago. Robb and Jon were currently in the locker room with the other 15 riders that had advanced to the Championship Round.

"You got a good idea of who you're going to pick?" Robb asked from beside him?

Both men currently had their rope wrapped against a pole and were applying a fresh coat of rosin on their rope.

"I don't know" Jon answered truthfully, "I need to see the entire list."

Jon was satisfied with the amount of rosin that he had spread over his black bull rope and let it rest against the wall. Robb had finished with his standard bull rope and had set it beside Jon's.

"You must have a general idea of which bull might make it onto the list. I'd like to know in case I need to choose another bull. I already have one in mind."

Jon shook his head as they made there way out to the dirt arena. The announcer had set up a mini stage in the middle of the dirt arena with ramps on each side for the riders to walk up and then walk down. He could see the announcer already standing on top of the stage with a clipboard and microphone in hand.

Jon rested against the gate that led into the arena, it was on the opposite side of the gate where the bulls exited the dirt arena and to their pen.

Jon scrambled inside his head and went through the list of bulls that would more than likely compete in the Championship Round. He first thought of Daenerys. Her bulls were all elite bulls. No doubt that Drogon, Viserion, Rhaegal and Silver would be competing. He wasn't familiar with her fifth bull, but he had no doubt that he would be an option.

Next on the list would more than likely be the current reigning champion bucking bull from last year, Code Blue. He remembered seeing Code Blue being unloaded from the trucks earlier before the draft for round 1 started. He'd hate whoever was stuck with facing him because it sure as hell wouldn't be Jon.

Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and was met by an all too familiar sight.

"Hey, cowboy" his new silver haired "companion" said.

"Hey" he responded, a small smile on his face.

"Not long before you pick the path to destiny."

Robb looked at them with narrow eyes but both parties completely ignored him.

"You know… this is the third time we've talked and I still haven't caught your name" she told him.

He looked at her in surprise at her words and went through his brain as he recalled their two previous meetings. He doubted that she hadn't known his name. She had stood near him when it was his turn to ride and as the announcer called his name over the speakers. Then again, it would be rude not to introduce himself and he realized that he hadn't before.

He held out his right hand for her to take.

"Jon. Jon Snow. Daenerys Targaryen, right?"

She smiled as she took his hand with her own. It was smooth and dainty.

"That's right cowboy. Though, I thought you'd still be calling me princess."

His smile became softer as he looked at her with his grey eyes.

"You still going to call me cowboy?"

"Maybe" she smirked.

Robb coughed next to them. Both let go quickly as they looked away. Daenerys looked down to her feet while Jon looked to his brother.

"Uh" Rob began, "we should probably head up there already… other riders are already waiting."

Jon looked down for a split second before looking back up to his brother's face and nodding. Robb opened the gate and they started heading towards the walkway where nearly all of the qualified riders were waiting.

"Can I count on you to ride mine, cowboy."

Jon looked back to her as he kept walking while Robb stuttered in his step and looked back with wide eyes. Robb switched his gaze between his brother and the silver haired woman.

Jon looked back at the female stock contractor in confusion.

"Sorry?"

"You heard me" she said, smiling at him once again.

Jon looked to the side and coughed.

"I wouldn't count on it" he answered truthfully.

She pouted as he and Robb walked off.

It did not take more than ten seconds for both brothers to make it to the middle of the arena where all riders waited for their turn to choose. It also did not take more than twenty seconds for the last of the fourteen riders to arrive after Robb and Jon. Because he was the last of the fifteen riders qualified, Andrey Dalt was not needed at the choosing since he would be paired up with the bull not chosen.

"Look alive Robb" Jon said, "and pray I don't choose the bull you want."

"Don't over exert yourself, brother. Your ride on Red Skull was only around 10 minutes ago. I'm much more rested than you are going into this final round."

Jon smiled at his brother's words. Robb was throwing their relation out the window momentarily, just as he was prepared to do.

"No hard feeling on the end result?"

Robb looked at him with a small smirk.

"Remember your words and don't go crying when this doesn't end like you want it to."

Jon laughed at that and took his place ahead of his brother to walk up the ramp.

The announcer received the go ahead from the cameraman.

"Here we go folks. The time is here. It's time for the draw of the Championship Round. Right here in my hand I have a list of all the 15 available bulls. We'll start off with the current leader of the event and will work our ways down to the 14th placed rider. The last bull not chosen will be automatically paired with the rider in last place, Andrey Dalt."

Jon stayed still in his step but he felt nerves in his fingertips as the time for him to choose grew closer and closer.

"Well folks I don't see a reason to delay it any longer. If our event leader, Jon Snow" the announcer boomed out his name and Jon felt his ears heat up as the crowd began to cheer, "can step right on up here and start us off."

Jon walked up the makeshift ramp and didn't stop until he was standing next to the announcer.

"All right, Jon. I got the list right here and it's all for you to choose. You got one minute on the clock."

He handed Jon the 15-bull list and raked his eyes up and down.

-Air Time

-Belwas

-Big Bucks

-Bruiser

-Brutus

-Code Blue

-Crosswired

-Drogon

-Far West

-King's Road

-Mudslinger

-Rhaegal

-Silver

-Viserion

-White Magic

It only took Jon a few seconds for the decision to stick in his mind. He had started today's event with getting revenge and that's how he was going to finish. He leaned into the announcer's microphone.

"Crosswired" he said with confidence.

Jon immediately walked off, not waiting to see the looks on the announcer's face. He only heard the "ooh's" of the crowd as he walked down the ramp.

"Oh, my goodness! Another rematch for Jon Snow from last weekend's event. Jon Snow versus Crosswired!"

The crowd roared and Jon was already crossing behind the gate to go back to the locker room where his bull rope was.

He heard the announcer call up Robb's name.

Jon and Robb were currently sitting on the benches of their locker room and watching the television mounted in one of the upper corners of the room.

They could see all the fifteen riders and their matchups. They were separated into "breaks" of 5. 3 riders in each go before they cut off for television commercials:

(15) Andrey Dalt vs Code Blue

(14) Qotho vs Mudslinger

(13) Loras Tyrell vs Air Time

(12) Grenn Mason vs Brutus

(11) Aggo vs Belwas

(10) Satin Rose vs Viserion

(9) Jhogo vs Far West

(8) Gendry Baratheon vs Big Bucks

(7) Rakharo vs King's Road

(6) Quentyn Martell vs Rhaegal

(5) Daemon Allyrion vs White Magic

(4) Daario Naharis vs Silver

(3) Drogo vs Drogon

(2) Robb Stark vs Bruiser

(1) Jon Snow vs Crosswired

"That was a bold choice you made out there" Robb said, "…but are you sure you aren't pushing it?"

Jon turned to his brother.

"What do you mean?"

Robb took a deep breath as he looked away.

"It's just…this past week you've been sort of out of it. There's this sort of demon that's possessed you and it won't seem to let go. You already got payback from last week when you rode Red Skull tonight. I just think that you've been too focused and hung up on this past week."

"I'm not hung up over it" Jon insisted. "And besides, is that a bad thing? This is the best I've ridden in a long time, but I need to get even with the one that put me on this path."

"Whatever man" Robb sighed.

His brother grabbed his bull rope and walked off to go talk with Theon. Jon simply shook his head as he saw him walk off.

3 of the seeds had already passed, meaning that 9 riders had already ridden. Jon knew that he already needed to head over to the individual pens in order to tie his bull rope around Crosswired but he stayed for just a little while in order to see the current standings in the event.

1. Rakharo: 264 pts (90 pts in R3)

2. Jon Snow: 180.75 pts (Still to Ride)

3. Robb Stark: 178.5 pts (Still to Ride)

4. Drogo: 178 pts (Still to Ride)

5. Daario Naharis (Still to Ride)

6. Jhogo: 176.25 pts (88.5 pts in R3)

7. Aggo: 176 pts (89 pts in R3)

8. Daemon Allyrion: 174.75 pts (Still to Ride)

9. Quentyn Martell: 174.5 pts (Still to Ride)

10. Gendry Baratheon: 170 pts (NQR)

11. Satin Rose: 87.25 pts (NQR)

12. Grenn Mason: 87 pts (NQR)

13. Loras Tyrell: 87 pts (NQR)

14. Qotho: 85.25 pts (NQR)

15. Andrey Dalt: 85 pts (NQR)

He nodded shakily as he saw the board. He was no longer first in the event table and just a qualified ride wouldn't be enough to guarantee a jump back into first place. With 264 pts currently, Jon would need 83.25 pts to jump ahead of Rakharo. Jon knew that he would get more than enough points if he managed to stick on Crosswired, but the problem was that there were 5 other riders waiting to still ride before Jon.

Jon was thinking that his 3 biggest threats were Naharis, Allyrion and Robb. Even if Drogo was the current number one and Quentyn was the number 5 rider, he didn't fancy their chances on their respective bulls. Quentyn had already shown that he couldn't keep up with Daenerys' third best bull, so he didn't fancy him on the second rankest. Drogon was a pure athletic monster. Drogo would last longer than most but Jon didn't think he'd make the 8.

On the flipside, however, he knew that Daemon Allyrion was a talented rider from Dorne. He was the best of the Dornish, in Jon's opinion, and only missed out on the top 5 due to early injury in the season back in January. He had come back a month ago and was finally starting to find his form once again. White Magic was a great bull and had bested many of the best riders in the past, but he was predictable. Once you had ridden him once or twice, it was easy to keep up with the bull the third time around. The result would depend on how well Daemon was familiar with his bull.

Naharis had already ridden his bull in the past and scored 89.75; and he only needed 86.75 pts to vault into first. Assuming if no other rider managed to take first place, that is.

Robb.

Jon didn't know if Robb could ride his bull. Bruiser was a previous champion bull that had a buck off rate of over 85%. Robb was a great rider and athletic and slim. But Jon just didn't think he had what it took to ride a bull of Bruiser's caliber a year after their rookie season. Jon didn't want to be a douche, but he considered himself the more able rider of the two and didn't believe he could keep up with Bruiser's strength.

Jon sighed as he walked over to the individual pens, his bull rope dragging behind him.

It was a harrowing walk, knowing what was at stake. He wondered if anything would come at the end of all this hard work. Would his sponsors see his worth and invite him as one of their riders at Iron Cowboy? It was two weeks away. Jon thought back to his brother Robb. Was he pushing this too far? And his uncle, Arthur. Would two weeks really convince Levi's that he had what it took?

No. It realistically wasn't. He had ridden his damn best in both rounds 1 and 2. He had gone out there and shown what he was capable of. He suddenly realized that he didn't care if he rode his bull or not. He had nothing to prove. Not to anyone. And not to himself. He knew he had what it took. There was nothing he could do to change other's minds about him except go out there every week and do what he could do best. Ride bulls.

That's right. He had nothing to prove. Nothing at all. He didn't start riding bulls because he needed people's approval. He didn't start riding bulls for some stupid sponsor's acknowledgement. When had he started thinking himself better than everyone else? Better than his brother?

A hollow laugh escaped his lips as he continued walking.

He had finally reached the individual pens and he saw Robb and Drogo tying their ropes to their bulls. Naharis had just finished wrapping his as he was currently walked towards Jon, presumably to go out to the riding chutes. He obviously could care less about prepping his bull last minute as he walked towards Jon with nonchalance. He should have prepped his bull before the third seed of riders started.

Jon kept his eyes forward as he tried to locate Crosswired amongst the maze of individual pens.

"Look who it is. Mr. Rookie of the Year."

Jon turned his gaze over to the blue-eyed man that was making his way towards him. Daario clapped him on the shoulder as they stood face to face with one another.

"So, going to right all your mistakes are you, big man?"

Jon looked at him with indifference.

"What mistakes?"

"You know what I mean, Snow. You chose Red Skull because he bucked you off last week in round 1. And now you chose Crosswired because he made you fly in last week's Championship round. It's obvious that you're just putting up a front here. Trying to ride those bulls to convince people you belong here."

Jon had prided himself in always being the bigger man. But damn if he didn't want to slug Naharis in the face at the moment.

He didn't. It wouldn't do well to get disqualified from the event before his big ride.

"Maybe you didn't notice, Naharis, but I did ride my bulls. Both of them. And if you failed to notice, I beat you considerably in Round 2 less than an hour ago. And I'm still above you in the standings."

The punchable smirk never dropped from Daario's face as he responded.

"I did notice…but I also beat you in Round 1. Not considerably…but a win is a win. Am I right? And being above me for the moment doesn't matter in the slightest if you don't win the event. And even then, it still wouldn't matter because I'm the world number 2 and you're…what? 28? How cute?"

Jon sucked in a breath as he looked away.

"Look, Naharis…" he sighed, "I really don't have time for this right now. I just want to prep my bull and get ready for the go round."

Jon pushed his way past him.

"Hey, Snow! One more thing."

Jon sighed as he turned around, placing his hands on his hips.

"What, Naharis?"

"You stay away from Daenerys?"

Jon scrunched up his face as he looked at the man in front of him.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I said stay away from Daenerys."

Jon looked at him in disbelief.

"What? Are you her wrangler? Besides, if it really cooks your grits that much, then take it up with her. She's the one that's been talking to me. Not the other way around."

"Well stay away from her, period. If she tries to talk to you, walk away."

Jon shook his head in disbelief.

"I ain't got time for this, Naharis."

Jon was making his way a few steps before the dark angel whispered in his ear and he spun around.

"Hey, Naharis!" Jon called out to the man walking away.

The man in question turned around and gave him an expecting look.

"What is it, Snow?"

Jon debated if he should go through with his intentions or if he should tell the man to forget it and move on. Unfortunately, the dark angel whispered in his ear again.

"When you see Daenerys, tell her I'm sorry I didn't pick one of her bulls this round." Jon began to turn around but stopped. "Oh! And tell her thank you for the compliment about my Round 1 ride. I think I should've been at least 90, too."

He could see Daario's eyes narrow as his fist clenched.

Jon simply walked backwards with a shrug.

"You were right. You are second place."

Naharis had cleared his bull. 90 points atop Silver and it had vaulted him ahead to the top of the standings. Drogo and Quentyn had both failed to clear their bulls, just as he predicted. Quentyn had only lasted above 3 seconds while Drogo lasted 4 atop Drogon. Drogo's strength had helped in his ride, but it wasn't enough against the large black bull.

Jon was currently resting atop his chute as he waited for Robb to ride. Because it was the Championship Round and Jon was the last rider of the night, he was given the luxury of waiting until after Robb was scored to begin getting ready atop Crosswired. The medium black bull was currently standing steadily still in his chute.

"Nerves getting to you, cowboy?"

Jon didn't turn his head. He was used to being snuck up on by her, by now.

"I wouldn't be a professional bull rider if nerves got to me, princess."

"Well aren't you just brimming with confidence" she said huskily into his ear.

Maybe shivers should have ran up and down his body, but all he could do was lean forward and away from her before angling his head to the side, seeing her through his peripheral.

"Nearly had him last week. I think it's time I tie the score one all today." Jon gestured his head down to the bull below him. "Don't go crying on me if I fall off out there. You've only been a fan for about… half a day? Maybe a day."

She looked at him oddly when he said those words. She turned her head down to the bull as she placed her hands atop the steel bars of the chute.

"You must be happy right about now" Jon continued, ", seeing as your 3 best bulls had a great showing. Other two didn't do too bad either."

Daenerys nodded as she looked back at him, her beautiful violet eyes brightened by the arena lights.

"If things end like this, then my bull helped a rider win an event. If it ends a different way, then my bulls still did well. High scores when ridden, high scores with their buck offs."

Jon nodded as he looked back at the arena.

"Why didn't you choose any of my bulls?"

Jon turned back to her but didn't get a chance to respond as he heard the chutes open. Jon whipped his head around and saw Robb exiting atop Bruiser.

It wasn't good. The bull had kicked strongly and had reached an angled vertical, immediately offsetting Robb from a balanced position. He shouldn't have had a chance when Bruiser had decided to spin but Robb's strength had given him just a half chance to remain on the bull. Well, on the bull was a relative sentence. He was actually hanging from the side.

A second and final kick was all it took for Robb to finally be flung off from the animal. 3.22 seconds was the official buck off time.

Jon shook his head at his brother's performance. He wished he could've said it had gone different from his prediction but he just couldn't. The moment his brother had said the bull's name atop the makeshift stage, Jon fancied the bull's odds better.

Not waiting for the bull score to come in, Jon began to slide down onto Crosswired's back.

He stopped halfway when he felt a small hand on his arm.

"Why didn't you choose one of my bulls?" She asked again with a firm voice.

He heard the bull's score get announced over the stadium speakers. 47 points. The highest of the night. However, the current focus was on the woman in front of him. He didn't know why she wanted to know so badly, but he guessed she had her reasons. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to explain to her his reasonings.

"I need to get ready" he said simply.

And he slid down onto Crosswired's back. She frowned but didn't bother him again.

Robb was currently heading towards the locker room and Grenn hadn't returned. So, it was Podrick that had walked up to him and currently held the free rope of his bull rope.

The bull was currently positioned to leave the chutes spinning into Jon's hand, but he knew not to commit his strategy on that thought. So, he opted to position his bull rope handle slightly to the right side of the bull's spine. Too far right and he was screwed if the bull decided to buck and spin left, and Crosswired definitely had that capability. Too far to the left and Jon's hand would be uncomfortable and he'd like snap his wrist if the bull spun him out.

He signaled for Podrick to pull on the free end to tighten his bull rope. Jon began to run his hand up and down the rope to spread more rosin but stopped midway. Podrick and Daenerys looked at him curiously at his paused frame.

He thought that he would need as much rosin as possible to hang onto the bull's wild bucks, but he remembered how much rosin he had used last week and its result. Instead of flying off the bull and into the dirt, he had been stuck in his rope and had ended up with more damage.

Jon wiped the rest of the rosin residue on his glove onto his chaps before placing his gloved hand into the handle of his rope. He grabbed the free rope and began to wrap it twice around his hand. Once he was satisfied, Jon closed his fist and punched his fist to give a little bit more grip on his rope.

Daenerys looked down in worry as he slapped his face, harder than usual, before pressing down on his hat. Jon grabbed his mouthpiece from his vest and slipped it into his mouth. He didn't want to go losing any teeth today.

Satisfied with all the precautions, Jon took a deep breath before sliding his groin up to his riding hand.

He squirmed on the bull for a bit before he found the position he was comfortable with.

Then.

He nodded.

The gates swung open and Crosswired spun right. They were harsh spins, not the smooth and fast ones of Viserion. Crosswired's spins had small but effective kicks. Jon felt himself shifting with each one and he was wondering if he made a mistake by not applying more rosin to his rope.

Crosswired decided a contorted and high kick, and Jon was frightened at the flexibility of the animal's body. He didn't know what direction he would choose next, but he wished the bull had just chosen a direction to spin rather than the direction the bull decided to choose next.

He had never felt anything like this before. Not even last week when he was atop the same bull. Crosswired bent down on all his legs and sprang back up. Left and right then back and forth. Jon used all his strength in his right had as he struggled to keep his free hand from making contact with the bull. Crosswired took another launch on the air and Jon's body was pulled forward as his chest nearly bounced on Crosswired's hump.

The buzzer sounded and Jon quickly moved his hand to the tail end of his rope to free himself.

It was a mistake. The bull hadn't stopped his erratic jumps and Jon had found himself flipping forward towards the bull's shoulder. The bullfighters rushed in wildly as they put themselves in harm's way to shield him from the bull's horns. Jon rolled in whatever direction he could, not thinking of his situation as he didn't know where in the Gods' name the bull currently was. He needed to get out of the danger zone as soon as possible. He finally rolled onto his fours and began crawling to the audience fence. Halfway towards the fence, Jon began to stand up.

He was pushed back down. He heard the crowd gasp and scream as Crosswired barreled into Jon's vested back with his horns. Jon experienced a bit of whiplash at the sudden movement, but the adrenaline kept him from staying stationary. He crawled away from the fence and it was only due to Greyworm jumping straight into Crosswired's fact that saved Jon from further punishment. After about 10 seconds of further conflict, Crosswired had finally moved on from the bull fighters and took a few "victory" laps around the arena.

The crowd began to clap when Crosswired exited the arena and to his pen; and when Jon made it safely to his feet. A bull fighter ran to him to hand him both his bull rope and hat. There was no point on heading to the back of the chutes because Missandei, along with the camera crew, was already in the dirt arena. Even if he didn't win, he may as well just wait for his scores to him in.

"Woah" the announcer called out over the intercom, "Woah. What a bull ride folks. What. A. Bull. Ride."

He could barely be heard as the crowd was still clapping and began to cheer for Jon. He didn't speak until the crowd calmed a bit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am awaiting the score as I speak. He needs eighty-six and three-quarter (86.75) points to win the event. His first event of the year. Jon Snow has not won an event since last season. Eighty-six and three-quarters. That's all he needs to change that."

The crowd waited with bated breaths. Jon sucked a breath of his own through his teeth.

"They're coming. They're coming. Ladies and gentlemen, they're here!"

Jon's breath hitched.

"This is what they're telling me… NINETY-THREE AND THREE-QUARTER POINTS (93.75)!"

The crowd exploded as confetti popped and began to rain down onto Jon's head. Missandei and her cameraman moved quickly towards Jon and the gatekeeper and staff men and bull fighters and riders all began to clap Jon on his back.

Jon smiled dumbly at each person to congratulate him and a two men holding a poster board size check, of 25,000 dragons, stood close to him. Missandei walked up to him with a beautiful and bright smile as Jon began to unwrap the tape around his glove. He had already taken out his mouth guard and had unzipped his vest.

"Jon! Jon!"

Jon smiled at her when she stopped a foot away from him.

"Jon, you just won your first event of the year. A big, big, big showing this week in Stonehelm. Eighty-nine and three-quarters in Round 1. And two ninety point rides today. Ninety-two and a half points on Red Skull and ninety-three and three-quarter points on Crosswired. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling great, Missandei. I came into this event with the intention of winning this event and to make it happen is just so damn unreal."

Missandei giggled at his words.

"Now, the question everyone wants to know is why. Why did you choose the two bulls that bucked you off last week? And why choose the bull that sent you to Doctor Luwin?"

"Well, Missandei, that's actually an easy question for me. I just really wanted payback. No better payback against a bull that bucked you off than riding it for all 8 seconds."

Missandei nodded at his words.

"Ok" she started "now onto the big question. Do you think you're making Iron Cowboy in two weeks at Harrenhal?"

Jon blew a raspberry and looked up at her.

"I sure hope so, Missandei. I sure hope so."

They both chuckled at his response and Missandei backed away to allow the two men from earlier to hand Jon the check.

And as Jon was on top of the world, he failed to see a silver haired woman clapping for him with a tight-lipped smile.