"Twenty-seven… twenty-eight… twenty-nine… thirty," Lie Ren grunted before slowly placing the handle bar to the weight machine he was currently using back into its original position, letting out a weary and relieved sigh, massaging his biceps, and moving his arms around in an attempt to loosen whatever strain his arms and biceps might have gained as part of his endeavor to strengthen his body, as per suggestion of Glynda Goodwitch.

"Besides Ms. Nikos herself, you are the textbook example of a model student," Ms. Goodwitch had said. "However," she took this moment to fix her glasses and give him a stern and solemn look, "that is by no means a reason for you to not work on your shortcomings." She looked down at her scroll and sifted through it before turning it around and showing him footage of the Beacon Academy Initiation, more specifically focusing on the part where he and his team were fighting against the Death Stalker and where he had been clinging on for dear life onto the scorpion Grimm's tail and stinger before eventually being flung off of it and into an ancient stony column, effectively being taken out for the rest of the fight. Ren winced at the footage accordingly while Glynda's face remained calm, stern, and mostly unfazed. "Your abilities as a huntsman are not in question," she reassured him, "but one can only run and dodge for so long before they are eventually caught. And in times like that," she turned off her scroll and placed it under her arm, "the only thing that a huntsman and huntress can rely on is brute strength. That is not an opinion. It is simply a fact." She then gave him a small and subtle challenging look. "Do you disagree?"

Lie Ren straightened himself up and shook his head. "N-No ma'am. Regardless of a huntsman or huntress' personal fighting preference, raw power and strength are definitely not to be underestimated."

Glynda nodded as she fixed her glasses. "If so, then I trust that I don't have to outright tell you what you need to do in order to fix this little problem of yours, now do I?"

Ren shook his head. "No, of course not." He bowed his head respectfully. "I will begin adding basic strength training to my regime immediately."

And for the past three days, that was exactly what Ren had been doing. While the exercises he had added to his usual workout were rather basic, he was confident that, since it was both Pyrrha and Nora approved, as long as he stuck to it and never missed a day, it would all have the desired and intended effect in the end without getting too much in the way of his already established fighting style.

Ren hated to admit it, but he had never had much confidence in his strength, power, or stamina. Growing up, those had all been categories in which Nora had excelled at naturally, so when Ms. Goodwitch had confronted him about his issues with them, and after the first day of pathetically trying to follow through with what was supposed to be his new routine, he had gotten quite embarrassed about it, to the point where when the rest of team JNPR had suggested that they would train alongside him at Beacon Academy's own personal gym, he had politely turned them down. It was bad enough knowing that, for a guy, his strength without the help of his aura was probably subpar at best; he would've felt even worse if he had to face that reality while also facing the fact that Pyrrha, Nora, and, worst case scenario, Jaune were all a great deal stronger than he was. No, he was perfectly fine with strengthening his body himself; and besides, performing such exercises gave him time to think, which was a near impossibility to have whilst being surrounded by teammates and friends like his. The near perfect silence the gym provided, except for the occasional grunts and clang of weights hitting the ground, was a welcome and appreciated change, especially considering the fact that the thoughts that had recently plagued his mind were those complex enough to the point where they'd require such silence to properly pick them all apart in the first place.

Ren rested his arms against his thighs and let out a troubled sigh. After two days of thinking about it (and even more before that, if he was to be completely honest with himself), he realized that the issue that he had been pondering over had no real favorable way of resolving itself, which meant that, if he was going to confront it, the only best way to do it was to get it over with as quickly as possible, especially before the Vytal Festival Tournament started. No sense in bringing unneeded drama and tension into what should be a straightforward fighting tournament. Despite coming to all of these conclusions, however, he still dreaded the very thought of it. There was, in no way he could think of, no way of getting out of this scot-free. No way, no how. He was just going to have to tough it out, no matter how hard it was inevitably going to be.

"Gotcha!" a familiar voice said, grabbing and squeezing the sides of his stomach from behind and letting out an amused chuckle when it caused for him to jump a bit in the weight machine's seat and let out an uncharacteristic yelp of surprise, causing what few people who happened to be in the gym at the time to give them either curious or annoyed looks before turning their attention back to their own respective training regimens.

Ren blushed and stiffened for a moment before immediately recomposing himself, closing his eyes, letting out a weary sigh, and saying, "Yang."

Said girl smirked behind him before leaning forward against his back, strapping her arms around his shoulders, nuzzling her head against the crook of his neck, and saying, "Hey, you." She gave him a small kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush and her to triumphantly smirk at his reaction. "Nora told me that you'd be here."

"Did she now?"

Yang snickered at his reaction and nodded. "Yep." She let go of him and confidently placed her hands onto her sides as she proudly beamed at him. "And as your girlfriend, let me just say that I am just SO proud of you! I mean, my already drop-dead gorgeous man working on putting a little bit more muscle on his bones?" She then rolled her eyes and fanned her face with her hand as she let out a small and approving howl. "Woo!" She then leaned forward, giving Ren a perfect view of her chest from underneath her workout tank, causing him to blush and avert his gaze to the side and her to smile playfully before grabbing Ren's chin, forcing him to look at her, and softly say, "I must be the luckiest girl in Beacon."

Ren chuckled awkwardly as he continued to try and avert his eyes away from Yang's face. "Yeah," he awkwardly replied as he gently took Yang's hand off of his chin, "about that…."

Yang blinked, innocently confused. "What?" she asked before crossing her arms and giving him a concerned look. "Is something wrong?"

Ren anxiously rubbed the back of his neck and apprehensively clenched his teeth. "You could say that," he muttered, causing Yang to look at him suspiciously and fidget nervously as a result.

"Ren," she said in a hushed tone of voice, "what's going on?"

Ren heaved out a heavy sigh before standing up, dusting his hands against his training shorts, and darting his eyes nervously around the gym before finally settling them onto Yang. "Yang," he whispered, "we…," he hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and continuing, "we need to talk."

Yang's eyes widened in surprise as she let out a small and barely audible gasp. "T-Talk?" she asked, the breaking of her voice signaling to Ren that she was immediately fearing the worst. "A-About what?"

Ren sighed before leaning closer towards her and quietly suggesting, "Can…," he gulped, "can we discuss this… in private?"

Unfortunately for him, those words were the straw that finally broke the camel's back. Yang's nostrils practically flared as she clenched her fists and her entire body stiffened. "Oh, so what?" she asked, loudly enough to once again draw the attention of most of the occupants within the gym and with enough of an edge in her voice to warn him that he immediately needed to take control of the situation before it was too late. "Suddenly you're not man enough to talk to me about things in public? Is that it?"

Ren immediately shook his head and raised his hands up defensively. "N-No, of course not!" He could hear the curious murmurs of everyone around them as the scene between he and Yang was slowly starting to gain everyone's undivided attention.

"Then why don't we discuss it here then?!" Yang growled, her eyes turning red as she began to step aggressively toward him, forcing Ren to step back in response.

"Yang, please," Ren hissed, drawing his hand towards her in an attempt to subtly use his semblance to calm her down, "you need to calm down."

"Don't you tell me to calm down!" Yang cried, her hair glowing at this point, the pressure of her semblance slowly being felt around them. She jabbed a finger against his chest. "You're the one who wants to talk, right?!"

Ren nodded, as hushed, apprehensive, and excited whispers could be heard around them. "W-Well, yeah, but -"

"THEN TALK!" Yang screamed, her semblance knocking Ren flat on his back and causing everyone nearby to quickly back away.

Ren took a moment to recompose himself and recover from the pain the force of Yang's semblance had inflicted upon him before shaking his head pitifully, and saying, "Okay, fine!" He then took a deep breath before looking sadly into Yang's rage filled eyes and saying, "Yang, I'm sorry, but… I think we should break up."

Yang's face was noticeably shocked as her semblance noticeably subsided upon hearing those words being uttered from Lie Ren's mouth. She took a moment to comprehend what he had just said before shaking her head incredulously and letting out a small and pathetic, "W-What?"

Lie Ren simply shook his head and looked at her regretfully. "Yang, I'm sorry. I tried. I really did, but," he slowly got himself back onto his feet, "this relationship… I finally realized that this just isn't going to work out."

At this point, any signs of Yang's semblance and usual confident and cocky demeanor had vanished, all of it now being replaced by a shocked and slowly hyperventilating girl who could only shake her her and clutch her head in disbelief. "No… no…," she gulped as she tried to hold back the tears that were quickly threatening to fall down her face, "this can't be happening. It can't."

Nervous and sympathetic whispers from the various onlookers could be heard around them as Ren slowly made his way towards the girl who was now no longer his girlfriend, but was still hopefully going to stay as one of his most trusted and reliable friends. "Yang, I am so sorry, but you have to understand…."

"What's there to understand?" Yang quietly asked, wiping away the unshed tears with her hand as she let out a sad and distressed sniffle. She was beginning to back away from him. "You don't want to be a couple anymore, right?" She shook her head. "What else is there left to understand?"

Ren sighed before reaching out his hand to her. "Yang please," he said softly, "just let me explain."

Yang however had heard enough. "There's nothing left to explain," she said before turning her heels and making a mad dash to the girl's locker room, the one place in the gym where Ren could not follow.

"Yang, wait!" Ren cried, but it was too late. She was gone, leaving Ren and everyone else who had witnessed their breakup to awkwardly stand around in silence before slowly going back to their usual workouts, leaving Ren to simply stand where he was with nothing but his guilt, pity, and thoughts to keep him company.

"Hey, Ren!" Nora cried, running up to her childhood friend who was sitting in the school cafeteria and listlessly playing with his food, with Jaune, Pyrrha, and the entirety of Team RWBY sans Yang following not too far behind. Nora then stopped beside him and looked at him expectantly. "So, how did the workout go?" She then playfully flexed both of her arms. "Can you feel your biceps bulging yet? Can you feel your muscles growing stronger and stronger with each and every single day? CAN YOU FEEL THE BURN?!"

Much to everyone's surprise, Ren simply let out a dejected sigh and answered, "Actually, Nora, I didn't really feel like working out today."

Everyone except Nora's eyes widened in surprise as Nora let out a hearty and carefree laugh before giving Ren a good-natured punch to the shoulder. "Ha! Good one, Ren! 'I didn't really feel like working out today.'" She shook her head and waved her hand incredulously. "Like you of all people would ever take a day off from training!"

"Um, Nora," Pyrrha whispered, "I don't think that Ren is lying."

"Oh please, Pyrrha!" Nora cried, giving Pyrrha a skeptically amused look. "We're talking about the same guy who makes drinks and serves them based on nutrition and NOT on taste! Trust me! Ren's just pulling your leg! And then, after everyone's done freaking out, he'll smile and say, 'Just kidding!' and then he'll go on a long and boring speech about how important it is to stick to one's routine, and then he'll start to list all of the boring exercises and explain how they're beneficial to building up his strength or whatever, and then he'll talk about the new diet he's trying to get the best results, and -"

"Um, Nora," Jaune sheepishly interjected, "not to be rude or anything, but… since when does Ren pull anybody's leg? Like, ever?"

"Well, I mean, there was this one time when he…," Nora blinked upon realizing that that particular situation had actually never happened, "well, there was that other time when he…," she stopped herself upon realizing that that had never happened either, "well, you were all there when he…," silence once again came upon her before she blinked in confusion, let out a horrifyingly dramatic gasp, and cried, "oh my gosh! You're right!" She then quickly turned back towards Ren and hissed, "You skipped out on your workout today?!"

Ren let out a weary and exasperated sigh. "Yes, Nora," he answered sullenly. "I skipped out on my workout today."

Blake raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Wow, that… honestly doesn't sound like you."

"Well obviously!" Nora cried. "Didn't you hear a word I just said?!"

Blake rolled her eyes. "Sorry, I guess I was just so shocked that I forgot."

"Whuh?!" Nora gasped.

Ruby then quickly raised her hand. "Don't worry, Nora! I didn't forget what you said!"

Nora then immediately smiled and gave Ruby the thumbs up. "Atta girl, Ruby!"

"Yeah!" Ruby cried, following suit, causing Weiss to scoff at their antics.

"Don't encourage her, Ruby!" Weiss chided.

"Huh?" Ruby innocently asked. "Um… encourage what?"

Weiss let out an exasperated sigh. "The two of you are hopeless." She then turned her attention back to Ren and asked, "So, I assume that you decided to skip your training before actually going to the gym today, right?"

Ren gave her a curious look. "What makes you say that?"

"Well," Weiss explained, tossing her hair before crossing her arms regally, " let's just say that Yang was hoping to... 'bump into you' after Nora told us that you had already gone." Ren's face fell upon hearing Yang's name. "I assume that you decided against training today before you even started, otherwise, Yang would be sitting with you right now, wouldn't she? Either that or she decided to continue training by herself, which I suppose is possible, but then again, training in the gym isn't really her style, and -"

"She isn't," Ren softly said.

Weiss' eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, well... okay." Silence befell the group, as everybody, especially Weiss, expected Ren to elaborate on what he knew, but when such a thing never came, Weiss glared at him and irritably asked, "Well then, where is she?!"

"I don't know where Yang is," Ren answered.

Weiss let out an annoyed huff. "Oh, really? And why is that? Because if you know what she ISN'T doing, then surely you must know what she IS doing, right?"

"I would," Ren admitted, "if she told me."

Everyone exchanged looks of varying concern for a moment before Weiss haughtily asked, "And what exactly is that supposed to mean?!"

Ren noticeably hesitated for a moment before answering, "Yang and I… broke up."

Everybody let out a gasp of surprise. "Aw, dude," Jaune said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head as he averted his eyes to the side. "That's rough."

Pyrrha nodded before walking up to Ren, placing a hand onto one of Ren's shoulders, and giving it a comforting squeeze. "Oh, Ren, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," Ruby softly said, her feet fidgeting sheepishly as she bowed her head and placed her hands behind her back, "I'm sorry too. I mean, I keep telling her that she's got to let them down a bit more gently, but no matter what, it always sort of seems to end like this so…."

Ren's eyes widened in surprise upon realizing what exactly Ruby was insinuating. "N-No, you don't understand. I broke up with her."

Everybody let out even more shocked and surprised gasps upon hearing this, with Ruby's being the loudest. "Wait, you what?!" Jaune cried.

Ren sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation before repeating, "I decided... to break up with her. Not the other way around."

Everybody stared at him in utter disbelief before Blake finally managed to utter, "Wow, plot-twist much?"

"But why?!" Jaune demanded. "You two were doing so well together!"

Ren sighed. "Well, as I would've explained to Yang -"

"Wait," Pyrrha cautiously said, "'would've'? Ren, what do you mean by that?"

Ren hesitated for a moment before explaining, "Before I could explain to Yang why I was breaking up with her, Yang… she started crying. And before I could do anything, she just… ran off."

"So wait," Jaune hysterically said. "Are you telling me that Yang doesn't even know WHY you broke up with her in the first place?!"

"Well, it's not like I didn't try to tell her!" Ren said. "But she ran straight towards to girls' locker room! What was I supposed to do after taht?"

"Wait for her at the front of the gym?" Blake coolly suggested.

Immediately realizing that Blake had a point, Ren could only gape at everyone for a moment before letting out a stammered, "I… I… I…," and letting out a helpless sigh.

It was then that Ruby, having finally rid herself out of her initial shock, screamed, ran to Ren, began clobbering him repeatedly with the sides of her fists, and cried, "You evil heartbreaker you!"

"Gah!" Ren cried, raising his arms up in an attempt to shield himself from Ruby's repeated attacks.

"Ruby, please, calm down!" Pyrrha gently instructed.

"You don't deserve her!"

"Ruby!"

"She's too good for you anyway!"

"Ruby, please, let's allow Ren to say his piece first!"

Ruby stopped hitting Ren to look up to Pyrrha and ask, "And if his reason isn't good enough?"

Pyrrha bit her lip uncomfortably for a moment, glancing at the helpless Ren before turning back to Ruby and saying, "Then you'll be allowed… a few more hits on him." She then raised her index finger and looked Ruby sternly in the eyes. "But only a few and nothing more, okay?"

Ruby angrily pouted at her before slowly backing away from Ren, crossing her arms angrily, and saying, "Fine. You've got five minutes, but if I don't like what I hear," she pointed dramatically at him, "then you will feel my sisterly fury!"

Weiss wearily sighed before replying, "You do realize that Ren has every right to break up with your sister, right? I mean, breaking up with your sister isn't exactly some heinous crime or anything."

"I know that!" Ruby insisted. "But it's just what sisters do is all!"

"I highly doubt that," Weiss said, firmly believing that if either Winter and her were to have their hearts broken, the other wouldn't stoop so low as to attack the cause of their heartache, or, at the very least, not at first.

"Ruby," Blake said, "don't you think you should be comforting Yang right now instead of attacking Ren?"

"Er, well," Ruby sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck, "honestly, I don't think I'd be very good at that. Considering the fact that I've never dated before and all."

Blake nodded her head. "Alright then, I guess if we don't have any other volunteers, I'll go check and see if she's okay."

"Wait a minute," Weiss said. "Do you even know where she is?"

Blake simply shrugged and answered, "I might have a few ideas."

"I'll go with you," Pyrrha offered. "Yang's going to need all of the help she can get."

Blake nodded. "Sure."

Pyrrha turned to Ruby. "Wait here, and don't do anything to Ren while we're gone, okay? Yang deserves to hear Ren out even more than we do, so at least wait until then, okay?" When Ruby gave her no response in return, Pyrrha sighed before gently, but sternly, saying, "Ruby."

Ruby sighed. "Okay, fine. No attacking Ren until after Yang comes back and he explains himself."

Pyrrha smiled. "Thank you." She and Blake then left on their search for Yang, leaving Jaune, Weiss, Nora, Ruby, and Ren to awkwardly wait until their return, though for Ren it was probably the most awkward. With the way Ruby was eyeing at him, he felt a bit like a criminal.

Upon seeing the tension between the two of them grow to arguably inexcusable levels, which was admittedly mostly Ruby's fault, Weiss took Ruby aside in an attempt to calm her down while Jaune plopped himself down next to Ren and asked, "So, hey, you do have a good reason for breaking up with Yang, don't you?"

Ren sighed. "It depends on what your definition of a 'good reason' is, Jaune."

Meanwhile, a hammer-wielding huntress was being uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole thing, sitting down on one of the cafeteria benches and hoping beyond hope that the reason for Ren breaking up with Yang was not what she dreaded.

"There you are," Blake said upon finally finding Yang sitting all by herself at a table in a corner of the library surrounded by books, obviously trying her best to feign studying in the hopes of it giving herself some much needed alone time. Both Blake and Pyrrha gave her small and sympathetic smiles. "We've been looking all over for you."

Yang gulped and let out a tiny sniffle before quickly wiping away the unshed tears from her eyes with the bottom of her palms, letting out the best hearty laugh and smile she could muster, and saying, "Yeah, well, sorry about that, but I really needed to catch up on my studying, so I thought that I'd study by myself for a change and see if it works out. Which it did, if you were wondering."

Pyrrha and Blake both exchanged concerned looks before Pyrrha stepped forward, cleared her throat, and gently said, "Yang, we know about what happened between you and Ren." When Yang simply let out a small and surprised gasp and stared at them with a mixture of apprehension and annoyance, Pyrrha continued, "Yang, it's perfectly normal for people to feel sad after a break up. You don't have to pretend not to be."

At this, Yang let out an awkwardly incredulous chuckle. "No offense, Pyrrha, but who said that I was pretending?"

Pyrrha frowned. "Ren did."

"Yeah, well," Yang said, leaning back against her chair as she stretched out her arms and back before resting her hands behind her head and giving Blake and Pyrrha a knowing smirk, "in my experience, boys tend to remember things differently than how they actually happened. You know," she flexed her biceps playfully, "always got to be the macho man to the crying damsel and all that."

"Yang," Blake calmly and coolly said, "he said that the moment he said that he wanted to break up with you, you ran away and started crying."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Yang cried. "I was NOT crying, alright?!"

"Yang," Pyrrha softly argued, "your eyes are still red from the tears. We could hear your sniffles coming from your nose a mile away!"

"Yeah, well…," Yang began, racking her brain for whatever believable excuse she could possibly come up with to cover her tracks, "allergies!"

"Allergies?!"

Yang nodded. "Yeah! Allergies. I've just got the sniffles, that's all!"

At this point, Blake had had enough. "Yang, cut the act."

"What act?!" Yang cried, becoming more and more frustrated that her friends were so unwilling to drop the subject.

"This whole pretending-to-be-fine thing that you think you can get away with even though you've already rightly called me out on it when I did it when I was obsessing over Torchwick!" Blake answered, slamming her fists against the table and stunning Yang into silence. Seeing this as her opportunity to return the favor to what Yang did for her just a few months ago, Blake continued, "It's okay to be sad, but hiding your pain and stubbornly insisting that you're okay when you're not isn't healthy! We're your friends, Yang! We want to help, in any way that we can."

At this, Yang dejectedly looked back down at the book she had previously been using to pretend to be studying with before softly saying, "No offense, guys, but what exactly is there for you to help me out with?"

"Well, for starters," Pyrrha meekly suggested, "we could start by having you and Ren talk about exactly WHY he wanted to break up with you in the first place."

"What's there to talk about?" Yang bitterly said. "He doesn't want us to be a couple anymore. It's as simple as that."

"Yang," Pyrrha gently chided, "please, that's not fair to Ren. He has his reasons and he wants to share them with you. He feels that you deserve to know! Why do you so insistent on squandering this?"

"Because I know how break ups work, Pyrrha!" Yang angrily cried, her semblance activating a bit as she slammed her hands against the table, making all of the books on it jump up and for some to fall to the ground. "Not you! When someone wants to break up with you, it's because they don't want to be with you anymore! Ren doesn't want me! It's as simple as that!"

"You don't know that," Pyrrha firmly argued. "And despite how you may feel, you know that Ren is a better person than that. If he says that he has a reason, then he has a reason!" When Yang turned away in frustration, Pyrrha looked at her incredulously before asking, "What is going on with you? Why are you so insistent that the only reason for Ren breaking up with you is because he doesn't want to be with you anymore?!"

"Maybe it's because she's afraid that that's the reason why everyone else in her life's left her in the first place," Blake coldly suggested.

Yang let out a gasp of surprise before glaring at Blake and screaming, "I can't believe you right now!" She immediately walked up to her and jabbed her finger against Blake's chest. "I told you all that in private!"

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm not going through all of the trouble to make this conversation more private," Blake scoffed, "but right now, we don't have time for that!"

Pyrrha looked quickly between the two with a mixture of curiosity and concern. "I'm sorry, but… what exactly are you two talking about?"

"I'm talking about the mom that walked out of Yang's life without telling her or anybody else why!" Blake cried.

Yang gave Blake a look as if she had physically been struck by her. "You little -"

"Spare me the threats, Yang!" Blake said. "Look, I get that your mother walking out on you would be pretty traumatizing, but don't you dare take that out on Ren! Ren and your mother are two completely different people!"

Realizing that it was too late to change the subject, Yang clenched her fists and cried, "Well maybe they are! You don't know that!"

"That may be," Pyrrha calmly admitted, "but that also applies to you, doesn't it? You don't know why your mother left you anymore than anybody else here does!"

"Well, no offense, Pyrrha, but if she had gone off on some super secret huntress mission, than my dad wouldn't have been so devastated over her leaving now, would he?!"

"But maybe she did!" Pyrrha pleaded. "The world of huntsmen and huntresses isn't so black and white, Yang! Maybe it was a mission so secret that she couldn't even tell the people she loved about it!"

"Yeah, maybe it was!" Yang angrily admitted. "But if it wasn't, then what?" She averted her eyes to the ground as hot tears once again threatened to fall down her face. "She left us, Pyrrha! She left us," she sniffled, "because we weren't enough to make her happy!" Her shoulders began to tremble. "We weren't good enough." She began to sob uncontrollably behind her arms, which were being used, in vain, to wipe away the tears. "I wasn't good enough."

Pyrrha looked at her tenderly as Blake sadly looked away. "Oh, Yang," Pyrrha said, enveloping the member of Team RWBY in big, comforting hug, which Yang allowed and sobbed into. "I am so sorry, Yang. I can't imagine what it must've felt like, bearing all of these thoughts and never knowing if they were actually true or not." She then let Yang go in order to look into her eyes. "But don't you see? This time, you have the chance to get the answers that you seek! This time, you have the chance to know if your fears are justified or not!" When Yang had calmed down but still seemed to not be entirely convinced, Pyrrha gently added, "Ren's an honest man. He'll tell you the truth if you ask him. As his teammate, I can firmly attest to that."

"Now isn't the time to be running, Yang," Blake said. "Now," she grabbed one of Yang's hands and gave it a gentle and reassuring squeeze, "is the time to face your fears, and find out the truth that you want so badly. Otherwise, what will you do when you finally find your mother?"

Letting out a tiny gasp upon realizing that they were right, Yang looked down dejectedly for a moment and sighed before eventually nodding her head and softly saying, "Okay, fine. I'll hear Ren out." She then raised her head and firmly added, "But after that, this entire thing is OVER."

Blake and Pyrrha smiled and chuckled at one another before Blake nodded and said, "Of course."

"We wouldn't want it any other way," Pyrrha added.

Ruby gasped. "Yang!" she cried before running up to her sister and giving her the most comforting hug that she could manage. "Oh, Yang, I'm so sorry." She then let her go to reveal a determined expression on her face. "I swear, on my sisterly honor, that I will make Ren pay for his treatment of you!"

Yang sadly chuckled and gave Ruby her best smirk. "Thanks Ruby, but you do know that Ren has every right to break up with me, right?"

"Thank you!" Weiss cried. "That's exactly what I've been trying to tell her!"

Yang smiled at her. "Well, thanks for trying, Weiss."

"So," Jaune whispered upon approaching Blake and Pyrrha and nervously crossing his arms, "I take it that the talk went… well?"

Pyrrha took a deep breath before nodding her head and answering, "Well enough."

Blake smiled reassuringly towards Jaune before asking, "So, how were things over on this end?"

Jaune took a nervous breath before glancing around at everyone who had stayed behind in the cafeteria and answering, "Quiet… besides Weiss taking Ruby aside to explain to her the right for people to end relationships whenever they want to… very strangely quiet."

Pyrrha and Blake both looked at each other and frowned before throwing concerned glances Nora's way. It was then, however, that Yang decided to clap her hands and declare, "Alrighty then," she turned towards all of her friends, "thank you guys for arranging this and all, but," she glanced back at an equally uncomfortable Ren, "if it's okay with you, I think we would both prefer it if we talked privately with one another first before sharing with the rest of you."

"Aw, what!" Ruby cried out disappointingly. "But I want to know the reason now!"

Blake chuckled before wrapping an arm around Ruby's shoulders and whispering, "Come on, tiger. You heard her. You're going to have to wait a little bit longer for that beat down you've been itching to give."

Ruby bowed her head as she allowed for Blake to lead her out of the cafeteria. "Aw."

Jaune patted Ren reassuringly on the shoulder before following everyone else out. "Good luck, man," he said.

Ren simply nodded. "Yeah."

Before Nora left, however, she stopped by Yang, bowed her head, took a deep breath, shook her head, and whispered, "For what it's worth," she turned to look at her regretfully, "whatever the reason Ren had for breaking up with you, just know that… I'm sorry, okay?"

Yang simply returned to her the same sad and regretful look before nodding her head and saying, "Yeah, sure."

When both Yang and Ren were finally alone (or, at least, as alone as two people could be in a school cafeteria), Yang took the seat opposite to Ren's at the table and the two hung their heads in awkward silence. Neither of them really wanted to engage in the conversation that was about to happen, but at the same time, both of them knew that it had to be done. It was Ren who was the first to summon the courage to speak. "Yang, I -"

"I know that you're sorry," Yang softly interrupted. "And I know that you wouldn't break up with me without having a good reason to. I just…," she shook her head before raising it and looking into Ren's eyes pleadingly, "we both know why we're having this conversation, so just," she bowed her head and averted her eyes to the side, "get it over with."

Ren stared at her in shock for a moment before nodding his head with a frown on his face. "Yeah." He then took a deep breath before saying, "The reason I decided to break up with you is... because of Nora."

Yang bowed her head even lower as she shook her head in dismay. "Nora?" she asked weakly.

"It's not what you think," Ren said quickly.

"How is it not?" Yang said, slowly losing what little composure she had as she raised her head to sadly look into Ren's guilt filled eyes. She then clasped her hands together, squeezing them into one another, and looked away. "You love Nora more than you love me."

"Well, I mean," Ren sighed and shook his head, "that's… a little bit of a yes and a little bit of a no."

Yang quietly groaned as she leaned her head back. "How?!"

"I…," Ren took a moment to bite his lip and knock against the table to help come up with the right words, "you know how close Nora and I are. Ever since we were little, we were the only ones that we ever had. We had to feed each other, defend each other, look after one another, worry about each other, all of it!"

"Is there a point to this?!"

Ren sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration before answering, "The point is… I may have realized that I might not be ready to commit to a full relationship."

"So what?" Yang scoffed, crossing her arms. "You're saying, 'It's not you, it's me'?"

"Yes!" Seeing the angry look on Yang's face, however, made him reconsider that particular statement. "I mean, no! I mean…."

"Spit. It. Out."

"It's not fair to you, alright?!" Ren angrily hissed, stunning Yang out of her anger and into silence. "I…," Ren ran his hand through his hair once again as he let out another frustrated sigh, "I can't be in a committed relationship with you if I'm spending the entire time wondering what Nora is doing! Wondering what kind of trouble Nora might be getting into! Wondering if she's studying or not! Wondering if Jaune and Pyrrha are taking good care of her or not when I'm gone!" He was heavily panting at this point. He took a moment to recompose himself before adding, "Look, I know that Nora's a big girl now, and that she should be more than capable with taking care of herself by now. But… there's just something inside of me right now that will always be worried for her! And is that what a boyfriend is supposed to do? Constantly worry about someone else who isn't even there while he's spending time with the one he loves?" He shook his head. "Somehow, I doubt that."

Yang took a moment to process what she had just heard before giving Ren a questionable look and asking, "So let me get this straight: you're breaking up with me… NOT because you love Nora?"

"Of course I love Nora," Ren calmly said. "But that would be like saying that you love Ruby. And unlike you, I just can't seem to… let Nora go as easily as you can let Ruby go."

Yang nodded slightly at this. "Yeah," she said softly, "it definitely isn't easy. And to be honest, even after seeing all of the ways Ruby has proven that she can take care of herself, I still find myself worrying about her a lot." She let out a lighthearted chuckle. "It's like… the curse of the mature and older siblings, you know?"

"Tell me about it."

The two of them chuckled before looking deep into each other's eyes. As much as this hurt, having this talk had helped lessen the pain a bit, which is all anyone could really ask for. Yang smirked before leaning forward over the table suggestively and asking, "So, just to make absolutely sure: the reason you decided to break up with me," she used one finger to twirl a strand of her hair and pointed to herself, "ISN'T because you've gotten tired of… all of this?"

Ren blushed a bit before shaking his head, letting out a small chuckle, and answering, "Of course not. You, Yang Xiao Long, are one of a kind." He leaned forward as he laid his elbows against the table. "How could anyone get tired of you?"

"I don't know," Yang said in a sing-song tone of voice. "There was once this one guy who I thought I had a pretty good relationship with, but then he just sort of decided to cut it short."

Ren smiled. "Well then, I can confidently say that it's his loss."

Yang hummed in agreement. "Yeah, but even though we left on good terms, I'm still kind of sad that our relationship ended the way it did."

Ren raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Oh?"

Yang nodded. "Yeah. Now that we're friends," she leaned ever closer to Ren's face and placed what was probably the last kiss that they would ever have with each other onto his lips, "we can never really stuff like that with one another anymore, you know?"

Ren nodded. "I'd hate to be that guy right about now. Knowing what he had to give up, no matter how good the reason." He shook his head, "It must have been hard on him."

Yang smirked. "It better have been." She then gave him a playful wink before the two of them laughed a bit. How strange. They had spent so much time and energy dreading this moment and yet here they were, perfectly fine with how everything turned out in the end. Perhaps they really were two of a kind after all.

Ren looked at Yang with a mixture of relief, happiness, and awe for a moment before asking, "So, are you sure you're really okay with," he moved his hands between them, "this?"

Yang nonchalantly shrugged. "Well, I mean, it's not like you were lying right? And besides," she dangled her feet from under the table and gave Ren a playfully guilty look, "my team sort of has a lot of things going on right now. The more I think about it, maybe it's better that we handle our own separate problems first before we start thinking about sharing our problems with someone else."

Ren smiled and nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He then gently grabbed one of Yang's hands, much to Yang's surprise, kissed it, and said, "Farewell, Yang Xiao Long. Thank you, for everything. You've taught me a lot. It has definitely been a growing experience."

Yang smiled tenderly back at him. "Same here. But let's be honest," she got up from her seat, "I think it's pretty obvious that you're the one who changed the most out of this relationship." She then began making her way out of the cafeteria.

"Huh?" Ren asked, raising his eyebrow in surprise and following suit. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, for starters," Yang said knowingly, "you've been sounding a lot more relaxed lately. A lot less stiff, a little less soft-spoken. But then again," she gave him an arrogant smirk, "Xiao Long can any boy stay stiff when they're dating me, right?"

Ren simply rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Yang said with a wink, before opening the cafeteria doors and unleashing an impatiently waiting Ruby onto him, who proceeded to punch and claw at him as punishment for breaking her sister's heart.

"Rah! I've got you now, you good for nothing heartbreaker!"

"Ah!" Ren cried, holding up his arms in an attempt to shield himself from her relentless assault. "Ruby, you haven't even heard what the reason was yet!"

"It doesn't matter!" Ruby declared. She raised her fist in the air. "Sisters must avenge one another!"

Blake sighed before leaning towards Weiss and asking, "You're not going to stop her this time?"

Weiss simply looked away and let out an annoyed huff. "Why bother? There really is no talking sense into her."

Pyrrha chuckled before nodding toward the attacking Ruby and helpless Ren to Jaune and saying, "Come on, Jaune. Let's go break them up."

Jaune eyed her questioningly as he followed her lead. "Who, me? But where would I even grab?"

Yang chuckled at the antics around her before an anxious Nora approached her and asked, "So, um, how did it go?"

Yang stared at her for a moment, pondering over it for a moment (which to Nora, felt like an eternity) before giving Nora a small and reassuring smile and answering, "It went well, actually."

Nora's eyes widened in surprise. "R-Really? No bickering, no hard feelings, no slapping or breaking of each other's bones?"

Yang shook her head. "Nope. Everything is just fine." She then lightly grabbed Nora's shoulder and gave it a small and reassuring squeeze. "Really, it is."

Nora simply stared at her in shock for a moment before her usual grin returned to her face and she flung her arms up into the air. "That's GREAT! Oh, if this wasn't such a sad moment, it would totally be a happy one!" She was giddily hopping in place before she let out a terrified gasp and asked, "Wait, you two are still friends, right? Like, we can still hang out and stuff, right?"

Yang nodded. "Of course. I mean, who else is going to take me on at arm-wrestling? Jaune?"

"I take offense to that!"

Everyone except the wild Ruby and helpless Ren laughed at this, and as Pyrrha and Jaune finally managed to get Ruby off of Ren, Yang walked up to him, extended a hand towards him, smiled, and asked, "Need a hand?"

Ren smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, thanks," he breathlessly answered, before being pulled up by the powerhouse of Team RWBY and dusting himself off. Was it sad losing the relationship that they used to have? Yes. But if this was any indication, he and Yang still had their solid friendship to lean on, and maybe, just maybe, once they had finally worked out their own issues, they could get back to the relationship that they once had, but for now, things were fine. Everything was just fine. And there was nothing wrong with that.

Author's Note: My unorthodox Valentine's Day gift to the RWBY fandom. Sorry for writing a break-up story on Valentine's Day, but this was a story that was bound to happen sooner or later, so might as well release the story about a relationship on a day dedicated to them, right? And hey, think of this as a story for those of you who are going through tough break ups yourselves. No matter what happens today, always know that it is always going to be alright, okay? Have a happy Valentine's Day guys!