The battlefield remained unnaturally silent in the wake of the massacre. Moments earlier it had been alive with shrieking Nevermores, bounding Beowolves, roaring Ursas, the crackling of Runes, and the desperate sounds of awakened struggling merely to survive another minute.
Now all that remained was the gentle hiss of Grimm bodies dissolving into black ash beneath the light of the crimson moon. The empty landscape stretched outward in every direction, littered only with drifting cinders and scattered patches of emerald-black Pixelation that clung stubbornly where Mocha's earlier constructs had left their mark.
Charr slowly lowered the Mechanism cannon that had formed over his arm, Psy absentmindedly twirled one of his miniature javelins between his fingers before realizing he no longer had anything to throw it at, and Picto simply stood there in complete silence, still trying to process how an entire battlefield that had moments ago promised certain death had been reduced to perfect stillness in less than half a minute.
All three men reached exactly the same conclusion without needing to say it aloud. Whoever this Rank Two was... he had style.
Ridiculous amounts of it.
He hadn't simply arrived to save them but had done so by tearing through every Grimm chasing them faster than their eyes could follow, bisecting three Sleepless operatives before any of them had even realized they were under attack, and then, without the slightest trace of embarrassment, had swept Mocha into a princess carry and kissed her as though he had stepped directly out of the climax of some romance novel.
Had the sky been blue and the ground covered in flowers instead of ash and Grimm corpses, the scene would have been genuinely picturesque. Unfortunately, the eternal black heavens and blood-red landscape prevented it from becoming anything resembling a fairy tale.
Eventually the kiss broke, though neither participant seemed particularly eager for it to end. Mocha looked positively radiant as she remained comfortably cradled in the young man's arms, her earlier exhaustion almost forgotten as relief replaced the desperate tension she had been carrying since arriving upon the Crimson Moon.
Tilting her head upward to look at him, she smiled warmly before asking,
"Ossy... how'd you find us?"
Oscar gradually floated downward until his boots touched the crimson earth with barely a whisper, gravity finally acknowledging his presence once more. Even after landing he didn't immediately set her down, instead answering her question while still holding her comfortably.
"Honestly? If it wasn't for the noise you guys made earlier, I probably never would've found you."
Mocha blinked before mentally retracing the previous hour. The mobile fortress. The collapsing valley. The Pixel bombs she had carefully hidden throughout the stone. The explosion that had erased an entire small mountain pass from existence.
The realization slowly dawned upon her, causing her cheeks to colour ever so slightly.
"...Right. We... may have been a little loud." She rubbed the back of her head sheepishly.
Oscar couldn't help smiling.
"A little?"
He glanced toward the distant cloud of lingering crimson dust that still hovered over the remains of the valley.
"I've been tracking explosions for quite a while now. That giant crater over there..." His eyes drifted back toward her. "...I'm guessing that was your doing?"
Mocha's sheepishness immediately evaporated beneath unmistakable pride. "Yep!" she declared proudly. "Pretty neat, right?"
Oscar simply nodded with complete acceptance.
"...Honestly, that checks out."
Only then did he gently lower her until both of her feet rested upon the ground. Almost immediately his expression changed as though another thought had suddenly barged into the front of his mind.
"...Ah, crap."
He scratched awkwardly at the side of his neck while glancing over his shoulder in the direction from which he had come.
"I kind of left my charges behind for a second." He winced slightly before looking back at her apologetically. "I'll be back in a bit, Mocha."
She folded her arms and immediately produced an expression of exaggerated offence, her lips forming an exaggerated pout.
"What?" she asked dramatically, voice trembling with deliberately theatrical sadness. "We just found each other in this hellish realm after thinking we might never meet again, and you're already abandoning me?"
Oscar immediately looked alarmed.
"What? No, that's not..."
Before he could properly explain himself Mocha inhaled sharply, placing a hand against her chest as though a terrible revelation had suddenly struck her.
"I knew it!" she accused dramatically. "It's another woman, isn't it?"
Oscar froze completely.
"Huh?!"
She pointed an accusing finger directly at him.
"I knew you were secretly keeping a mistress on the side while you were seeing me!"
Oscar's eyes widened in absolute panic and confusion.
"Mocha! What are you talking about? I don't have—"
She cut him off without mercy.
"You probably already have illegitimate children!" she wailed. "How could you, Oscar? You've probably got an entire harem of beautiful women serving your every need!"
She sniffled dramatically before adding the final blow.
"...Just like Jaune!"
Oscar simply stared at her. His mouth opened once, closed again and opened a second time before absolutely no coherent response emerged.
For several long seconds he merely looked at her while Charr, Psy and Picto silently watched the exchange unfold with growing bewilderment. Finally Oscar's shoulders sagged as realization settled over him. He looked directly into her eyes with an expression of resigned annoyance.
"...You're messing with me, aren't you?"
Mocha's theatrical heartbreak instantly vanished beneath a mischievous grin.
"Tee hee."
Oscar sighed deeply enough that it almost sounded painful, muttering something unintelligible beneath his breath before shaking his head. Then he suddenly paused.
"...Wait." His expression became thoughtful. "...Jaune has a harem?"
Mocha tilted her head uncertainly before shrugging.
"Sort of... but not really?" She waved one hand indecisively. "I mean... technically speaking Weiss, Ruby, Blake, Yang and Pyrrha have all shown some level of interest in him. They've all more or less hinted they liked him. But before Jaune disappeared he looked really hesitant to actually start anything with any of them. Am I wrong?"
Oscar slowly cupped his chin while considering that. "...Yeah..." he admitted thoughtfully. "...I guess you're right."
His thoughts drifted elsewhere. He remembered the conversations shared after training sessions, Ren quietly offering advice and Jaune laughing at something Nora had done, the four of them sitting together after Dream Realm operations discussing future plans that now felt impossibly distant.
Oscar realized with surprising clarity just how much he missed his friend. He genuinely wanted to see Jaune again. Perhaps somewhere within this impossible Crimson Moon Realm their paths would cross once more, or perhaps they wouldn't.
He honestly didn't know.
His train of thought abruptly snapped apart.
"...Ah, shit." He looked accusingly toward Mocha once again. "You distracted me, damn it!"
Mocha blinked innocently.
"Did I?"
Oscar laughed despite himself before shaking his head.
"Yes. You absolutely did." He pointed toward the distant horizon. "Seriously though, I have to go grab the Rank One group I left behind. They'll probably think I've died if I stay away much longer."
His expression softened once again.
"Don't worry. I'll still be close enough to get back here in a few moments if anything happens, alright?"
Mocha immediately straightened into a comically rigid posture before throwing him an exaggerated salute worthy of a military parade.
"Aye aye, ser!"
Oscar rolled his eyes affectionately before, without so much as glancing toward Charr, Psy or Picto, disappearing once more. One moment he stood before them. The next he accelerated into a blur that streaked across the crimson landscape before vanishing beyond the horizon almost instantly.
Silence lingered for perhaps two seconds after he left.
Then, all three surviving awakened turned toward Mocha simultaneously.
Charr folded his arms first.
"Alright. Explanations?"
Psy nodded immediately.
"Several of them, definitely."
Even the usually reserved Picto politely raised one hand.
"I... also have a few questions."
Mocha looked between the three of them with an innocent smile.
"About?"
Charr pointed toward the direction Oscar had vanished.
"That, obviously."
Psy continued, "The Rank Two who just deleted an army, then picked you up and kissed you?"
Charr finished the thought.
"...Who exactly was that?"
Mocha answered without the slightest hesitation. "His name's Oscar Pine. He's from Vale's LUCID Branch same as me and Picto, I guess."
Charr blinked. "...Vale produced him?"
"Yep."
Psy tilted his head.
"...And your in a relationship with him?"
Mocha smiled warmly.
"He's my boyfriend."
Silence settled over the trio once more. Charr eventually nodded very slowly.
"...Right. I guess that makes sense."
"Yep."
"I thought awakened only usually got into relationships with those of their own rank?"
"Yeah. We started dating before he became a Rank 2. It was pretty recent, all things consdering."
"Well... he did look quite young, I suppose."
"Well, he's a teenager..."
Psy couldn't help frowning.
"Oh. That's... um..."
Mocha waved him off.
"Oh shush you. I was a teenager just recently too!"
The questions continued naturally over the next several minutes while the surrounding battlefield remained unusually peaceful.
She answered as honestly as she could, occasionally drifting into amusing anecdotes about Oscar's personality or explaining that no, not every Rank Two was built quite like him.
Picto quietly remarked that if Rank Twos routinely moved that quickly then logistics would never again underestimate the importance of supplying them properly. Charr admitted that he had never expected to witness someone make saving an entire battlefield somehow look romantic. Psy merely laughed before commenting that Menagerie would probably approve of Oscar's priorities.
Their conversation was interrupted several minutes later by movement upon the distant horizon. This time there was no impossible blur crossing kilometers in the blink of an eye. Instead Oscar deliberately moved at a pace matching those behind him, jogging comfortably while guiding a sizeable collection of awakened across the crimson landscape.
Mocha immediately began counting them almost unconsciously as they approached. Five. Nine. Fourteen. Seventeen. Twenty.
Roughly twenty Rank Ones followed behind him, each of them visibly exhausted, bruised and covered in sweat, yet all wearing noticeably calmer expressions than they likely had only minutes earlier. Simply having a Rank Two leading them through the Crimson Moon appeared enough to restore hope that had nearly vanished.
Mocha smiled brightly as Oscar approached once again. Their tiny band of four survivors had suddenly become a force numbering more than two dozen awakened, and within the nightmare that was the Crimson Moon, numbers meant survival.
As Oscar finally arrived before Mocha's assembled group, he briefly turned toward those following behind him and spoke with calm authority.
"We're merging formations. Integrate these four into the group and make room for them. Keep everyone inside visual range and don't let anybody wander off alone. If Grimm attack again, stay together."
Several awakened acknowledged him immediately before shifting positions, welcoming Charr, Psy, Picto and Mocha into the larger formation with practiced efficiency. There would be time for introductions later. Right now, maintaining cohesion mattered far more than names.
Only after ensuring everyone had settled into the enlarged group did Oscar finally allow himself to relax. His shoulders eased, the sternness that had accompanied his orders disappeared, and he turned back toward Mocha with the easy smile she had become so accustomed to over the past several months.
Folding his arms across his chest with a look of exaggerated confidence, he tilted his head ever so slightly before asking,
"Miss me?"
Mocha answered so quickly that it was almost instinctive.
"Very much so, hubby." The word escaped her mouth before she had fully processed it herself.
Oscar blinked several times, his confident expression immediately collapsing into complete bewilderment as a faint flush appeared across his face.
"H-hubby?" he repeated, almost choking on the word.
Mocha herself immediately realized what she had said. A faint blush spread across her own cheeks and she abruptly looked away, refusing to meet his eyes despite the fact that she had started the joke herself.
She awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck before quietly mumbling, "I mean... isn't that what dating is for?" Her voice became noticeably softer. "...To see if we're compatible for... um... marriage."
Oscar scratched his own cheek in embarrassment, yet despite the awkwardness, he found himself smiling. There was something undeniably endearing about seeing the usually playful Mocha become flustered by her own words. He looked directly into her eyes with surprising tenderness before answering.
"Yeah... I guess you're right."
Without another word he gently reached forward, took her hand within his own, and simply stood there for several seconds, neither of them feeling any need to fill the silence. Amid the nightmare of the Crimson Moon, surrounded by dissonance, the simple warmth of another person's hand felt strangely grounding. Oscar finally broke the silence himself.
"I'm really glad you're alright, Mocha." His smile faded into genuine relief. "When we got separated, I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever find you again. One second you were standing right beside me and the next I landed somewhere completely different on this moon."
He gave a small, incredulous laugh before shaking his head. "Can you believe I had to fight a Rank Two Sleepless member almost immediately after I landed?"
The concern on Mocha's face replaced her embarrassment almost instantly. Still holding one of his hands, she used the other to inspect him almost unconsciously, looking over his shoulders, chest and arms as though expecting to discover some hidden wound he had neglected to mention.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice filled with genuine worry. "You weren't hurt, were you?"
Oscar smiled reassuringly and gently shook his head.
"No. I got through it."
His expression became more thoughtful as he recalled the encounter.
"It was close for a little while, though. She was incredibly strong. Honestly, I thought the fight was going to drag on for quite a bit longer."
He frowned slightly.
"But then... she suddenly pulled out some kind of imbued teleportation rune."
Mocha stopped checking him and looked up curiously.
"She teleported away?"
Oscar nodded. "Just disappeared. One second we were fighting and the next she activated the rune and vanished."
Mocha frowned thoughtfully.
"If she was planning on leaving anyway... why fight you in the first place?"
Oscar exhaled slowly.
"Our group talked about that while we were making our way over here. We came up with a theory."
Mocha waited patiently for him to continue.
"I think Sleepless has two primary objectives right now. The first one is obvious. Awaken the Sleeper." He paused before continuing. "The second objective... I think killing awakened somehow contributes toward that first goal."
Mocha immediately understood where he was going.
"Because of the Nightmare System?"
Oscar nodded.
"Exactly. Since supposedly, the Nightmare System is continuously stealing power from the Sleeper and redistributing it among awakened, if awakened die..."
He shrugged uncertainly.
"...Maybe that stolen power returns to the Sleeper instead. Though... why here on the Crimson moon? That, I don't know."
Mocha folded her arms thoughtfully.
"So killing awakened speeds up the awakening process."
Oscar gave another small shrug. "That's our current theory. Honestly, though, it's still just speculation. We don't actually know."
He chuckled softly. "If Jaune were here, though..." He smiled despite himself. "...I'm pretty sure he'd already have figured out exactly how it all works."
Mocha smiled faintly as well before her expression gradually became contemplative.
"Right..." she murmured. "If Sleepless has already started all of this..." She looked toward Oscar again. "Jaune should've confronted his father already, shouldn't he?"
Oscar slowly nodded.
"Assuming everything went according to plan, I guess?"
Mocha hesitated before asking,
"If he won... do you think Nicholas finally told him everything?"
Oscar considered the question carefully before answering.
"It's possible." He smiled hopefully. "If we're lucky, maybe we'll even run into him here."
Mocha tilted her head curiously. "Here? You think he got summoned too?"
Oscar gestured toward the dozens of awakened surrounding them.
"Think about it. We were separated the moment we arrived here. Everyone else seems to have been scattered across completely different parts of the moon too."
His eyes drifted toward the distant horizon where the colossal floating landmasses hung impossibly above the crimson landscape.
"Personally... I think every awakened in the world has been summoned here in some sort of random teleport function."
Mocha quietly absorbed that statement before letting out a slow breath.
"Every awakened..." She laughed softly in disbelief. "That's... kind of insane when you actually think about it."
Oscar nodded. "It is. But Sleepless possesses the Supreme Runes. Compared to everything else we've already seen..."
He looked around at the impossible world surrounding them.
"...Summoning every awakened onto the Crimson Moon honestly doesn't sound impossible anymore."
Mocha hummed thoughtfully before asking, "So I guess we should probably try to find everyone?"
Oscar smiled. "That's exactly what I was thinking."
"Any idea how?" she asked.
Oscar looked down toward the crimson ground beneath his feet.
"Feel that?"
Mocha blinked in confusion.
"Feel what?"
"The ground."
She frowned before consciously focusing downward for the first time since arriving upon the moon. Until now every ounce of her attention had been devoted toward surviving the relentless Grimm assaults, the Sleepless ambushes and everything else that had tried to kill them.
Only now, in this brief moment of relative calm, did she truly notice it. A faint pulse echoed upward through the crimson earth beneath her boots. It was subtle, rhythmic and strangely organic, resembling the steady heartbeat of some impossibly enormous living creature slumbering beneath the moon itself. Thump... silence... thump... silence... She frowned.
"...How did I not notice that before?"
Oscar smiled knowingly.
"Maybe it's because you were a little busy trying not to die."
Mocha couldn't argue with that. She concentrated a little harder and quickly realized the pulse possessed direction. It seemed to originate somewhere unimaginably distant, toward the floating continental fragments suspended above the horizon.
Oscar quietly explained.
"I'm willing to bet every awakened that's still alive is eventually going to head toward that heartbeat pulse thing. Wandering around hoping to randomly meet other survivors doesn't make much sense. At least this gives everyone the same destination."
Mocha slowly nodded. "That actually makes perfect sense."
She squeezed his hand one final time before reluctantly letting it go.
"Then we should probably get moving before something else decides to ruin our day."
Oscar nodded in agreement. "Exactly."
He turned toward the rest of the assembled awakened, clearly preparing to resume command of the growing group. Then, without warning, he froze. Every trace of warmth vanished from his face. His posture stiffened and his eyes narrowed toward something far behind the formation. Mocha noticed the sudden change immediately.
"...Oscar?"
He didn't answer. Instead he continued staring into the distance, his expression becoming increasingly grave with every passing second. A chill crawled up Mocha's spine. She instinctively followed his gaze, yet at first saw nothing but drifting crimson dust.
"...What's wrong?" she asked quietly. Oscar suddenly shouted with such force that every awakened nearby immediately snapped toward him.
"EVERYBODY!"
The entire group froze.
"RUN!"
The command carried such overwhelming urgency that no one even considered questioning it.
"We have a Rank Two incoming!"
Before the final word had completely left his mouth, Oscar vanished. The ground exploded beneath his feet as he accelerated into a silver blur that crossed the battlefield in an instant. From the opposite direction another blur erupted through the crimson dust.
The two figures collided head-on.
The impact detonated like an artillery shell. A deafening shockwave exploded outward in every direction, throwing Rank Ones off their feet, ripping loose stone from the ground and blasting a towering cloud of crimson dust high into the air.
Mocha barely managed to shield her face as the violent pressure wave struck her. Through the swirling dust she caught only the briefest glimpse of the figure Oscar had intercepted.
The man was gigantic, his body packed with grotesque muscle, his face horrifyingly blank. There were no eyes. No nose. Only a single mouth stretched across smooth flesh, sporting a grin.
Most disturbing of all, the Grimm mask associated with Sleepless wasn't covering his face. It hung casually from his hip, as though he no longer had any need for it.
Recognition struck Mocha with terrifying force. She had seen intelligence reports and had even been a part of the LUCID briefings reserved only for high-priority threats.
Her heart seemed to stop beating altogether as the realization washed over her. There was only one Sleepless commander matching that description. One of the organization's supreme leaders.
A man spoken of in the same breath as Nicholas Arc himself. Her lips parted as the name escaped in a horrified whisper.
"...Carnis."