Vacuo was proving to be rather dull. A welcome change, in a sense, given how crazy Atlas had become in the last few days. Its final days, Penny corrected herself.

Her new human body needed sleep. She knew this, but she still couldn't bring herself to do so. How could she? In the wake of all that had happened, so many things raced through her mind. The evacuation was mostly successful, but so many were still lost. Locations and treasured memories that could never be recovered. And they still weren't out of the woods just yet. They just weren't in danger at the moment.

There was a knock at the door. "Who is it?" Penny asked.

"Me," Ruby replied. "Can I come in?"

"It's not locked."

Ruby walked in. "That's not super safe."

"I'm too tired to think about that right now," Penny replied, leaning against her bed, rather than lying on it.

"Right there with ya," Ruby commiserated, sitting next to her.

"Atlas is gone." It was a statement of fact. Penny was not offering judgment, her opinion on the matter, or any sort of revelation. It was simply true. "Mantle, too. We survived. We saved so many lives the General was willing to cast aside. But I don't feel like we won."

"Me neither," Ruby admitted. "We just... have to keep doing the best we can. Like we did after Beacon."

"This wasn't what I meant when I said it would be like Beacon again," Penny said, jokingly, albeit lifelessly.

Ruby let out a short chuckle. "I wish we could've gone back to those days. Food fights, board games, fireflies..."

Penny smiled for the first time in hours at that. "I still remember that. First meeting them. There weren't anything like them in Atlas."

"I can't believe you learned their language," Ruby said fondly.

Penny attempted to blink back a message before she remembered her eyes no longer held such a function. She paused. "Hold on," she requested.

Summoning her Maiden power, Penny conjured a few points of light to fill the room.

"The magic's really cool," Ruby confessed.

"I'm getting used to it," Penny agreed. She began to shaped the points of light into a symbol. Ruby's symbol. "Do you know what the main purpose of firefly light is?"

"Seeing in the dark?" Ruby guessed.

Penny shook her head. "Not quite."

More lights began to take shape. Ruby tried again. "Communication?"

"A very special kind," Penny answered, shaping green lights around the red rose symbol she formed. A green heart. "Messages of love."

Ruby took Penny into a hug. "My firefly."

"The only one in Vacuo," Penny joked.

Ruby replied to Penny's message of love with one of her own. A light peck to the cheek.

Penny's lights burst into sparks in response. "Wow..." she replied, delighted at the new sensation.

Ruby could see where this was going. Remembering Penny's earlier outburst at sensory overload, she asked, "More?"

Penny nodded. "Yes, please."