Summary: No one really knows when the little bluebird started hovering over Robin Hood's shoulder. It just showed up one day, after a little Master achieved the third Ascension with the May King. And since then, there have been days where it's been following the little Master around too.

Note: Spurred on by the quiet help of PinkAfroPuffs on Tumblr and a tumbling thought of how I have not in any capacity, shape or form, covered Robin's little bird companion yet. Considering how Summer 3 referenced it, I wanted to cover my thoughts on it! So more fluff!

This chapter is dedicated to Tundradere/withanina on Tumblr, because November 6th is his birthday and an update is the least I can do for him considering all the support he's given me over the past few years. Happy birthday, beloved friend. I hope to share more birthdays with you for years to come.

The theme for this chapter is the track, Don't avert your eyes, from Fate/Extra Last Encore. Even though I still detest Deadface!Hakuno, I can't deny it's the only animated appearance I've had for Robin Hood so far. And well, it did deliver on some things. For those of you looking for an alternative song, I'll suggest the piano piece simply titled "In A Dream" from LucasKing on YouTube.

Otherwise, please enjoy!

Day 24: Bluebird's Eyes

"Cheep cheep!"

"Hm?" Vy merely tilted her head at the incoming bird, a curious smile blooming on her face as the bluebird in question fluttered down onto her shoulder, blinking blue eyes at her. "Hello there, little birdie. Where did you come from?"

"Cheep!" the bird said, spreading its wings outwards for a moment before folding them against itself patiently.

Vy offered a single pointer finger to the avian creature, and the bird proceeded to jump down to it, taking care to not break any skin with its tiny talons before chirping again. "I thought you would just follow Big Robin," Vy mused softly, brushing a stray strand of brown hair behind her ear with her free hand while bringing the bird up to her eye level. "What are you doing here?"

"Cheep!" the bird said again, tilting its head at her in return.

"You were interested in what I was doing?" Vy filled in, a happy flush coloring her cheeks as she smiled at the bird, humming softly. "Thankie, little birdie, though I'm not sure what I have is interesting for you in terms of food or entertainment. I'd think Big Robin would have a lot more interesting things for you to see."

"Cheep!" the bird sang nonetheless, rocking back and forth on its talons while staring up at Vy with curious black eyes.

"Well… If you still want to come along, little birdie, then I can bring you along." Vy carefully moved her hand so that the bird wouldn't fall, bringing the avian back up to her shoulder to stand on instead. "Though, you will be seeing a lot of white and text, will that be okay with you, little birdie?"

"Cheep cheep!" The stars on the bird's feathers merely shined brighter as it tilted its head at Vy, adjusting its talons.

Once the bird settled against the collar of Vy's mystic code, Vy carefully turned her head to gently touch the bird's head with her cheek. "Okay, okay. Just be careful and hang on, sweetie."

"Cheep!"

"Hey, Master?"

Vy didn't even pause her reading of a report on the kali monsters from the Indian Lostbelt, instead turning a page while saying, "What is it, Billy?"

Billy the Kid leveled her with a fond look over his mug of coffee as he raised a hand to point at the little creature sitting on Vy's shoulder, eyebrows quirked upwards in curiosity. "Is that little guy by chance—"

"Big Robin's? Aye," Vy answered, a small lit in her voice as she glanced away from her papers to look at the bird with a happy smile. "I dunno where they came from, but they found me and wanted to follow me, so I let them!"

"They?" Billy snickered, tipping his hat towards Vy as he took up his mug to sip at. "Cute, but I would've thought you would call the little guy by 'it.'"

"I don't know if the little birdie is a guy, girl, or nonbinary, Billy," Vy said in the same tone, almost sing-songing the words as she raised one hand towards the bird to pet its head. "Using 'they' is much safer. Plus they follow Big Robin a lot! I wanna respect them!"

Billy proceeded to laugh at that, putting down his mug hastily before it could spill. "N-No wonder!" he muttered between snickers, shaking his head. "You're wasted on Robin, Master."

By then, Vy had gone back to the kali report, blinking absently at Billy's words. Heck, even if he wasn't a Servant, it was obvious that most of what he said flew over her head. "Eh? What was that?"

"Nothing!" Billy glanced at the bird still sitting on Vy's shoulder and considered otherwise.

Now where was Robin?

"Vy," said one red-jacket wearing Assassin while mid-polish of the knife in her hands, "what's with the bird?"

"It's Big Robin's birdie, Shiki-san," Vy replied without a single beat of hesitation, thumbing over a team formation displayed on the tablet in her hands as the bird in question chirped happily from its perch on her right shoulder. "They wanted to follow me, so I let them follow me."

"How peculiar," Asagami Fujino spoke up quietly from a corner of the room, tilting her head at the avian past her lavender hair as she leaned against the wall behind her. "Perhaps, Master—"

"Hm?"

"You are not a…" Fujino struggled with the words, pausing almost for effect, before eventually getting out a quieter, "Erm, I believe Ayaka-san called it a 'Disney Princess' now, but you aren't one of said entities, are you?"

The comment was enough to make Shiki stumble in her knife cleaning as Vy raised her head from her tablet fast enough to cause whiplash, some strands of her long hair nearly hitting the bird sitting with her as the avian chirped in shock. "D-Disney?" Vy proceeded to giggle into her free hand, happy pink coloring her cheeks as she shook her head. "I-I mean, I loved Disney, but I don't think I have the charm to make a princess of their calibur, Fujino-san!"

No thanks to her shoulders trembling, Shiki carefully put her knife down on a nearby counter, choosing to lift one hand to start counting off. "Sings well, eager to learn how to cook, works hard enough to tire herself out yet constantly trying to do her best for everyone, has a bird following them—"

"H-Hey, Shiki-san, that's a bit—"

"—effectively earned the affections of too many heroes willing to die for them, myself and Asagami included, according to whatever force there is in the world," Shiki continued with a deadpan tone. "And is too oblivious AND nice for their own good, which somehow helps the world?" Shiki proceeded to lower her open counting palm to shrug. "I dunno, Master, I think you even have Mikiya beat."

"Um, Shiki-san, I know you mentioned Mikiya-san before, but uh… Is that comparison a compliment or a diss?"

While shoving her hands into her jacket's pockets, Shiki looked away. "Both."

"Muuuuu."

To no one's surprise, Fujino giggled into her kimono sleeves.

"…Be Vy," Archer said slowly over the pot of porridge he was stirring, barely even moving his head, "who is the new friend that you have with you?"

"Cheep!" said the new friend.

"Big Robin's birdie!" Vy chirped happily in time with the bluebird's own cheerful cry, swaying back and forth on her boots as she stared up at the older man with a bright smile. "They found me, so I let them follow me!"

"Hm," EMIYA said thoughtfully, turning back to the pot in front of him. The porridge was already bubbling and smelling good thanks to the fish sauce and chicken added earlier, so Vy watched as he pulled out a pepper shaker to season it. "That makes sense, but be careful with them, Master. We don't want them ending up in places they shouldn't be."

With a playful salute, Vy nodded her head. "Aye aye, sir!"

"No need to call me 'sir', Be Vy," EMIYA said with barely any venom as he put the pepper shaker down, stirring the pot's contents with the ladle in his hand before pausing. "But Master," his voice turned a bit more serious as he tossed in some candied onions, "has the bird gotten anything to eat yet?"

Vy blinked, glancing at the bird in question before flushing a light pink. "…Ah, no," she squeaked out, clearly embarrassed as she ducked her head and scraped at the kitchen tiles with the underside of a boot. "But um, Shirou, what is okay for birds to eat?"

The question was enough to make EMIYA stop his actions, placing the ladle in the pot before turning to Vy with a raised eyebrow. "You were carrying the little one around all this time without knowing?"

Vy flushed a darker shade of pink, ducking her head and nodding. "T-To be fair," she mumbled, "the only time I've interacted with birds was a sparrow that wandered into the house when I was little, and said sparrow refused the grains of rice we tried to feed it before letting it go…"

EMIYA let out a quiet huff through his nose, walking around Vy once she finished saying her part, gently patting her head along the way before approaching a cupboard. With a pull of the handle, he revealed various canisters of condiments and seasonings, glancing around before swiftly pulling out a container of seeds, walking back to quietly tap Vy's hair with it. "Sunflower seeds should be fine, Be Vy," EMIYA said quietly, depositing the container into Vy's free hand once she raised her head. "Just remember to get a napkin for the bird to stand on."

"A-Aye aye, Shirou!"

"Was your lunch alright, little birdie?"

"Cheep!" The bird proceeded to gently jump closer to Vy's eye level on her shoulder, affectionately pressing its head against her cheek as she turned for an answer.

"Ah, that's good to hear," Vy hummed, gently leaning back into the touch the bird extended. "I was honestly worried about you for a moment, but I guess I shouldn't be with Shirou around, huh…? Not to mention the other Servants and Mash."

"Cheep cheep!" the bird said in apparently happy agreement, opening its wings to fly up in the air and circle around Vy's head, much to the girl's amusement. After a few loops or so, the avian proceeded to flutter down into Vy's open palms, folding its wings against itself once it landed with a soft chirp and a tilt of its head.

"So cute," Vy whispered, cradling the bird in her gloved hands as she kept walking through the Chaldean hallways. Studying in the library was already done, next was the Command Room for the daily missions... Still, Vy felt her lips move without intending them to do so. "Where can I find a sweetheart like you back at home, I wonder…?"

"Cheep…?"

Vy stopped in place after a few more strides of walking, tilting her head back at the bird in turn as a sad look came into her brown eyes. "You sweetie," she said in the same quiet voice, exhaling a long breath. "What made you follow someone like me around, really?"

Instead of chirping a response like before, the bluebird simply tilted its head in the other direction, blinking up at the Chaldean Master.

"I guess that answer was obvious, huh…" Vy cradled the bird in her palms a bit more by cupping her fingers, bringing her hands up to her eye level just to look at the small avian. "Hey, sweetie… just between us, do you think I'm helping Big Robin be happy?"

"Cheep?" the bird said, flapping its wings a little at the sudden question. "Cheep cheep!"

"It'd be nice if I was," Vy mused with a small smile, curling one finger to gently pet the bird's head. "I mean, you're following me around and he's not here, so it'd be nice to think he's resting after everything he's done for me…" Lowering her finger, Vy held the bird carefully, staring at it with the same quiet look on her face. "It's hard to tell sometimes, though. With all the fighting we've had to endure from the Singularities to the Demon God Pillars and now the Crypters, I still wonder…"

"Cheep…" the bluebird said, quieter this time.

"What do you think, sweetie?" A soft sigh left Vy's lips before she could stop it, the motion unintentionally ruffling the bluebird's plumage as she lowered her hands. "Do you think I'm helping my childhood hero enough like he's helped me?" Vy bobbed her head left and right, closing her eyes in consideration as her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose. "Even after all the fumbling I've done, the mistakes I've made? Do you think he's still happy with me, being called 'Big Robin'?"

Do you think I'm doing enough?

The bluebird in Vy's palms blinked once before opening its beak to chirp once with a tone Vy couldn't put a finger to until she heard a soft rustling of — a cloak?

"Why not ask me yourself, little sparrow?"

"Cheep cheep!" was all the bluebird had to cheerily offer before opening its wings and getting up from Vy's palms to start flying circles around her again, only this time the loops were larger in diameter as a ginger head of hair made itself visible in the hallway over Vy's shoulder. Vy didn't even get the chance to open her mouth in reply before toned arms were loosely wrapping around her shoulders from behind, pulling her back to a firm chest in a hug.

"B-Big Robin?"

"You could've asked me about that, little sparrow, not just focus on the little guy," Robin Hood said softly above her hair, a sigh of his own brushing her head. "And why talk to the little guy, anyways? Shouldn't it be my question to answer when it's about me?"

"E-Easier said than done, mind you," Vy said, feeling the darn blush start to climb up her neck before she could think about squashing it into the uncaring void. "Anxiety isn't exactly easy to maneuver around and I can't just ask you, 'Am I helping you be happy?' with a straight face! It's embarrassing!"

"That hasn't stopped you from talking to me about other things, embarrassing and not so embarrassing included," Robin pointed out with a face, his chin bumping the top of her head almost scoldingly. "So why not try?"

Vy squinted her eyes shut, leaning back into Robin's chest out of thought, and she considered.

"Cheep cheep!" the bluebird said again from above her head, this time choosing to fly around the both of them before making a landing on top of Robin's right shoulder to fluff its feathers. "Cheep!"

"Little sparrow?" Robin said softly. "The little guy's curious too."

"…Give me a minute, th-this is kinda scary when thinking about it," Vy mumbled after a significant heavy pause, crossing her arms over her chest and keeping her eyes closed. The voice that followed her original response was almost childlike, barely audible for anyone but the Archer standing behind her. "But… do you really think it's okay to ask? That… that I'm doing enough for you?" With her lowered head, her long brown hair shaded her face, concealing whatever emotions were starting to show in her eyes past her glasses. "I'm not… I'm not failing you like I did that one friend when I was little, right?"

Instead of an immediate response, Robin loosened his arms so that he could put his hands on Vy's shoulders, not minding the tension that arose in them as he carefully turned her around. "You never failed me, Vy," was his initial answer, and once Vy was raising her head to look up at him with teary eyes, Robin paused, inhaling slowly to hide the lump that formed in his throat. "You've done well with everything that's happened," he said finally, and he gently rested one gloved hand against Vy's cheek, bumping foreheads with her, "and I'm glad you got to be my Master. I know that Fujino, Shiki, and the others would say the same thing."

Vy's brows furrowed just in time for a single tear to slide down her cheek and wet the top of Robin's glove, but he still wiped it away. "…You sure?" came out of her mouth in the tiniest high-pitched voice, almost like a mouse. "You're okay… being with me, Big Robin?"

"CHEEP!" the bluebird interjected loudly before Robin could open his mouth, proceeding to spread its wings open from his shoulder and start a swan dive into Vy's face, barely avoiding hitting her while flapping its wings to get her attention. Knowingly or not, the bluebird proceeded to block Robin's line of vision as it kept up the almost angry chirping. "CHEEP CHEEP!"

"A-Ah," was all Vy said shakily, blinking rapidly at the avian. "Uh, birdie, sweetie, should I take that as 'don't worry so much'?"

"CHEEP!"

Robin huffed out a breath through his nose before proceeding to raise his free hand, gently moving the bird to the side with a wry smile. "I think you gotta take the little guy's advice, little sparrow. And besides." Just as the bird flew in the other direction of the hallway to circle around some nearby crates in a huff, Robin leaned down to bump heads with Vy again. "I wouldn't call you 'little sparrow' if I didn't want to be with you."

If anyone looked at that moment, they would've seen Vy smile back. Only the bluebird flying back to the pair was the other participant aside from the recipient who heard the whispered, "I-I love you too."

It was another day in Novum Chaldea, and the bird, if it could speak human language, would've probably concluded it was a good one.