Tear Jerker / Passing Days

Just because the story is focused on the daily life of the Servants within Chaldea and the Family of Choice they formed with their Master, it doesn't exclude the sad moments that could come with the original source material.

• In general, Vy's entire motivation for going through the Grand Order can be a Tear Jerker, because the main reason she's a Workaholic and keeps losing sleep and energy? She just wants to see her family again. Even with all the fantastical things Vy's seen, she still misses Mommy, Daddy, and all of her relatives and friends who were destroyed in both the Incineration and the Bleaching. All the effort in trying to save Proper Human History is because it's for the world that let her loved ones come to be to love her. Meeting Mash and the other Servants merely results in this desire being extended to them, and witnessing the many moments when Vy is rendered an Elective Mute or even bedridden from her love for the people around her isn't easy to stomach. Dr. Roman himself goes through a My God, What Have I Done? moment, because to his horror, the instant he asked Vy to become a Master, he unintentionally drove her to nearly killing herself many times over from the efforts it requires to do so.
• Day 15 has the penultimate confrontation between Robin and the Alternate Self of Dan Blackmore in the Fate/Extra Last Encore-inspired Lostbelt, and despite Dan starting to seize up from all the yew poison in the room, he still closes his eyes and accepts what will come with Archer's next arrow, smiling and sending Robin off with pride because Robin found his own Anne. The scene immediately does a Gory Discretion Shot when Robin fires his shot.
  • The previous confrontation Robin has with his Lostbelt self in the chapter also counts, as despite both being enemies, they still have a heart-to-heart over their experiences with their respective Masters, with Chaldea's Robin even being respectful of his other self's heart by wishing he can meet a little sparrow like Vy in his next life.
• Day 16 unpacks all the Parental Neglect that Arturia unintentionally invoked on Mordred with their battle, with Mordred actively asking Arturia what he did wrong and why she didn't let him support her. It doesn't help that to let them hash things out, Vy actively allows both Servants to use her mana for the fight, leading to her collapsing from the mana exhaustion and worsening the guilt on both sides for what happened in Proper Human History's Camelot when they tried to clash with their Noble Phantasms.
• Most of Day 21 takes place in the SE.RA.PH. version of Meltryllis' perspective during the CCC event, where unlike in canon, she gets to witness Vy being joined by a Servant from the near start in Robin Hood during the second timeline, and watching her Albrecht care for another Servant aside from her unintentionally makes Meltryllis struggle even more with Cannot Spit It Out when it comes to what happened in the first timeline, resulting in her calling Robin "useless Archer" out of implied jealousy and spite. In the canonical side story of "Prepping for the End", not even Robin knowing the full truth fully relieves Meltryllis of this burden, as she continues to call Robin the nickname while being resigned to fight Kiara as best as she can. Because it's all for Vy.
• Day 22 goes back to Part 1 and Archer EMIYA's thoughts on Vy, and the penultimate moment he accepts being called "Shirou"? It was when Vy started breaking down after defeating Flauros, feeling frustrated over what was going on (as well as the lack of response on Flauros' part to her own Armor-Piercing Question towards Goetia's entire reasoning behind the Incineration) but trying to hide it so that the Servants and Mash wouldn't worry. Once Archer EMIYA kneels down, takes her hand to squeeze, and calls her "Be Vy", it's only then that Vy sheds Broken Tears, accepting his Cooldown Hug and promptly sobbing out everything.
• Day 28 specifically has a conversation between Chaldea's Achilles and the Achilles summoned into Atlantis, where Chaldea's Achilles admits in no uncertain terms that he loves Vy, but he can't see himself going any further with her. He even admits that Robin loves Vy more, hence why he gave up long before coming to Atlantis, saying how Vy deserved a Lovable Rogue like Robin more than a reckless hero thanks to the Lostbelts. It's even cited as the reason why Chaldea's Achilles asks his other summoned self not to be angry at Chaldea for choosing to rely on his armor to create the weapons to fight Lostbelt Artemis, because Chaldea's Achilles couldn't afford to give up his weapons if it meant protecting someone he loves just as much as Atalante, if not more. Achilles even subtly threatens his other self if he has any weird ideas, because Vy means that much to him (all stemming back to her Affectionate Nickname for him of "Achi" and how he reciprocates to this day), even if he can't have her.
• Day 29 shows why Agartha is considered a taboo topic in Chaldea through the accidental Summoning of Penthesilea, because as Hektor finds out to his horror in his discussion with Arturia and Robin at the end of the chapter, Penthesilea's mere presence is enough to send Vy into a massive Heroic BSoD. Not even Achilles and the other Servants restraining and burning Penthesilea into a Rare Prism helps at first, as she is shaking like a leaf afterwards and shown after a brief Time Skip to be in bed with Atalante Alter's Fuzz Therapy being the only thing to help her out of it.
• Days 34 and 35 show that Vy's long past the Trauma Conga Line by the time Musashi makes her Heroic Sacrifice to Chaos in Olympus, suffering from nightmares at seeing Musashi leave and outright devolving into sobs once she's back and doubting herself on whether or not she's helping Musashi and the other Servants. Even Musashi is horrified, understandably not expecting Vy to break down the way she was.
  Vy: "I-I don't know what to do anymore, Shii-chan. I just don't. After hearing the cries of the Olympians when their city started to fall, listening to those foot soldiers call me 'demon' e-even as Demeter started killing them too— I just don't know anything but trying to help you and the other Servants because it's all I-I have left."
• Day 37 goes back to Part 1.5 and Skadi's growing pains when adjusting to Chaldea, and the prologue of the chapter hints at her having hit the Despair Event Horizon just before Vy summoned her due to Surtr having destroyed all of her Lostbelt. Her ice castle? Melted. Her Valkryies? Destroyed. Her people and the giants? All dead. Had the Summoning Circle not shown up at the time it did, Skadi would've joined them, and before Sieg finds her in the story proper, it's implied she was thinking about it.
• Day 45 is a long Laser-Guided Karma chapter for Circe, because her Identity Impersonator act of Medea in Salem results in Vy hitting Tranquil Fury to the point of ruthlessness, threatening to even duct tape Circe's wings to a nearby tree and setting her on fire if she messes up anything else just to prove to Hopkins that witches can burn. It even actively horrifies Vy herself, as a later segment in the chapter shows her singing RWBY's "Mirror Mirror" while alone, admitting to Robin that she sang it to express her hatred of herself for saying such things. It doesn't help that by the chapter's end, Circe witnessing the Ship Tease between Robin and Vy has her thinking of Odysseus, making her mentally relent to Vy's treatment of her and reinforcing the silence Vy and Circe have in the present day.
• Day 46 has Vy and the original "Big Three" of Grailed Servants (Arturia, Robin, and Achilles) facing an Alternate Self doppelganger made by Kama to change up the third floor of the Ooku. Said doppelganger of Vy proceeds to spout off everything Vy is implied to hate about herself, using one Armor-Piercing Question after another and Broken Tears to try making the Grailed Servants attack her. Just for Kama to get more power to mature into Beast III/L. Had Vy decided not to confront this other self and face her own darkness with a Cooldown Hug, it would've resulted in the Big Three possibly having to kill the illusion of their beloved Master to move forward, something that no one is shown to like.
  • What's worse is that the illusion's sayings are all confirmed to be true by Vy herself. Wanting Arturia, Achilles, and Robin to save her from her problems; hating Proper Human History for what she's had to do to save it; all of it is true.
    • It even makes Vy's rebuttal to Kiara's advances in Day 38 Harsher in Hindsight, because even back in Part 1.5, Vy already gave up on the idea that she could ever be saved, seeing dying for the people she loves as something far more fitting.
• Day 47 has Dantes confront Vy after a long training session, and just from observing her, outright confirms that Vy's long given up on herself, such darkness being enough to summon someone like him as her Servant. Vy doesn't even deny it.
  Dantes: "I told you that associating with someone like me, with all my vengeance and revenge unbefitting of the original Edmond Dantes, would be like poison, little flower. But for you to summon a man beyond love and hate and still not flinch, you're not even succumbing to such things anymore. You've already given up on the possibility of you ever being saved just like I have as an Avenger!"
• Day 50 is a flashback back to Part 1 in Babylonia, where Vy wakes up from a nightmare about the Demonic Beasts and talks to Romani and Da Vinci about it. The tearjerking thing is that despite Romani accepting Vy's offer to eat her homemade tiramisu after the Singularity's resolution, it's still a Foregone Conclusion that Romani would sacrifice himself as Solomon to stop Goetia, so he'll never get the chance to eat it. The chapter even ends in the middle of Part 2, where Vy is shown making said tiramisu cake, explaining to a nearby Kintoki that the cake is for a "doctor I wish I could've talked to more."
• Day 55 is a long My God, What Have I Done? moment for Passionlip, because after a simulator battle gone wrong (thanks to BB and Goredolf tampering with it in unintentional succession) through the computer summoning Kiara, she lets loose with her Brutal Honesty in regards to Vy's apparent "favoritism" of Meltryllis and Robin over her, even outright comparing Vy to BB until Meltryllis stops her. What results is Vy going into a massive Heroic BSoD and shedding Broken Tears thanks to Lip smashing her Trauma Button, with Lip herself immensely regretful. It takes Tamamo Cat and Archer Gilgamesh in Day 56 giving her a What the Hell, Hero? to get her to talk to Vy again, and even then, Vy admits to not being able to forgive Lip for it.
  • The ending of Day 55 sees Robin confront Lip on his own terms, with both admitting to their faults as to what happened in CCC, and how neither can truly tolerate each other. Robin even accepts Lip not being able to forgive him for his past actions, but also makes a point that Lip hurting Vy makes him unable to forgive her either.
• Day 59 plays out akin to a heroic version of Karma Houdini Warranty on Sanson's part in regards to his other self's actions in Salem, as he is chosen to meet Vy in a medical appointment that goes From Bad to Worse once he correctly deduces she can't meet his eyes due to what his other self chose to do in Salem that led to his losing his memories. What's worse is that the appointment takes place after Olympus - meaning Vy has been holding onto her Survivor's Guilt and trauma over being unable to save Sanson since before the Lostbelt prologue. All Sanson finds himself doing is apologizing and holding Vy's hand, because she's still crying and hurting over being unable to bring him back.
  • The appointment between Sanson and Vy reveals Vy is also starting to become tired of all the death that has been going on around her, unable to muster even anger towards Sanson in regards to his other self's death in Salem because she's seen enough.
• Day 62 focuses entirely on Miss Crane and how she adjusts to Chaldea, and unlike in the actual Grail Live event, when Miss Crane suggests Vy could be an idol, the chapter expands on how the remark is Innocently Insensitive at best. No thanks to Vy's Trauma Conga Line with what's happened throughout FGO's story (from losing Dr. Roman to even everything in Olympus), the last Chaldean Master's been so tired out to the point of not even considering herself worthy to be an idol. Beautiful Singing Voice be damned, Vy's experienced too many role models go through Broken Pedestal in her life thanks to both her experiences watching the entertainment industry and what the Mage's Association did to her and Mash that she actively can't trust people like she used to anymore.
  Vy: Entertainment is a cruel place, Miss Crane. And when it's scary enough standing in front of more than 100 Servants to sing for the person I love, I don't want to contribute to it. Idol or not. Not when it means I have to lie just to keep up expectations. When I have to sing for someone else's memory and not for those I truly love. Besides. I've had to put myself aside enough to where I am still trying to remember where my real self is. And after seeing the Mages' Association and what they did to Mash and me, I don't want a thing like the entertainment industry adding onto that. Not when the industry already darkened parts of my childhood and I didn't know.
• Day 70 goes back to a moment between the resolution of Camelot and the start of Babylonia in Part 1, where Dr. Roman finds out that Olga-Marie's beratings of Vy being a Master hit a lot closer to home than he realized. EMIYA Assassin's entire shtick of being The Eeyore in regards to saving Humanity didn't help, because as Dr. Roman (and a nearby Robin) find out, ever since Olga yelled at Vy in the beginning of Fuyuki, Vy's always had doubts she could be a good Master. EMIYA's attitude of being a Cold Sniper only broke her further. It's only thanks to Dr. Roman's gentle encouragement and Robin and the other Servants' support later in the chapter that it's implied Vy didn't pass the Trauma Conga Line.
  Vy: "Doctor, I just, I just dunno what to d-do. W-We're still not done solving all seven Singularities, there's not enough materials to go around, a-and at this point, a-after hearing what EMIYA Assassin had to say, I dunno what's right as a Master anymore. I know I'm not a 'real Master.' D-Director Olga said as much back in Fuyuki. But I-I'm still here and I don't want to start doing something like regretting meeting you, Mash, or Big Robin. S-So what should I do?"
• Day 73 goes into the relationship between Mash and Saber Lancelot, and a subsequent conversation between Mash and Vy shows that not even Mash is safe from the Trauma Conga Line, because as she admits to Vy through Broken Tears, she's been doubting whether or not she's worthy to stand at Vy's side as a Servant because of Galahad forcefully withdrawing his aid in the Lostbelt prologue. It's even made sadder with how Mash admits she's not sure how to feel about Lancelot trying to be a father to her when Dr. Roman was her father figure and Galahad is effectively gone from her life just like he is.
  • It doesn't help that a later conversation between Vy and Bedivere in the chapter's epilogue reveals Vy having put up a Stepford Smiler routine the entire time Mash made amends with Lancelot, concealing her fatigue until she can barely stand up in Bedivere's arms because "it was the least she could do." Not helped with her dialogue implying it's not the first time she's exhausted herself being mediator between the people she loves.

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