Birdcage (Black Butler) *Finnian/OC*

Finnian led Andie back towards the manor and down to the servant's quarters. They trudged right down to the end of the room, next to the boiler cupboard, where Finnian pulled a small cardboard box from underneath one of the nightstands. When he opened the lid there was another sparrow sitting inside, nestled amongst a bed of leaves and woolly material.

"I found her last week," he explained. "She couldn't fly - I think her wing was hurt somehow. So I've been looking after her until she gets better."

"Will she be okay?" asked Andie worriedly.

"Birds heal quite quickly," Finnian assured her. "She should be able to fly again in a few more days."

The sparrow watched them curiously through beady black eyes, chirping so softly that it was barely discernible. She looked quite comfy in the box and certainly didn't seem to mind being looked after. There was already a handful of bread crumbs in one corner, proving that she definitely got enough to eat.

"She's cute," said Andie, inspecting the bird up close. "Can I touch her?"

"Of course you can! Just be really gentle - use the back of your finger," Finnian guided her. "She's gotten quite friendly, so she doesn't seem to mind."

Andie tentatively reached a hand into the box and very, very carefully stroked along the feathers of the bird's spine with the back of one of her fingers. It was so soft... Softer even than she'd imagined. The little sparrow continued to cheep uninterrupted, not at all bothered by the contact.

"Are you really going to let her go?" Andie asked. "Wouldn't you want to keep her?"

"No, I couldn't do that!" exclaimed Finnian.

"Why not?" Andie questioned, nonplussed. "I thought people kept birds as pets. They keep them in those fancy cages, don't they?"

Finnian shook his head. "Sparrows are wild birds - they're not tame like pet birds are."

"This one seems tame," Andie commented softly, still not quite understanding.

Finnian smiled. "That's just because she's friendly. It's okay to give birds a helping hand if they need it, but they're still independent to people. They need to be able to fly free. They're not supposed to be kept in cages."

"Oh, I see..."

The words hit home harder than they should have done. Because that was how Andie felt herself. Sometimes it was as if she could almost see the bars of a cage surrounding her life. It was how she'd always felt. She'd felt trapped in her own life before she'd come to live at Phantomhive Manor... And now she just felt like she'd moved to a bigger cage. A cage that she never left.

She wasn't bound to this place. She wasn't put under rule that she wasn't allowed to step outside of the grounds. In fact, master Ciel had once wanted to take the whole staff with him on one of his trips outside of London. But Andie had refused to leave the manor. Instead Finnian and Tanaka had stayed with her so that she wouldn't be left on her own.

The truth was that Andie had put the cage in place herself, even if she didn't quite realise it. She was too afraid of the outside world. She'd always been afraid... of everyone. She'd been afraid when she'd first come to Phantomhive Manor too. It had taken a long time to finally feel at home there.

She was still too scared to take that step and try to do the same outside of the manor. The rest of the world was much, much bigger than one estate. Andie wasn't like a bird. She didn't think she could ever be independent of people. She felt that she'd always need that helping hand. She couldn't fly free like birds could...