Thanks for the reviews. It really helps. Now, one fact to reveal.

I will only say this: This Shirou's origin is NOT Sword, all thanks to former protagonist Shiki-kun. Your speculations are most welcome!

ATTENTION： Yes, although it's astronomically rare, Origins can change, it's in the original text of TYPE-MOON setting. Shirou Emiya is actually the prime example since he wasn't 'Sword' from birth.

On to the story!

PS. There are a few original settings related to the interactions between Ciel and Roa, that are born from pure speculation. Don't flame me!

Loose Ends Returning Home

Rome-Italy.

At the Fiumicino airport, a nervous young woman was fiddling with her luggage. She was a slender blue-haired beauty, though if one looked closely enough, they would realize that she had the extremely athletic build of a professional soldier.

The woman's Christian name was Ciel, though a certain immortal coworker of hers still called her Elesia. Ciel was a college student in her second year, a normal albeit very attractive girl...on the outside, that is.

For Ciel, the past three years had been a continuous torment of zero sleep. No, she wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. Sleep deprivation was no stranger to her before she met Shiki Tohno, and it was a most unwelcome guest right now.

The day when she heard that Shiki had been killed by the sudden rampage of TYPE MERCURY; the invincible celestial spider from outer space, she fell into a panic. Her world lost all luster. She had lost the greatest reason for her to live, and the motivation to keep fighting. She barely remembered stumbling back into her dormitory.

Suddenly, just as she was about to pass out on her bed, a sensation hit her. A sensation she was all too familiar with. A sensation she both feared and loathed with her entire soul. The result of an error made by Gaia. A freak accident caused by the Snake of Akasha. Her accursed 'immortality'.

Ciel was born in 1976 in a remote village in France. At that time, she was still a girl called Elesia. Her life was simple but filled with love and happiness. Then, on her sixteenth birthday, the Snake awoke. Everything changed, and her world fell apart. Michael Roa Valdamjong's seventeenth incarnation. That was what she truly was.

Until just three years ago, her body had refused to progress past the age of sixteen. That was her accursed fate. That was her road of atonement. For she had sinned gravely and forgiveness was no longer an option. Both as Elesia and Roa, she had relished in the massacre of countless innocents of her motherland, both young and old. There was no redemption.

After succumbing to the bloodlust caused by the integration with Roa's warped will, and committing mass genocide in the town she grew up and adored, she was butchered by the Moon Princess on one Crimson night. Sadly, that wasn't the end for her. The cold embrace of Death did not welcome her to her awaited world of eternal slumber.

Instead, she woke a second time. This time, as the tormented girl that was once called Elesia by her friends and loved ones. There was nothing left of the people who called her by that name. All killed by her own hands. Her survival was none other than a sick joke, a curse in the shape of a miracle.

Since Roa was never dead in the sense his soul returns to Akasha, Elesia, an existence that derived from Roa, should also stay undead, especially if she herself managed to revive from death by her own means...which in truth, was nothing but a freak occurrence caused by her power of regeneration, a superhuman ability due to the exceptional quality of her magical circuits.

That was the 'mistake' that Gaia, the collective consciousness of planet Earth, made. Gaia had concluded that 'Since Roa's soul constantly exists in the mortal realm due to reincarnation, his body which is tied to the soul should also be alive.'

To erase the contradiction to the world in order to preserve itself, Gaia had in turn, made Ciel 'immortal', as long as Roa existed...for all eternity.

Her despair did not end there, for she was the 'deceased body of Roa', the Snake's empty shell, the vessel of the Dead Apostle who slaughtered thousands if not millions. That meant her body was transferred to the Holy Church for dissection. The Church did not take her second awakening kindly.

What awaited the poor girl, was an entire month of being killed repeatedly by the Church in an attempt to study her immortality and to vanquish her as a heretic, a month of excruciating agony as the price for the lives she has devoured as Roa.

She was then taken in by the Burial Agency due to her unique nature, and trained to be the ultimate anti-Dead Apostle weapon of the Church. In the short span of only ten years, she had hunted down three Dead Apostle Ancestors, beings of immense power that were the equivalent of demigods in the moon-lit world. And two of them, she hunted by herself.

The third one? She might have lost, if not for the interference of a boy named Shiki Tohno. The boy who crashed into her dull life and changed everything. Literally.

Within a few weeks, he had turned her life of penance upside down. He even made a truce with Roa in order to calm down a berserk Moon princess! Roa, of all people, sacrificed his own soul for Shiki's victory! Ciel didn't know whether she should laugh or cry.

Then, as things were just going right...Shiki died. If only she was there with him...! If only she had insisted...!

Elesia-Ciel shook her head. No, she was done wailing in self-deprecation. It was a promise to her beloved Shiki Tohno. Shiki.

Just rolling his name on her tongue made her feel warm inside. He was alive. Still alive. She just knew it. Why?

Normally, whenever Roa resurfaces as 'himself', Ciel would always have this dark urge of rage emerge from the depths of her stomach, a spark for vengeance caused by his very presence.

However, this time, it felt fundamentally different. Not the foreign, cold lingering feeling of Roa's soul...but something warmer, familiar, and inviting. Moreover, her 'immortality' was somehow significantly weakened. She could attest to that, since she experimented by cutting her wrist with a knife, and observed how much time it took for it to 'rewind' into its former state via the error correction system of Gaia.

When Roa was still 'alive', a deep cut to her wrist took no more than a few seconds to heal. Now, it took half a minute.

This indicated a daunting yet somewhat splendid truth. Shiki had reincarnated, presumably by using the Snake of Akasha system Roa had left in his memory. Shiki was still 'alive' out there, in a body that wasn't his.

Of course, Ciel had complete faith in Shiki's morals. He would never do the same despicable acts Roa had done. That left a big question. Why did he reincarnate? Did he somehow modify the system in a way it didn't corrupt a soul over time?

If so, this would be a phenomenal discovery in the moon-lit world. Both the Clocktower and the Holy Church would want his head on a spike or in a tank. Perhaps Atlas too. The alchemists were a crazy bunch of geniuses.

Ciel sighed. ...Shiki really tends to poke his head into places where it shouldn't belong, no pun intended. As she thought, Shiki needed her.

Not that demon-blooded stepsister of his who turned into a semi shut-in after his 'death', neither the infuriating princess who tried to seduce him and turned into a goddess of destruction when he didn't bed her.

"Shiki. Wait for me. Even if you don't realize me, I will always find you. This time...I solemnly swear on God and all the people on this earth-"

"- I will protect you, no matter what."

Ciel smiled.

"...Let's just hope that there isn't a blonde red-eyed harlot by his side."

Ciel chuckled at her own joke. Somewhere in Fuyuki, a queen sneezed.

'Would you care to repeat that? You said what happened to your right eye that was normal just a day ago? You're seeing things differently? Multiple 'things'?'

A week had passed since Shirou was adopted by Kirei Kotomine.

Shirou had calmed down and returned to his normal self soon after his initial contact with Gilgamesh, and started bashing his head against a reinforced wall in embarrassment. Shirou claimed it was mental rehabilitation. Shiki wisely refrained from commentating. After all, Shirou had the Sheath of Avalon.

Seeing this, Kirei taught Shirou how to train by bashing his fists and feet against a rune-engraved slab of cemented carbide. The priest never looked so satisfied when he saw a furious Shirou torture his body to the limit, only to immediately regenerate on the spot and repeat the 'training' once more.

Today, Kirei was absent from the church, saying that he had duties to 'guide lost sheep'. Despite his ominous words, it was really volunteer work, something about helping rebuild Fuyuki and ridding curses. Gilgamesh was...well, Gilgamesh.

Shiki was certain that the queen suspected his presence and also had a good guess on the true nature of Shirou's left eye, since she gave the boy a piece of sacred cloth with the power of sealing mystic properties, including Mystic Eyes. She made it clear by indicating how Shirou should learn how to fully utilize his eye without 'relying on someone else'.

Otherwise, Gilgamesh either observed Shirou from a distance, gave pointers on how he should cook, or went out on the town to do her 'queenly duties', whatever that meant. Although, there was a rumor that a certain gold 'Queen' was building her own Casino empire.

...Shiki really didn't want to know the details. Shirou, being the child he was despite his mature attitude, was a bit curious but Shiki was adamant about keeping him away from the nightly activities. Heaven knows what kind of 'refined pleasures' she would teach the pure, innocent boy. No, not on his watch!

Thus, Shirou and Shiki had the whole church to themselves, including the training grounds in the yard. That was when Shirou revealed his peculiar sight in his right eye. At first, Shiki thought it was the effect of his Mystic Eyes, eroding not only Shirou's left, but also his right eye.

According to Shirou's explanation, it wasn't the case. Unlike his left eye which was surveyed, monitored, and controlled by Shiki, his right eye had no connection with the scriggly crimson lines nor the light-consuming dots of 'Death' scattered all over the world.

Instead, it showed him fleeting moments of various 'futures', like that of a kaleidoscope, the main difference being that it always settles with one vision, one 'future' Shirou favored at the time. Shiki suspected that it represents Shirou's origin, as his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception represented his old bloodline and the near encounters he had with death at an early age.

'How long into the future can you see? How many visions can you see at once? What triggers your vision? What do you mean by choosing a future?'

Shirou furrowed his brows in concentration.

"Mostly a few seconds, about three visions. I...for example, if a ball were to hit me from nowhere, a second from now, I would suddenly see three visions; 1. The ball would hit my temple, 2. The ball would bounce off by me putting my arm in front of my head, 3. The ball would be caught by me positioning my hand at the right point of impact. I would choose 3. and then...my body will know what to do. It's...it feels...obvious."

'...Clairvoyance? No, it's not like this...what the...sorry, Shirou. I have no idea.'

"...Oh. I mean, no worries, sensei! I'll just try to get more used to this!"

'Thanks, Shirou. You're the best kid in the world, ever told you that? Akiha would've pampered you...ah. Oh, shit.'

"What's wrong, sensei?"

'I've just realized the terrible fact that I've forgotten something I've borrowed from my sister. Something I returned. Something she might have a grasp on.'

"What is it?"

Shiki gulped. How could he be so stupid?

'When I was your age, I was killed by a boy possessed by a vampire. I shouldn't be alive. Yet, against all odds, I still lived.'

"...Did your sister give you something...magical?"

'Yes, Shirou. She did. Akiha...my stepsister gave me her life force. You see...the Tohno family had the blood of old demons, passed down through the generations since ancient times. They are a special bunch.'

"Wait. You are now spiritual...that means, your body is dead, right?"

'Yes. The life force I've borrowed from my sister is now hers. A part of her soul that lived with me for all those years. It had a connection with me. Imagine it as a string connecting our lives. A certain puppet maker I've met confirmed this fact. That means if I'm somehow 'existing' in this world as a soul, and my soul inhabited a body and gained a life force of my own, which is in this case, yours...'

"Your sister would know from the...string attached to our life force?"

'Yep.'

"...Sensei? You were...'dead' for three years, right?"

'Yep.'

"Were you very...intimate with your stepsister? In a...a..."

Shirou blushed, unsure how to phrase his question.

'...I shall exercise the right to remain silent.'

"Sensei?"

'...'

"Who is that black-haired lady and why is her hair turning crimson? Is, is that another lady...in a nun's outfit? Why...why is she opening a coffin-HOLY SHIT!"

'SHIT'

Fuyuki Church exploded.

Yes, shit indeed. Welcome to the (non-existing) Harem route of Tsukihime. The true ending is getting butchered by an alien spider. Yikes. More death flags ahead.

HINT: Shirou's right eye is the same as a certain Japanese servant from FGO.

Again, reviews and hypotheses are most welcome! X-kalibuuuur, back to work!