Hinyah, Hikari here to bring you the next chapter.

It's been a while since Another Time; Another Life has been updated, and that is do to our motivation to work on the other co-write, Shadows of the Night.

Hopefully you readers don't mind the inconsistent update schedule.

Enjoy.


Chapter 7

Riku currently was walking down the halls of the old mansion. He had nothing to do and didn't really feel like doing any training or exercise at the current moment. Without any progress on Sora there still wasn't much that he could do.

'Maybe today we should ask Namine about Sora's other memories,' Terra's voice came ringing into Riku's mind.

"I guess we could. I know she still is probably bothered over the fact she can't do anything to help him, but maybe doing this could help lighten the mood," Riku replied.

'Agreed. Let's go find her then,'

Riku walked on until he came to where Namine's room was. He knocked and waited politely before she came to open the door.

"Hello, Riku. How are you doing today?" She greeted him, stepping aside to invite him into the room.

"I've been doing all right," Riku said as he stepped into the room. "But there is something we-... I want to ask."

Riku didn't mean to slip up like that, but over the past days he had started getting accustomed to having Terra around to talk to. He hadn't told Namine yet about Terra, that would be a conversation for another day and Terra agreed with him on that. He could only hope though that Namine would think of it as his personalities mixing again for a brief moment and not question it.

Namine looked at Riku with a mix of confusion and curiosity. "What would you like to know, Riku?"

Riku cleared his throat. "It's about those old memories you saw in Sora. I was wondering if you could take a look again… for me. I want to know if there is anything else you could find."

"Ahh, I see. I can I guess I can look again. We still haven't been able to continue with Sora's current memories anyways…" Namine trailed off at the end, looking slightly despondent.

Riku placed a hand on her shoulder. "We are going to do something about it, and we will find a way. Don't worry so much, okay?"

Namine nodded silently. "Okay. I'll go search jow if you don't want to wait much longer."

"That would be preferable," Riku said, accidentally having some of his Ira mannerism slip in.

"It shouldn't take too long, you may come along if you want," Namine said before she nodded again.

"All right then, I'll come. I have nothing to do anyway," Riku said. before the two of them left the room.

As Namine made her way to the room that held Sora, her mind wandered. She was curious as to what Riku was looking for specifically within Sora's memories. Then there was also that small slip up in what Riku had said. Using 'we' instead of 'I', it concerned her that his personality may be starting to split.

It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at the destination. Going through the door, past Donald's and Goofy's sleeping forms, Namine once again stood before Sora.

She started from the beginning, skimming through until she came across the first of the relevant memories. Shortly after summoning his keyblade, Sora's past self was approached by a man dressed mainly in whites and blues. He also wore a mask depicting a unicorn.

Namine continued on, watching him befriend a dark, long haired girl in his group, as well as the fox masked girl she saw before. He had made another friend along the way, but their appearance was too fuzzy for Namine to make out. The memories of the person were too damaged for her to repair, as if something had happened to Sora in his past life for him to begin forgetting.

Now that she was taking a closer look, Namine noticed that most of his old memories were in a similar state, so she focused on the ones that were still clear. A few adventures with the forgotten friend, time spent with the fox-masked leader, as well as a specific, tragic encounter.

Sora and his long-haired friend had come to what appeared to be a wasteland full of lost keyblades, not once, but twice. The first time was sad, almost tragic: saying final goodbyes to the mystery friend who they could not save. The second seemed to have a lighter tone. A surprise meeting between the two who were later joined by others. The 'third' to arrive to the place was a young boy who bore a striking resemblance to Roxas, followed by an older boy with long, dark hair, and dark clothes. They sat around, as if waiting for another to arrive.

Someone else did eventually arrive, and when Namine saw them, she froze up, stopping the memory where it was. She collapsed, sitting down on the floor trembling slightly with her arms wrapped around herself.

Riku ran to her side and placed a hand on her shaking shoulder. "Namine? Are you okay? What happened?"

"Marluxia," Namine answered in a quiet, almost scared voice.

Riku looked at her puzzled. He may not have met Marluxia when he was at Castle Oblivion, but he had heard about him from Namine. All he knew at least was that she was deeply afraid of the man because of how he treated her in the time that he held her captive. Even to the extent as trying to use her as a shield in battle.

"Are you sure? How can that be possible?" Riku asked.

'Maybe it was someone who only resembled him,' Terra added, saying it as his own thoughts but also as something else for Riku to ask.

Riku decided to use that to ask another couple of questions. "Maybe it was someone who looked just like him? Did you hear anything being said in the memory?"

Namine shook her head. "They looked so much like him, albeit a younger version. The bright pink hair is too unique." She murmured out before continuing. "Those memories are too fragmented to make out a conversation. Yet his appearance was clear, as if a new memory had restored it."

'Bright pink hair?' Terra questioned. He hummed, lowering his voice slightly.

"What is it?" Riku asked him.

'If you can, ask her if she can give a description of what he wore. There may be something more to this than if what she says matches what I am thinking,' Aced replied.

"Namine," Ira started slowly, seeing that she still looked a bit shaken. He moved his hand to her back and moved it up and down to hope and give her some relaxation. "I know you are probably processing a lot right now, but if you can tell me what you say Marluxia wearing, it could be of some help."

"I didn't really look at what he was wearing all that closely, but I saw him in a white shirt with a black vest. And his pants I think we're a shade of dark magenta or red."

Aced hummed again, this time much more thoughtfully. 'Hmm now this is intriguing.'

"How did that help you? Was there perhaps something you connected from now and then?" Ira asked.

'Another strange connection you could say. I recall there being a young boy in my union who fit that very description. Though his name was not Marluxia, but instead Lauriam.'

Riku-Ira gasped audibly, drawing attention from Namine.

"Riku…?" Namine looked at him with a timid, questioning gaze.

"Ah, um…" Ira cleared his throat. "Nothing, I mean it is something. What you've said helps, but it is just a bit unexpected, that's all."

Namine still appeared to be a tad curious, but didn't push on the matter.

"You don't have to look any further today. Unless there was any other important information you saw, I think I may take leave for right now."

"You had asked before about ones wearing robes and animal masks." Namine half stated, half asked.

"Yes? I suppose you saw more of them then?"

"Just one other, dressed in white and blue with what appeared to be a unicorn stylized mask." Namine answered.

Ira gasped once more, his eyes widening. "You saw… me. I mean my former past self… Ira."

Namine's eyes widened in slight surprise. "You were the one who appeared before him when he first summoned his keyblade in that life."

'So Sora is from your union then,' Aced commented.

"I figured that," Ira replied, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He may have known that as well as Aced, but Namine didn't and he did feel like he owed her some explanation. She was the one who had been so helpful in all of this after all.

"That means Sora…" Ira glanced up at the pod that contained the sleeping Sora. "He was from my own union. I actually knew him back then… and now I see that these ties are much closer than I originally thought."

"Your union?" Namine asked.

When Ira has explained to Namine about his past, he had glossed over things like his union and various other things. At the time it didn't seem important, but now with the knowledge given, it made more sense to explain more about it. Still though he didn't want to go into too much detail, but he explained the basic premise of what a union was from his time to Namine.

"I met with each young wielder when they first joined my union, though I would not be able to know which one Sora was unless you have any other information that could help that."

"There were others that I could see from his memories. A girl with long, dark hair that he was friends with," Namine said before trying to explain what she could remember about the outfit.

Ira hummed thoughtfully as he tried to think. He closed his eyes, trying to remember someone like that. And he knew there was someone, the memory was still old and tugging at the back of his mind. After a bit of thought it did finally come to him. "Skuld, that was the girl's name. And if you said she was friends with him… I could only assume she may have been in a party with him. And that would make him… Ephemer."

With a deep breath he finally stood back up, he held out his hand to Namine before helping her to her own feet. "I must thank you again Namine for your help. Though there are still many questions I have, I think I will be all right for now on the matter."

"You're welcome…"Namine paused as she was about to say his name. "Would you rather I address you as Riku or Ira?"

Ira-Riku looked at her for a moment, forgetting that she did know both of his names now. He shifted slightly, trying to figure out how to respond. This entire time he had been in his mindset of Ira over Riku and he hadn't even noticed it. He had just heard things about his past life and that became the focus and the matter he wanted to think on. But even with that the question being asked was one he had not expected.

"I.. ah… I'm not really sure," Riku finally mumbled. "I still don't know how to feel on being addressed like that, even if one side of me is showing more than the other. I guess you could use either, I'm still probably going to respond either way."

"Ok then, Riku."

"If it's okay, I'll head back to my room now. You know to clear out some more thoughts about this," Riku said. Then in his thoughts to spoke to Terra. "And to further discuss this matter with you."

'Of course, this has really proved to be rather insightful.'

Namine and Riku left the room before departing ways, she said goodbye to him before returning to her room. Once Riku was back in his own room he closed the door and let out a long sigh. He made his way to the bed and sat down, running his hand over his face. While Namine peering into Sora's older memories had given the reveal on who he once was, that pretty much had opened up a flood gate on new questions. Not just for him, but also for Aced as well. Both of them needed to think more and talk on the subject, so wanted to get to the easiest place that he could talk to him, Ira started to mediate. Slowly the world around him faded away as he was pulled into the place he had lasted talked with his friend face to face.


With all that new info revealed about Sora's past, what do you all think will happen next?

Please follow/favorite/review if you haven't already, Riku and I like the feedback (and theories).

Until next time ~nyah :3