The Elder Scrolls: The Quest for Kingdom Hearts

…

Chapter 11: The Hangover

Aela, Serana and Felicia all screamed as they saw each other naked. Aela fell off the bed in a heap. Serana quickly covered herself up with a bedsheet and Felicia flung a pillow over her naked body. Dragonborn despairingly sat there, wondering just how this all happened and how they were going to move on from there.

"Did-Did we…?" Aela stuttered out as she poked her head up to look at everyone else in the room.

"I think so," Dragonborn said tentatively as he rubbed his still aching head. "I don't remember a lot," he added.

"Well, I think it's pretty obvious what we did last night," Felicia said bemusedly before giving a wry chuckle and adding, "Can't say I've ever had a four-way before."

"I'm not sure I want to know at this point!" Serana stated putting a hand over her face in embarrassment.

"So, what happened that got us here?" Aela asked from her spot on the floor.

"Well, one thing I remember is that we tried that Nuka-Shine stuff," Felicia said as she rose from the bed to begin searching for her clothes. "Pretty strong stuff that," she mused.

"And somehow we ended up here," Serana muttered. "Gods… to think I'd end up in a foursome. What would my Mother say?" she lamented.

Dragonborn sighed heavily before standing up from the bed and the three women in the room all stared at him in awe and lust. "What?" he said noticing their staring.

"Nothing!" Serana squeaked out in a high pitched voice before looking away. "You… certainly look… good," she then said awkwardly.

"Yeah and we all got a piece of it last night," Felicia giggled uproariously. "Almost makes me wanna get reacquainted," she said with a lascivious smile.

Dragonborn sighed again before replying, "Let's just all agree that this never happened."

"Good idea, Harbinger," Aela said with a nod of her before her eyes went wide as she realised something and asked, "Where are the others?"

Everyone else's eyes went wide as they realised they were not all accounted for. "Oh, Gods… you don't think…" Serana tried to say.

"They can't have gone far," Felicia said. "They might've checked into a hotel room same as us," she added.

"Either way, we need to find them and try and figure out what happened last night while we were all drunk," Dragonborn said as he picked up his suit from last night and put it on. His jacket, vest, shirt and trousers were wrinkled and his tie was haphazardly put on. "I'll go and see if this hotel offers breakfast or something," he told everyone before leaving the room.

Serana, Aela and Felicia all looked at each other for a long awkward moment after Dragonborn left the room. Aela gave a sigh before speaking, "I think we all need to have a very long talk about this," she said with a resigned air.

"Talk about what?" Felicia asked. "The fact we had a four-way with Dragonborn last night?" she then said.

"Do you have to put it so crassly?" Serana said in a strained voice.

"Just calling it like it is," Felicia said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Either way, we do need to discuss it," Aela stated.

"I suppose we need to," Serana said with reluctance in her voice as they all covered themselves and sat at the nearby table.

"So, who wants to go first?" Felicia asked as they sat there for a moment.

Serana then chose to speak first, "Aela? You and I have both had feelings for Dragonborn for a long time and we've both had a rivalry over it," she said in a calm measured tone of voice. "I'd often chalked up the rivalry to the natural rivalry between vampires and werewolves, but I think it's our feelings for Dragonborn that is the real root of our rivalry with one another," she added.

"Yes. I've had feelings for Dragonborn for a long time, ever since I first met him out on the plains of Whiterun," Aela said and a smile crept over her face as she added, "When I saw him, I knew I had to have him."

Serana gave a slightly soft smile as she said, "When Dragonborn rescued me from my deep sleep in Dimhollow crypt and he helped me defeat my father, I knew that he was the one for me."

Aela smiled at the vampire and said, "What's not to love about him?" Serana gave a soft chuckle at this which Aela mirrored with her own chuckle.

"Well, I can't say that my feelings for Dragonborn aren't as strong as yours are," Felicia said saying her piece. "But I can easily see why you both have deep feelings for him," she remarked.

"Indeed," Aela agreed. "Which begs the question of what your interest in Dragonborn is, Miss Hardy," she then said looking at Black Cat sternly.

"Would you believe that I'm honestly attracted to good and kind men?" Felicia replied with a sincere smile in her eyes. "I can't say that I know Dragonborn as well you two do, but just looking at him, I know he's a good and kind man," she said. "And I've had my share of rotten men in my life," she added with a bitter expression.

"Your father?" Serana asked coming to an obvious conclusion.

Felicia shook her head and replied, "No. My first boyfriend. He… He saved me from being raped, but not long after, he… he…" Tears began to form in her green eyes.

"It's alright you needn't say anymore," Aela said to the thief with sympathy in her eyes.

"After that night, I wanted revenge on him and I started training to make sure that I would be able hurt him as much as he hurt me that night," Felicia said as she wiped away her tears. "But when the time came I was ready, he died in a drunk driving accident," she added with a furious look in her eyes.

"Fate cheated you of your revenge, it seems," Serana said gently.

"Yeah, and ever since that night, I felt that all men, barring my father and a couple of others I had met, weren't worth the effort," Felicia then said. "The few men I had met I felt were worth my attention were all good and kind men, but I'd messed up the chances I had with them," she added as fresh tears leaked from her eyes.

Aela and Serana then moved to hug Black Cat who then began to sob, her body shaking. "I'm so sorry you had go through all that," Aela then whispered to Felicia who sniffled and gave a nod.

"Yeah… I became the Black Cat as a way to escape my pain and trauma," the platinum haired thief said. "But if I could go back and change something, I would've reported the rape to the police and gotten the help I needed to cope with it."

"No-one should ever be raped," Serana then said softly. "Believe me, I know the feeling," she added with a sad look in her eyes.

"You do?" Felicia said her voice thick with restrained sobs.

"How do you think I became a vampire in the first place?" Serana said to her.

Felicia had a surprised look in her eyes and said, "And I thought I had it rough."

"It's okay. I'd found someone who helped me come to terms with it," Serana said with a soft smile.

"Dragonborn?" Felicia asked and Serana gave a nod of confirmation. "Do you think… he'd be willing to help me with my problems?"

"He's always helped those who asked for it," Serana replied before saying, "So, now that we've shared our sob stories and what happened with Dragonborn last night, what do we do now?" she asked.

"Well, we can always blame it on the Nuka-Shine and pretend it never happened," Aela replied. "But, you'll forgive me if I say that I call first dibs on Dragonborn," she said with a sly grin on her lips.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Serana said in mock outrage. "Far as I'm concerned, Dragonborn is still up for grabs," she added in amusement.

"Well, while you two argue, I'll have made Dragonborn mine," Felicia said with a smile.

All three women shared a laugh as the door swung open and Dragonborn came inside bearing a trolley cart laden down with breakfast food and some blood packs. The warrior noted that all three women were laughing with each other and he said, "Well, it seems you're all getting along."

"We are, for the moment," Aela replied. "I suppose you've brought us a hangover cure of sorts?" she asked.

"I have," Dragonborn said as he placed some plates in front of Aela and Felicia before handing Serana some of the blood packs. "I ordered everything the hotel has for breakfast foods, but I had to ask for blood packs for Serana to consume," he explained.

"Thank you," Serana said to the warrior gratefully before opening a blood pack and poured some of the crimson life fluid into a glass and began to sip it slowly as Aela, Black Cat and Dragonborn heaped large amounts of fried breakfast foods onto their plates and began to eat.

As the pain and nausea of their hangover gradually went away, Serana asked, "So, did you ask where Sora and the others are?"

"I asked the hotel clerk and he told me that Courier, Jaina, Veronica and Christine all went into a room together," Dragonborn replied. "I can only guess what they did last night. I'm not sure where Sora is," he then said.

"Wait… Courier, Veronica, Jaina and Christine all checked into the same room?" Felicia asked in surprise. "What is it you think they did last night?"

"Not our business. What they did is their own," Dragonborn replied. "But the clerk did say that our room and theirs made a lot of noise last night," he said with embarrassment.

"Oh, Gods!" Aela hung her head in shame. "Well, should we go and wake them up?" she asked then suddenly a group of loud screams came from the next room over.

"I think they've already woken up," Felicia said blandly as she ate a forkful of bacon and eggs. "Should we go and see how they're doing?" she offered.

"In a minute. I'd like to enjoy some breakfast first," Dragonborn replied as he ate his bacon, eggs, hash browns and toast.

Then the door to the room burst open and stumbling inside was Jaina Skywalker, her hair a mess and her makeup slightly marred and a shocked embarrassed expression was on her face as she said, "You guy… I… we… what the hell happened last night?!"

"The Nuka-Shine," Aela informed her. "It obviously made us go crazy last night and we all ended up here, save for Sora," she said.

"Wait… Sora isn't here?!" Jaina asked.

"Not that we know of," Serana replied uneasily. "He might be aboard the Gummi Ship waiting for us," she said.

"Oh, Force help me, if Mom and Dad knew just what I did last night?" Jaina moaned and stumbling into view was Courier, looking very hungover.

"Good morning, Lady Courier," Dragonborn said to the Wasteland who held her head and moaned, "Not so loud!" Courier's voice was hoarse and raspy.

"Of course," Dragonborn said in a quieter voice. "Come, time for some breakfast or some medicine," he told Courier who moaned in discomfort as she slumped against the doorframe, clutching her head in pain.

Then Veronica and Christine came into the room, both looking equally hungover as Courier. "What happened last night?" Veronica asked in a slurry voice.

"Seems that Nuka-Shine we tried did this to us," Jaina replied. "And from the looks of it, Dragonborn, Aela, Serana and Felicia had about as much as we did," she said embarrassedly.

"I don't wanna know!" Christine said waving a hand in front of her face. "Where's Sora?" she then asked.

"Just what we're trying to figure out," Dragonborn said to the former Circle of Steel assassin. "So, after we're done here, we need to go out and find Sora. He can't have gone far," he added assuredly.

"I hope not," Jaina said. "I wouldn't forgive myself if something happened to him!" she added in self-admonishment.

"Anyone got hair of the dog?" Courier mumbled out.

"We don't need any alcohol at the moment," Dragonborn said to the wastelander sternly. "You need food to soak up the alcohol and then a warm bath to wake you up," he added.

"Doctor's orders?" Jaina asked dryly.

"It's what works for me," Dragonborn said with a shrug of his broad shoulders. "So, c'mon, let's get some breakfast for you all and wash up," he added.

…

After eating breakfast and washing up and dressing themselves in their regular attire, they all began to make enquiries as to where Sora had gone while they were indisposed last night. Yuffie told them that she last seen Sora stumble off to the Third District in a stupor. This set alarm bells ringing in everyone's heads as they thought Sora must've snuck some of the Nuka-Shine to drink for himself and had gotten into his own troubles.

They all then set off the Third District to find Sora or at least some clue as to where he'd gone and done. Jaina was panicking as she said, "Oh, Force save me! Mom and Dad will kill me if they knew Sora had tried alcohol for the first time!"

"We don't know if he did, Lady Jaina," Dragonborn said to her. "He could've eaten something that affected him," he added.

"Well, it was gonna be inevitable that Sora would try alcohol at some point," Courier said dryly as ED-E floated in front of her, buzzing and chirping. Then the Eyeboy began to beep in excitement. "ED-E's found Sora's trail," the wastelander exclaimed as ED-E began to hover over a set of shoe prints on the floor.

"Are we sure?" Black Cat asked.

ED-E gave an angry chirp which Courier translated, "Yeah, they match the shoes Sora wore last night."

"Let's follow them," Jaina then said determinedly as ED-E began to highlight Sora's trail which led them to the door leading Merlin's home. "Who lives here?" Jaina asked as she asked as they entered the cavern where Merlin's house dwelled.

"A friend. King Mickey sent Merlin to help train Sora in the arts of magic," Courier told her as they began to make their way across the lake towards Merlin's house.

Entering Merlin's home, they found the wizard sitting in a large chair by the fire, fast asleep with an empty bottle of Nuka-Shine in his lap.

"Oh, Gods, not him too!" Aela cursed loudly which roused Merlin from his sleep with a start.

"Oh! Oh my goodness me! You're all here earlier than I thought you would be," the wizard complained his voice slightly slurry.

"Yes, we're here and we're looking for Sora. Is he here?" Veronica asked.

"Sora? Oh! Yes, he's… hic, here," Merlin said through a hiccup. "He's… hic… training," he added.

"Training?" Jaina echoed. "Has he been training the whole night?" she asked in disbelief.

Merlin looked at Jain through unfocussed eyes and asked, "Who might you be, young lady?"

"Jaina. I'm Sora's older sister," Jaina said tersely in answer.

"Oh, you've found her already!" Merlin exclaimed. "I actually have something from Maz for you and Sora," he then said as he rose to his feet and stumbled over to a trunk, opening it and rummaging through it.

"Are you sure this guy can teach magic to anyone?" Jaina whispered to her companions.

"He isn't like this usually. At least, not as far as we know," Dragonborn replied as Merlin finished rummaging through the trunk with an exclamation of triumph.

"Aha! Found it!"

Merlin stumbled over, holding a hand sized silver handle and he said, "Maz asked me to pass this along to you all, said it belonged to your father." Jaina's eyes went wide in surprise and she spoke.

"Is… that Grandpa's lightsaber?!" Her expression was one of astonishment as she snatched to the silvery hilt from Merlin's hands and examined it. "Where did you get this?" she demanded looking at Merlin.

"Maz passed it along to me when she came here briefly," Merlin replied as he became much more focussed and aware. "Said that your father had given it to her for safekeeping," he explained.

"Maz was here? Where is she now?" Courier asked.

"I don't know to be frank," Merlin said in reply. "She's typically on the move. I'll wager she's left Traverse Town by now," he added.

"Damn. Maybe she knows where Dad is?" Jaina muttered.

"She told us to seek you out, same as Obi Wan did," Serana told her. "So, unless you have amnesia, then you must know where to look for your father," she said.

"I don't even know where to look for Dad!" Jaina protested. "If I knew I would've brought him home already," she said.

"In any case, we know Sora's here. Let's grab him and get going," Courier said as Merlin led to up into the upper portions of his home where they found Sora passed out, surrounded by the splintered and broken remains of furniture and other household items.

"Oh, god! Don't tell me Sora wrecked all this by himself?" Black Cat said in disbelief before she looked at Merlin and added, "We'll pay for the damages."

Merlin snorted before waving his wand and all the furniture and household items suddenly repaired themselves. "No need to trouble yourself. It can all be fixed," he said easily.

Jaina was already checking up on her little brother. "Sora? Sora, are you okay?" she asked him

Sora woke up, his eyes unfocussed and his voice slurry, "Kairi? Is that you? I had the strangest dream last night…"

Jaina sighed before hefting Sora over shoulder, saying, "C'mon, Sora. Let's see if we can cure your hangover."

After thanking and apologising to Merlin, the group left Merlin's home and headed for the First District where they took Sora to a nearby café where he was served a large plate of breakfast food, some pain relievers and a large pitcher of orange juice.

"I'm not hungry!" Sora said looking nauseous.

"Eat, you'll feel better," Dragonborn said to him. "We also have some news that Maz was here and passed something to Merlin to give you and Jaina," he added.

"Maz was here?" Sora asked as he reluctantly began to eat some bacon. "What did she say?"

"She had Grandpa's lightsaber to give to us," Jaina said holding up the weapon in her hands.

"That's… Grandpa's lightsaber?" Sora said. "Why did Maz have it?" he inquired.

"Don't know. I'd like to ask her that myself," Jaina said before her expression became stern as she added, "I'd also like to know how you got your hands on alcohol when I said you weren't allowed!"

"I didn't! All I had was some of that candy!" Sora replied in protest. "I took one bite and I suddenly blacked out! Next thing I know, you guys found me in Merlin's house!" he said.

"You're telling me that a piece of candy made you blackout drunk?" Jaina said sceptically. "Yeah. Pull the other one."

"That's what happened I swear!" Sora exclaimed.

"What's done is done. Time we fixed ourselves up and head back out there," Dragonborn said.

"Yeah, but first we need to upgrade the ship to make more room," Courier said to everyone. "That's what we came here for originally," she reminded them.

"We did and we got caught up in the festivities," Aela said rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Well, let's do that first then," Jaina said as Sora finished his breakfast and after paying for the meal, they then left to find Cid and begin working on upgrading the Gummi Ship.

…

Finding Cid in the shipyards, they found the gruff straw haired man nursing a bottle of water. "Morning, Cid. Having hangover troubles yourself?" Courier asked.

"No more than you, kids," Cid said with a chuckle. "Practically everyone knows what you all got up to last night," he added with a grin.

"I don't wanna know!" Courier said holding up a hand to forestall Cid from telling them. "We're here to upgrade the Gummi Ship, make it a little roomier for everyone on board," she told the man.

"Well, been wondering if you kids would come to me for upgrades," Cid remarked gruffly. After finishing off his water, he stood up and said, "C'mon, let's go over to the workbench and see what we can make."

As Cid and the others began to work on a design for a new gummi ship, Sora stood outside, leaning on the railing watching as workers worked in the shipyard. Then a lone figure came to stand beside Sora, leaning on the railing. "Interesting, isn't it?" said the figure and Sora looked at the person.

The person was a man, wearing an assortment of armour and gear; his garb consisted of a faded blue jumpsuit with a brown leather duster over it followed by an olive green combat armour chest piece over it. Worn but sturdy looking black leather boots covered the man's feet and his hands were clad in fingerless black gloves. He was well-armed too with a well-made looking sword hanging on his left hip, a black metaled revolver holstered in his right, an clearly advanced looking energy rifle hung over his back alongside a stockless assault rifle with a scope attachment and suppressor. A sawed-off double barrel shotgun was holstered on the man's right thigh and the handle of a large combat knife poked out from the man's right boot. Sora then spotted a large bulky looking wrist computer similar to Courier's pip-boy on the man's left wrist.

The man's features were rugged in a handsome way with short cut golden blonde hair and stubble on his firm jaw with warm looking brown eyes that sparkled with intelligence and experience in them. Scars littered the man's face, a prominent one being a harsh jagged looking one that went over his left eye thankfully missing the eye itself and ending just short of the bottom left of his jaw.

"Who are you?" Sora blurted out.

The man gave a chuckle and replied, "Been a long time since anyone's asked who I am. To most I'm a shepherd of sorts, a restorer of the faith if you will."

"Really? No name of your own?" Sora asked in sympathy.

"I do have one, but it's been a long time since I've used it that I've almost forgotten it," the stranger man said with a grin.

"What does everyone call you then?" Sora asked.

"Doubt it means much to you, but folk called me the Lone Wanderer. Not that I was ever really alone," the stranger said. His expression fell a little as he then said, "Of course, when those Heartless came, I found myself alone for the first time in a long time."

"I'm sorry to heart, Mister Wanderer," Sora said sincerely.

"Don't sweat it, kid," The Lone Wanderer said with a smile. "So, you mind me telling me your name? Or are you like me?" he enquired.

"I'm Sora. Sora Skywalker," Sora said offering his hand to shake.

The Lone Wanderer grinned widely and shook Sora's hand and replied, "Nice to meet ya, Sora. So what brings you here?"

"Working on upgrading my ship before heading out to look for my friends and my dad," Sora replied.

"Looking for your dad, huh? Don't I know the feeling?" The Lone Wanderer said more to himself than to Sora who raised an eyebrow. "Well, let's just say that at one point in time, I was looking for my dad too," he explained to Sora.

"Did you find him?"

A sad smile came over the Lone Wanderer's face before he said, "I did and then he… died to save my life."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry," Sora said apologetically.

"Don't worry. I had a lot of time to get past it, and my father died to save me and some friends from some complete bastards who wanted to ruin things for everyone," the Lone Wanderer said. "Time's fleeting for me, it's all but a distant memory now," he added.

"But you still remember, right?" Sora asked.

"I do," the Lone Wanderer said in response. "The thing about a memory is like a great love. When it's there, and you know it's there, it can be all that you think about," he added. "You can try and force it to come to you, but it only drives it further away. But, if you're patient and you wait, maybe, just maybe, it'll come to you."

"I'll try and keep that in mind next time," Sora said with a smile.

"Eh, sorry! I ramble a bit," the Lone Wanderer said with an embarrassed smile. "You don't need to listen to some old has-been like me rambling crap like that," he added.

"It's okay. I found it interesting," Sora said with a grin. Then Sora's friends came outside and saw Sora talking with someone.

"Hey, Sora, who's your new friend?" Veronica asked as she stared at the man.

"Howdy, ma'am. Kid wasn't bothering me," the Lone Wanderer said to the former Scribe. "Just got to chatting with the kid is all," he explained.

Courier then spoke, "Where did you get that pip-boy?" she asked looking at the wrist computer on the Lone Wanderer's wrist.

"Had it all my life if that's any of your concern," the Lone Wanderer said coolly. "And I could ask you the same thing," he added neutrally glancing at Courier's own pip-boy. Courier stared at the Lone Wanderer who stared right back at her; both of them looked like they were sizing each other up which the others sensed and Dragonborn stepped in.

"Apologies, good sir. We did not mean to bother you," the hero of Skyrim said to the Lone Wanderer who glanced at him and replied, "It's nothing. Just recognising a fellow wastelander when I see one."

"Likewise," Courier said in a deadly voice although there was amusement lacing her tone before she broke off her stare and said, "Well, time we were on our way. Nice to meet you."

"Same to you, scavver," the Lone Wanderer said a grin pulling at his lips before he put his hands in his pockets and walked away whistling a small tune to himself.

"Strange guy. What did he want?" Christine asked Sora who shrugged and said, "Didn't ask him. Just got to talking with him."

"I liked him," Courier suddenly said. "Stood his ground. I respect that in someone," she added.

Everyone stared the wastelander in bewilderment which made her look at them and say, "What?"

"Rare for you to like someone so suddenly," Veronica remarked. "Took you a while to warm up to me," she added.

"Is that strange?" Courier asked and Veronica slowly nodded her head. "Eh. Not like we'll see the guy again, so I wouldn't worry about it," she said.

"Either way, we're now getting an upgrade to Gummi Ship. Cid said it'll take a few hours at top speed, but we'll have a new ship at the end of the day," Dragonborn said.

"Yeah," Sora said with a nod of his head as they headed off to the First District to get some lunch.

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: There! Eleventh chapter of this story is done and dusted and we saw the introduction of the Lone Wanderer from Fallout 3! Whether he'll show up again in this story or the KHII sequel is anyone's guess, but if everyone wants to see him again and sooner, I could definitely work on incorporating him into a future chapter.

In other news, I've been working on my Elder Scrolls/Game of Thrones multi-crossover The Elder Scrolls: Multiverse of Madness and I've set up a romance poll for the story and so far Triss Merigold from The Witcher series is in the top spot, which I'm not complaining about (Team Triss all the way!), but if anyone wants to see some other lovely lass take the top spot, you know what to do.

And that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.

Be kind to one another,

Angry lil' elf.