"Delucia Cavelle, if you even try and splash me and my hotdog, you are going down." Alex threatened, meaning every word as she bit into the hotdog. Dix rolled her eyes teasingly and let go of the cupped water in her hands, flopping onto a beach chair.

Alex released a happy, relaxed sigh and shaded her eyes from the sun, setting the end of her hot dog down on the napkin next to her. She watched as Jordan and Bear attempted to run around the bottom of the ginormous wave pool and sighed, returning to her hot dog with gusto. Dix flicked through a Typhoon Lagoon article and sat a bit straighter as she read aloud eagerly.

"Okay, so we're in the Surf-Wave pool right now, but there's this water ride called Crush 'n' Gusher. Listen, 'Enter an abandoned fruit-processing plant and prepare for a thrilling water coaster ride down a 400-foot-long tube slide. You get to choose from three different fruit chute-y things, there's a pineapple one, a coconut one, banana one. There's a two person option and a solo ride option as well. Drops, turns, closed and open sections, you even skim across Hideaway Bay at the end!"

Alex took a long draught of her pineapple juice and sent a threatening glare Jordan and Bear's way (they were trying to splash her) and shrugged at Dix.

"Sounds good to me, we've been lazing around at this pool for ages now. And I'm willing to bet Jordan's going to have a sunburn from this morning already."

She was pretty sure she was right, because Jordan was already yowling about his back turning red and sore. Today had been a lazy wake up for the Core Four, yawning and stretching as they untangled themselves from the big pillow-blanket mess over the couches. Luckily, the lightsabers had gone unharmed and the only near incident was when Bear's droid had accidentally zoomed out into the hallway on their way to breakfast.

Alex was pretty sure they had somewhere else to go after lunch, but Dix seemed to really want to go on this ride so they corralled the boys, gave Jordan some aloe vera to stop the worst of the burn and a shirt, then walked over to Crush 'n' Gusher. Alex and Jordan chose to ride doubles with a banana float and Bear and Dix chose the coconut one.

They had to walk up a few flights of slippery stairs behind a jostling line until finally it was their turn. Alex sat in the front of the double and Jordan in the back as the park attendant lazily drawled 'Go.' They pushed off and Alex quickly leapt to holding onto the handles on the side, a gush of water spinning them down the first slope. Alex heard Bear whoop from the other track above them and braced for a bump when they rose and then slammed onto the slide again.

The world darkened for a few seconds as they passed under a covered tube and then shot out under the hot sun again.

"Oh crap!" Jordan swore as he accidentally let go and Alex pulled his arm back on, shaking her head mid-laughter at him.

They rounded a bend on the banana-float around a trio of tall palm trees and laughed as they saw Bear and Dix whizz by, waving as securely as they could with one hand firmly attached to the handle. Alex narrowed her eyes as she saw they were approaching a descent with a slight rise at the bottom. It led to a large pool at the bottom where other rafters were already getting out of.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure it's going to have a slight buMP—" Alex shrieked as they flew into the air and then skimmed into the pool like they were drifting on a car track. Jordan echoed her yelp as they both fell out of the raft and into the chilly water.

Alex surfaced with a gasp, fully soaked compared to the light spray's she'd been getting from the ride earlier. Dix and Bear, dragging their coconut float, waded over towards Jordan and Alex. Both of them were drenched as well, Bear's dark hair plastered against his face, Dix's flaming locks down her back.

"Again?" Bear grinned.

"Again." Alex, Dix and Jordan chorused as they carefully raced to the line, determined to beat the other duo first.

After another round on the Crush 'n' Gusher, the Core Four found a spot that wasn't shaded and dried off quickly under the hot sun, planning where to go next. Jordan suggested another water ride 'Miss Adventure Falls', which was a four person raft ride. It was pretty close to Crush 'n' Gusher, so it was a short walk (interrupted with an ice cream break, Jordan and Dix got matchy-matchy Mickey and Minnie Mouse ones, Alex got a Donald Duck one and Bear a Goofy one) over to Miss Adventure Falls.

This time they didn't have to walk upstairs, but wait for a huge, bright orange ring to wash onto the moving platform. The Core Four climbed into the ring by instruction of the attendant, sitting inside the big doughnut, arms draped on the outer ring casually. They started to move up the escalator, a very long way up above more palm trees and bushes, long tickly grass and small ponds.

When they arrived at the very top, there was a small wooden platform built around the side, which Alex didn't have time to question because a strong gush of water pushed them down a tunnel. Opening her mouth to speak, Alex was hit with a spray of water and a quick twist into a spiral. Dix pointed at a glittering treasure chest that was nestled in the thick branches of a faux tree as they shot out into open skies.

There were no other twists and turns, just a few gentle bends for the rest of the ride. However, the ferocity and speed of the water made up for that as they were constantly spinning, their head going dizzy as they spotted even more hidden artifacts snug in tall rocks or trees, even a parrot sliding across an almost invisible line as it squawked loudly.

Probably the most memorable part was zooming by a beached ship that was almost snapped in half, the keel a deteriorated cream colour, striped with a lovely blue across the hull. The deck's wooden planks were snapped about halfway where the artistically tied-to half-mast was.

They washed up in the same pool they'd left from, all very tuckered out and out of breath. Alex jumped out of the doughnut and into the pool, swiftly getting out of the way for the people waiting in the line. Rolling her shoulders and adjusting the strap of her swim top, Alex gestured for her friends to follow her over to a massive rock formation next to the Miss Adventure Falls that she'd noticed earlier.

Another ship was balanced precariously on the peak of the rocks, the mast spitting out a fountain of water that cascaded down in cool shimmers. Alex arrived at the bottom of one of the slides and read all of the options coming from 'Mount Mayhem'.

"There's Humunga Kowabunga, a ride in the dark, there's Gangplank, Keelhaul, and Mayday Falls, and something called Storm Slides. Wanna go check it out? We have about an hour until the lazy river empties again for the lunch people."

Something they had learnt well was to eat before lunch rush hour - sure it mixed up their eating times, but they had much shorter lines and more enjoyable rides whilst the rest of the park was fighting over lunch and food.

"Sounds good to me. Can we hit Humunga Kowabunga first?" Bear mocked a desperate pout, and when everyone groaned at him he simply grabbed their arms and walked them over to the line like he was a dog walker managing a golden retriever, an Irish setter and a labrador.

For a lovely hour, the Core Four stampeded Mount Mayhem, all over Gangplank Falls, traversing Keelhaul and Mayday, sliding down Storm Slides and Humunga Kowabunga, having the best water park fun, living their little kid life out as best as they could.

For some reason, they'd all had shaky childhoods. Jordan, growing up with the Sparkers, struggled with the weight of Luka's death. Dix, painting the portrait of a perfect princess, hidden or not, she had a part to play. Bear, overshadowed, taking care of his siblings and little Evie, trying to stand out, stand clear and stand strong.

Everyone had struggles, Alex knew. It was funny how a little bit of water and a theme park changed their demeanour. Suddenly they were carefree eleven year olds with no care in the world.

She still had nightmares.

Glowing eyes.

So much blood.

Bodies. Always bodies, lying there as casual as trash in her dorm room.

And their chests were always torn up, bloodied and gruesome, their hearts missing.

But now was not the time to think about it. Now was the time to enjoy a carefree trip with her friends, have the time of her life on her most memorable trip in Freya and be herself with no strings attached.

"Alex, watch OUT! Crap!" Dix yelled, accidentally tackling her in the knee-deep water at the end of Storm Slides. Alex toppled over with garbled laughter that turned into a shriek as she got a faceful of water in her mouth and up her nose. Spluttering, Alex coughed out the water and wrinkled her nose at the strange feeling in her nose.

"Sparker, Ronnigan, wanna get something to eat?" Alex shouted in the deserted area they were floating in.

"When have I never? Let's go, I saw a food truck back by Mayday Falls!" Jordan grinned, already shaking the water out of his hair like a wet dog.

The food cart Jordan spoke of was one of three types of trucks that mingled around Disneyworld. The one in a copse of trees sheltered away from Mayday Falls was a Hot Diggity Dog truck that sold hotdogs from BLT's, Chicago's, Rueben's, Santa Fe's or Texas Chili Cheese's, alongside homemade fries and a special Diggity sauce. Jostling each other to get in line first, Alex managed to sneak in front and was stuck with ordering on limited time.

"Could I please have a, uh, um, a Santa Fe with chips and Hot Diggity sauce? Oh, and a bottle of water too please." Alex finally managed to organise her chaotic thoughts and tapped her waterproof MagicBand against the scanner to pay. Another very helpful device to their stay was a MagicBand that allowed them to have a better experience, according to the pamphlets, as well as easier FastPast access.

o o o

A quick hotdog break, few laps around the lazy river on doughnuts and a very relaxing rest of the afternoon at the beach, later, the Core Four were tuckered out from waterpark fun and a lovely sunny afternoon at the beach (Alex still had sand in places sand should not be, even after two showers and wrinkly fingers). They had a relaxing dinner at one of the restaurants below and then gathered around the TV again to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone again on Alex's iPad.

A/N: i am back again. *insert awkward cowboy smile and thumbs up* this chapter is dedicated to iva cause i said i would cause she's painted so much amazing stuff you should check out her instagram @remascoffee because why not hUh. I bring to you another filler chapter, but I do have to say that this is the second last day of disney world before we get to universal studios! Hope you enjoyed another rando update :)

-dommie out