"So this is the first stop?"

Aqua stood at the top of the volcano and looked down at the first on her short list of ingredients. A rare flower grown within the hottest of environments in the Underworld. A small patch of them grew out of a tiny patch of earth, just a few feet above the boiling hot lava. She had wanted to collect some from the Great Volcano since she knew for certain that they grew there as well, but her father forbade her.

Something about respecting their sacred grounds or some nonsense like that.

Mei and Rain stood beside her, peeking off of the edge. Her cousin had come over for a visit, and brought her friend along with her. Out of all of her siblings, Rain always opted to spend time with her when she came over, and since she was a little iffy about letting them inside of her lab, she figured she'd use the visit as 'scavenger hunt' for some items she had been looking for recently.

"Yes, that's it. The Bloodfire Lily," she said before pulling out a notebook. "I was worried that since the Great Volcano is supposedly far hotter, they wouldn't grow here. But it seems as if that was unfounded." She scribbled down in her book before closing it and making it vanish into thin air. She wanted to note where to find these for later.

Rain bounced up and down excitedly. Scavenger hunts with her cousins were always fun, so she was eager to get started. "So, want me to jump down and get it?" she asked.

Mei raised an eyebrow. "You shouldn't be that eager and willing to jump into a volcano…" she said, shaking her head.

Aqua hummed before turning towards her cousin. "She's right. I need to cast a few charms around you first," she said.

"Yay!"

Mei looked at her in disbelief. "A few-?! How often do you guys do stuff like this?!"

"Often enough," Aqua said, holding her hand up. "Alright, let's see. Anti heat obviously. We should throw on something so the smoke doesn't bother you. The other fumes coming from it too. This one will make you a bit lighter, just to be safe…"

Rain smiled as her cousin waved her hand, and glyph after glyph made its way towards her, touching her skin before glowing brightly and then vanishing. Mei watched, wondering just how many charms and spells she was going to put on the girl before letting her go over. How could she even memorize this many for something so specific?

Once she was done, Aqua crossed her arms and nodded. "Okay, you should be fine now. Remember, don't make too much of a ruckus. We don't want it going off. Just grab the Boodfires and come back up," she said. "And try not to activate the volcano while you're down there." It was unlikely, but if anyone could it was her cousin.

Rain gave her a salute, and then stepped back and fell over the edge. She dived down towards the lava, and as she got closer the surface started to bubble. A spray of lava shot up, and Rain quickly spun and swerved around it. The move got her further away from the edge, and the flowers.

She stopped just above the surface, turning around and making her way back towards them. More bubbles of lava began forming on the surface, popping and sending sprays of lava up around Rain. The girl moved above to avoid the lava. Mei and Aqua watched as she maneuvered closer and closer to the flowers.

Mei looked a bit concerned, while Aqua simply just kept watching. "Do you seriously do stuff like this when she comes to visit?" Mei asked.

"Not always. Sometimes we go out for sweets…"

Rain smiled as she finally approached the flower, but right as she got to them, another bubble of lava began popping up right underneath them. "Uh-oh…" She rushed in and landed on the side of the volcano's wall, grabbing an armful of flowers. The bubble popped, but she raised her other hand and caught the lava coming towards her in a bubble of air. "Nice!"

She quickly flew back up, holding both the lava and the flower up for the other girls to see. "Tada! Got the flowers! And a bonus prize too!"

Aqua nodded as she took the flowers from her. "Nice job. When did you learn how to make air bubbles like that?" she asked.

"Mama taught me last week! Came in handy!" Rain said. She looked at the ball of lava, and then hummed. "I wonder if I could eat this…" She had eaten lightning before, so why couldn't she eat lava? She opened her mouth, but Mei reached over and slapped her hand, making her drop the lava back down into the volcano. "Aw…"

"I seriously cannot believe we've gotten to a point where I have to tell you NOT to eat lava!" Mei said, narrowing her eyes at her.

Rain pouted, but then remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot. Picked an extra one just for you," she said, pulling out another Bloodfire Lily.

Mei looked out the flower for a moment, and then blushed and pouted. "I'll take it, but only because it looks pretty and matches one of my outfits. Not because you gave it to me on a whim," she said. Rain just laughed before hugging the girl. "H-hey! Knock it off! You're covered in soot! It's getting on my clothes!"

Aqua ignored the two and began looking up their next destination.

"Okay, I've figured it out…"

The three girls stood at the entrance of a large and long room, one that was covered with tiles that had different symbols on them. Aqua pointed at two of them, each of them with a different symbol. "Those are the only safe ones to step on without activating the traps. They have to be stepped on in a certain pattern. First that one, then the other, the first one again twice, and the second one three times. Then repeat in that order."

Mei raised an eyebrow. "How could you tell all that?" she asked.

Aqua pointed to the walls, which had symbols of their own. "This is an old language, very likely an old Septarian tongue. I can't get every single word, but I know enough to fill in the gaps," she said.

Rain tilted her head. "Can't I just fly over it?"

"No, the walls on the side have symbols that look more like charms than words or letters. I think they set traps. It's better if we just do it the way it's intended. Otherwise this whole place might explode, or the floor might fall, or some other stupid thing."

Rain shrugged. "Alright then."

She was about to step forward, but then Mei grabbed her shoulder. "Nuh-uh, I got this one," she said smiling. "I do steps and footwork way more complicated than this in my sleep," she said confidently. "I'm gonna dance across this thing like nothing."

"I didn't say you had to dance to do it…"

"Don't try to stifle my method."

Mei took a step back, taking one last look at the symbols that Aqua pointed out, and then ran forward. She jumped out onto the first symbol, and then onto the second. Rain and Aqua watched as she twirled before making her way to the next. She skipped from symbol to symbol, smiling as she slowly danced her way to the other side.

Rain clapped her hands as she watched her friend do. "Woo, nice job Mei! You're going awesome!" she cheered.

Aqua hummed. "A little flashy, but impressive."

Mei continued across the room until she finally reached the end, and when she landed on the last tile, a part of the ceiling opened. An item dropped down, and Mei caught it in her hands and looked over it. It looked like some kind of… glowing stone?

"The Eye of Visceral."

Mei's eyes went wide, and then she glared at Aqua. "That better be a name just to hype this thing up, because if I find out I'm holding a literal eye then…"

Aqua clicked her tongue. "I won't confirm or deny it."

Mei moved out of the way just before the large stone fist crashed down onto her. "You couldn't find something more dangerous for us to do today, could ya?!" she asked.

The hulking statue in front of her looked like it was about to swing again, but then Rain landed on it's head. It reached up to try and grab her, but she giggled and quickly moved out of the way. "Well, I think this is fun!" she said, dropping down to the ground and runnin between its legs.

While it's eyes were focused on her, Aqua floated up above it. "You were the ones who wanted to come along. And be careful with this thing. I don't want the jewel inside of it to be damaged. I'd honestly prefer the body not be too broken apart either," she said. She could study it's design and get something out of it.

"Are you seriously telling us to hold back against this thing?!" Mei snapped. She moved out of the way again when it tried to stomp on her.

Rain began zipping around again, and the statue swung and swatted at her. Aqua kept looking over the figure, one of her eyes glowing slightly. It would only take a few more moments to locate the jewel, and… yes.

She lifted up Black Bane, and it began charging forms. Rain and Mei both looked up in awe as it turned into a scythe. "Time to wrap this up." She swung downward, and the statue suddenly froze. For a few moments everyone stood in silence, and then suddenly the statue was split straight in two.

Aqua floated down, plucking the glaring jewel from the left side of it. The two sides of the body continued to fall as Aqua touched down on the ground, turning Black Bane back into it's crystal ball form. "Completed…" she muttered.

Rain looked over her shoulder and at the jewel. "Oh, it's so pretty!"

"What's it to do?" Mei asked curiously.

"Animates statues apparently. I'm sure they're more to it than that. I'll be studying it to get all the specifics. For now, I think it's time we get back. Dinner will be soon, and daddy will start getting worried if we're out for too long…"

"Oh, you're back. What have you girls been up to?" Amber asked, having spotted the three making their way through the halls.

"Dance practice," Mei said, smirking.

Rain giggled. "Jumping off stuff!"

"We did a bit of shopping, so to speak," Aqua said.

Amber stared at the three, and then hummed. "Okay, I'm not sure that's exactly the truth, but I feel like things will be much, much easier if I don't ask. Just try not to blow anything up or do anything too dangerous," she said.

Aqua nodded. "Of course not. We'd never do anything dangerous… relative to our capabilities that is…"

"What was that?"

"See you at dinner mother!"

Aqua scurried off, with Mei and Rain following behind her. Amber sighed. Three little girls shouldn't have been able to get into much trouble, but those three were hardly ordinary in any way shape or form. Still, it was nice to see Aqua having a bit more social time, so she'd let it slide.

The girls continued down the hall, and Mei adjusted her headband. "Well, that was eventful," she said.

"I thought it was fun!" Rain said.

"Of course you would," she said, sighing. "I need a day at the spa after all of that. And something sweet." At the mention of something sweet, both her and Rain turned towards Aqua. She always kept extra sweets stashed in her room.

The other girls scowled. "You can have one slice of cake…"

A/N: Future AU fic of Aqua, Mei, and Rain going on a scavenger hunt by onelastfic.