Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original The Little Mermaid or The Little Mermaid II characters. I do, however own characters of my own creation such as Christella.

Since I'm possibly on a roll and I want to start writing what I regard as the exciting bits I'll try and get this up ASAP.

Bo's Rival, if you yell at me for not updating every time you check if I have, I would probably update a whole lot more… :P

Thanks for all the encouragement and all the reviews!

Last Time:

She shrugged and picked up the now shivering mermaid with unexpected strength, she had her plans and though simple to her they would change the future of the Oceans.

Chapter 18:

Chrissie sat in Comportment, a false look of attentiveness plastered on her face. Everyone seemed to be paying complete attention to the incredibly old mermaid who was their teacher, having introduced herself as Miss Orield. Chrissie had a feeling she'd seen or heard the name somewhere before. She appeared frail physically at least, but there was a sense of determination about her. But still, Chrissie had no idea why everyone (even Draphomii and Mariya!) seemed to be paying such avid attention to her.

The entire lesson was as mind numbing as the first five minutes had been. Miss Orield spent the whole lesson talking about what they were planning to do in the incredibly important subject of Comportment. Her voice was infuriating like the tickle of a feather, the shakiness of it that came with age was highly pronounced and rather irritating, to put it nicely. And because she was naive enough to take a front seat, beside Draphomii, Miss Orield thought that Chrissie must also share her passion for the fine art of manners.

"Why do you put up with her?" Chrissie asked her afterwards. Draphomii grimaced slightly before saying sarcastically, "Oh, the fact the Hall is named after her means nothing." Chrissie checked her map and discovered that indeed there was a large room and that took up the whole second floor of the building called the Handeline Orield Hall.

Her prayers for something vaguely enjoyable afterwards came in the form of Art. The teacher, Mr. Glatt, was young and rather attractive, a fact not lost on all the mergirls in the class, least of all Mariya who went as far as batting her eyelashes at him as he glanced her way. Chrissie fumed silently, how dare she? It was infuriating how she had stolen Derek, yet here she was flirting with their Art teacher! She exhaled loudly and resigned herself to trying to burn a hole in the middle of Mariya's flawless complexion. That was until she picked up a couple of the words from the conversation the two boys beside her were having. She realised that one of them was the same boy who had been sitting beside her in Mythology.

"I hate quadratic functions!" he complained. "I'm sure they're impossible. The simple ones were okay… Then there was more!" Chrissie didn't quite suppress a snigger. She found quadratics incredibly easy, in fact she found all algebra and trigonometry rather simple. Her tutor had been about to teach her about non-real number when they left. He turned to face her. "You girls are so lucky you don't have to do Mathematics! Though I guess it's because you'd never be able to do any of it." Chrissie's eyes flashed dangerously.

"Oh really," she said dryly, "Try me." He looked slightly taken aback and started flipping through a text book.
"Ok, something easy," he said in a patronising tone, "What's x when x² + 2x - 3 0…" Chrissie stared at the ceiling, lost in thought for a moment. "Ha! I told you that you…"
"x is -3 or -1," she answered calmly. He hastily flipped to the answers section of the book."Is she right?" the boy beside him asked."Yes…" he said, stunned, "She is."

After a second or two of them staring at her as if she were an alien Chrissie decided it would be better to extend her network of acquaintances, rather than create new enemies.
"Well… I believe introductions are in order?" she said smoothly, "I'm Christella, people call me Chrissie most of the time though."

"Technically, I'm Thazariam. Yeah, I know, doesn't suit me much…" he said to the look on Chrissie's face of incredulity. "Some people call me Thaz, though I don't really have any friends…" he trailed off, "And why did I just tell you that…" he shrugged. "Christella… That seems to ring a bell you know." Chrissie bit back an explanation and wondered if he would work it out for himself. He screwed his face up slightly in concentration before shaking his head a short while later. "Nope, can't place it. Oh well…" Chrissie gave a small sigh of relief. She hated people treating her differently just because of who she was. Even though he'd find out eventually, perhaps there was a possibility that by then he would know her well enough that it wouldn't matter.

"Hey, do you reckon you could help me with Maths? You seem to be pretty good at it. I mean…" he trailed off, blushing slightly. Perhaps he had realised he was actually talking to a girl, she thought, something she had the feeling was a rare occurrence for him.

"Sure!" she replied with a smile, "I was actually thinking of trying to change to Maths." she said, voicing her half-formed thought, "Show me your timetable." He slid it across the table to her and she compared them. Every time she had Comportment, he had Maths. "Excellent…" she said softly. She decided she would go see Miss Finworthy, she was a princess! That would be some sort of leverage. Surely, hopefully, she'd be allowed to do Maths.

ooOoo

Melody stirred slowly, where was she? She opened her eyes and saw a blurry darkness that sharpened, becoming a small, dark room. Everything came back and she groaned. Then she thought about seeing Ray… Seeing Ray in her mind… Had it just been a figment of her imagination? Somehow she knew it wasn't. Her head throbbed and Melody decided she probably wasn't capable of coherent thought right now. She closed her eyes and succumbed to darkness…

ooOoo

Draphomii causally flicked through a merteen gossip magazine, chewing absently on the end of her black marker pen. She turned the page to find a glossy close-up of Mariya's face beside an article titled The Ocean-Wide Success: Atlantica's Gem! Draphomii's previous frown gave way to a smile of malicious glee. The black pen descended and Mariya soon sported a monobrow, moustache, curly goatee and an eye patch. Satisfied, the sea demon flipped to the back of the magazine to work on the crossword, which she completed in a few easy minutes. She glanced at the pale lilac potion suspended over the portable heating device that was emitting a steady, concentrated stream of steam bubbles. She determined it was ready, turned off the mechanism and grabbed the potion straight away. The burning glass would have scalded their hands in such an act, but sea demons had some strange heat resistance so she felt no pain in her webbed hand, nor when she tipped the searing potion down her throat in one. She gave a gravely cough that gradually became more refined until it was a polite, petite cough that Miss Orield would be proud of.

"Ugh, that stuff so sickly sweet," she said in that sugary voice that in no way matched her appearance. She flopped back onto the couch she had been sitting on before, adjusting the seaweed green throw that hid the bronze upholstery. She hated the bronze that dominated the room, it was too close to orange for her liking, she had covered every part of the room she could with black and green. The room was neat and dark apart from a small pile of magazines in a corner stacked in random order with candy colours that seemed offensive in the black and green room. She shook her head, it was time to do some work. She opened the drawer that would seem jammed to anyone but herself and removed with the piece of paper within it. It was the Final Work of Aldon the Wise, known as The Future of Demons. It was not the original of course, wrongly thought to have been lost in The Great War by sea demons (merpeople, the Dagger damn them, did not even know of its existence), but a copy. The only copy. Her grandmother had given it to her, she was cunning a demon and had thought it would be better for her granddaughter to try and decode the poem, after all it concerned her specifically! It consisted of four verses with ten lines each.

When it was written no one had a clue as to what the poem was describing. It was in fact describing the aftermath of an event that would occur in ten years time. The Great War, the battle between merpeople and sea demons. The demons had been outnumbered vastly, and the result reflected that. The sea demons were almost extinct and an immense amount of prejudice held against them. Draphomii started to read and uncapped a fine tipped pen with dark green ink to make notes.

revenge is sweet

through the deceit

the time will come

too late for some

the kings daughter

survived the slaughter

she had one child

sweet and mild

in turn she had another

who we will trust dear brother

That verse was obvious enough. It just identified the one who would save the sea demons. It identified her. She quickly moved on to the last three verses which, unlike the first, she had never read before.

five with power will seek

through quest unique

the four great forces

and the almighty source

one to rule above

though with hate or with love?

the one that greatness shall absorb

shall find the pale glowing orb

now a riddle to unwind

the objects that you must find

from fish thoroughly strident

the cursed and dooming trident

from one who boasts eternal reign

the circle reflects our domain

of tribes thought dim-witted and uncouth

the mysterious great white tooth

from the old demon maid

our ancient blessed blade

from waters of darkness and fear

the greatest sea sphere

so i wish thee good fortune

on the forty-second blue moon

with no person place your loyalty

even the three of royalty

neither in the sultry dame

who basks in glory and in fame

and beware the one of quiet tongue

lest you be caught as the trap sprung

heed my warnings when the time is nigh

these my final words, I DIE

Draphomii read those last two words again and a chill ran through her. It was legend, the death of Aldon the Wise. He had been found in his bedchamber to which he had been confined for two tides with illness with the parchment clutched in his hand outlining his final prediction he made. It was one of many that were famously accurate. The best philosophers and scholars had puzzled over it for around a year before they gradually lost interest, unable to decipher it. Draphomii frowned and wondered if the same would occur for her. She reread the last verse carefully, something about it attracted her gaze.

The first line of the second verse, five were seeking… She had a feeling she was one of them. And then the last verse told not to trust them… But in doing so revealed something about these seekers! She considered the three royals part, obviously she was one of them. Christella was royal too… She let out a bark of laughter. She had wondered what urge had caused her to befriend the princess, fate! A 'sultry dame' who was famous… Instantly Mariya came to mind. She grimaced. Surely this was to easy? The bell rang suddenly, making her jump. She carefully placed the poem back in the drawer, she had work to do…

sigh That was strangely exausting... Um... Yes, review and all... But things are getting exciting! claps excitedly Things are actually beginning to go the way I've planned!