Suite 1: Water, Movement 2: D.C. al Coda

Ok, almost.

As much as I want to say this is my whole story, its not quite.

I don't remember much when I was little. Kinda sucks, right? But before I go on in detailing my memories, I should probably give a bit o' info on the Atlantican society. You know, since humans are probably the ones who will read this, if anyone ever finds it.

It's been so long. I gotta think really hard to remember. Which isn't good since I'm fighting Sora and co. like RIGHT NOW.

I have a feeling, if Sora couldn't kill me himself, he'd have help from me trying to write this book. This divided attention is probably going to be the end of me. I'm sooooo distracted right now.

Ok, for all you guys who were born human, heres a quick crash course on Atlantican society structure. The aquatic Atlantican culture is driven mostly by military. First there's the royalty, which is annoyingly exempt from all the castes, and then the rest of us are divided into faction castes, by gender and skill. All nonroyal children are sorted into their caste as young kids. Mermaids are divided into the practical arts (healers/mages, supply-gatherers, servants, civil workers, and other stuff) and cultural arts (historians, lyrists, musicians, artisans, and a couple other things I can't think of). Oh, yeah, mermaid royalties tend to dabble in the cultural arts as hobbies. Aside from the most skilled virtuosos in their crafts, cultural artists usually stay in a middle-lower class. The only exception to this is if she a) is in royalty, or b) is married or a direct relative to a prominent somebody in the military. Mermen, one the other hand, are divided into 4 factions, three of which comprise our military. The soldiers/pikemen are pretty much the face of the military. Also the largest faction. Then there are the more covert magicians/enchanters. The smallest military faction are the go-betweens, which are comprised of elite families bred in both strength and magic, and I'd argue that they're the deadliest of the three. And the fourth faction are the rejects of the other three, which makes it a general class of stonemasons, workers, blacksmiths, and the like. (Not that I look down on the lower factions anyways. We need them too. Its just that our society takes pride in our security.)

Oh, and there's a huge soldier-enchanter friction that's gone back for generations. Soldiers tend to be pretty loud, proud and social, as well as being stereotypically big and buff. And enchanters, well, you know, being more secretive about our magic and stuff, tend to be quieter, and with not much emphasis on physical training (Translation: soldiers could be total jerks sometimes). Soldiers, as the face of the military, often see themselves as better, and they get on the nerves of the enchanters, who are always supporting them without receiving gratitude. (We're not even asking for gratitude, just some flipping respect!) Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the last military class are the go-betweens, who are often a mix of both physically fit and well-educated, and are bred only in certain families. Theyre generally pacifists and wisely stay away from this grind.

In human high-school terms, you'd be dealing with 60% jocks, 35% nerds, and 5% gentle giants. The worst part, worse than you humans will ever have it, is that no one can ever change their faction caste, and no one really ever grows out of the mentality either. So if you're a merman in the military, and not a go-between, you're pretty much stuck on one end of the soldier-enchanter grind for the rest or your life.

Now let's actually talk about me.

My name was Myde, and I am the son of Ebyssus, a soldier-general, and Marina, a musician and lyrist. Both of them died when I was little. I was told my father died bravely in battle. And I was at my mother's side when she expired from an illness. The medics couldn't save her. (I really hate to admit this but I can't even remember their faces. I was that young. Well, except for my dad…I'll get to that later.)

What was I? Well, if you haven't figured it out by now, I was an enchanter. But it wasn't that simple. I had sort of an identity issue. Because well, you see, my father was a soldier. I'd heard all these great stories about the awesome stuff he did when he was alive, and so, naturally, I wanted to be like him. If my mother had been alive at that time, I'm pretty sure she would've wanted that too.

You can imagine I was way more than bummed when I was tested at about 10 years old and they told me I was an enchanter. You have no idea. Someone could have still tested me for magic, but all ya really gotta do was take one look at me and you could tell I was no soldier. Imagine me, a little skinny bag of bones with a teal tail. Seriously. It was such a drag...but somehow I kept this fantasy that I could still become a soldier. I look back and see how pathetic this wish was. But I guess having a heart gives you strength to move on in the weirdest ways.

The problem wasn't just what I wanted internally. My attitude didn't match that of an enchanter either. I was in the enchanter faction with a soldier's attitude. I mean, could you imagine me being like the others, all quiet and kept away? Nah. Not me.

I'm not trying to brag when I say that I was sort of a prodigy.

I mean, really. The test didn't lie. I could learn spells almost twice as fast as the others. Faster, and they were way stronger too. It was during this time that I learned to make the water forms that people see, which are way easier to form underwater (obviously). Enchanters only barely tolerated me because I could whup their tails. Soldiers obviously considered be a wannabe (which I was, and with little shame). And go-betweens? Well, they were always cordial and welcoming, but protocol kept us apart. I was jealous of the go-betweens. I felt like I could never amount to them.

In spite of all these things going against me, I'd say that I was a pretty happy kid. I'd play pranks on the soldiers, and often get into lots of trouble. Not that I minded. I was prodigy enough in the enchanter faction that they couldn't kick me out, suckers. I even stole a soldier's pike and trained with it until I could secretly wield it just as well as any soldier. But as I got leaner and a bit more muscular from the training, man, did that put another flipping wedge between me and the rest of the enchanter faction.

It was nice to have some friends along the way. I had friends from all 3 factions, which is almost unheard of. They somehow accepted the fact that I was different. My best friend was dark-skinned and fair haired, the dark skin was never before seen on a merman before. His name was Kaldur, and he knew what it was like to be different.

And he stayed with me until the end.

A bit of background before I let my memories take over the story from here (so I can focus on fighting Roxas—I mean Sora—with all I got). My memories begin on the day of my graduation from merudition (pretty much our education) and the day I became a full fledged enchanter. From here my memories are clear, and I remember them just like they were yesterday.