~ Dedicated to Lani for helping me edit this! ~

Living underwater wasn't something to be proud of, at least not to her. Being there was a curse, a prison bound up by metal-like seaweed. Unbreakable, impossible.

She sighed as bubbles simultaneously blew out of her mouth. Her brown eyes searched above her, subconsciously counting the rays of sunlight breaking the surface of the water.

Green hair flowed around her face in a majestic crown, but she just flicked it out of her vision, annoyed.

In everyday that passed she still didn't know how she put up with her dreadful life. She was a lower Syreni, with legs and ugly skin. Looked down upon, she was hated and pushed around by nearly everyone.

Cassida shook her head, driving away the thoughts inside her head, this was not the time for her to feel sorry for herself and question her existence.

She stood up on the rough rock she had previously been sitting on, and pushing off, she began to swim.

She kicked her legs as hard as she could, using her arms as well to help with the acceleration. All her life Cassida tried to make her great sacrifice, she made sacrifices left and right, but no matter how big it was, how hard she worked, or how much she wanted a tail and beautiful skin, nothing she did worked.

Sometimes she thought that she may have just been born to never change, staying the way she was meant she would always be a lower Syreni.

The thought almost brought tears to her eyes, but Cassida quickly buried her feelings deep down, chaining them up.

As she got closer to civilization she kept her head down, not wanted to make eye contact with anyone. She didn't want their stares of disgust or compassion.

She didn't want anything.

Cassida landed on the slick sea floor and immediately began to walk. Her skin crawled at all of the eyes that landed on her, it made her feel bare, like she no longer had scales covering the whole of her body. Quiet snickering met her ears, but she didn't look up.

The Syreni wanted to growl at them, make them see her anger, but holding back her bitterness was a sacrifice in itself. She just had to wait for sometime when it would actually matter, her great sacrifice.

Cassida silently walked past all of the higher Syreni that looked her way, trying her best to forget that they were even there.

Sometimes she would envy and begin to hate the higher Syreni for their perfect, beautiful skin, crystal blue eyes, and tails, making it easier for them to swim, but as always Cassida wouldn't think such things, it was mean and selfish. She knew that.

She smiled as she reached her work station for the day, story teller. Many young Syreni sat there, waiting for their entertainment. They all cheered when they saw Cassida sit down in front of them.

Their small cheers and claps were wonderful, causing her to wave back at them. This was were she belonged, with the young, for they cared not for what rank you sat in. How wonderful it must be to have no cares, to be so innocent and free.

Cassida missed those feelings as she looked at each and every face in her tiny crowd of ten.

Two Syreni swimming a few feet away from her suddenly caught her eye. She looked over and couldn't hold back a scowl as two girls laughed, smirking over at her.

"Alright everyone, let's get onto the story!" Cassida announced, trying her best to ignore the girls as she looking away from them. "Now, have any of you ever heard about now the Syreni came to be?"

Many of the young Syreni sitting in front of her groaned.

Cassida smiled, "Oh come on! It's a good story! And you know what, for an added bonus I can make it more interesting for you all!"

They all perked up at that, causing her smile to brighten.

"Up in the world outside of our haven a strange land lies," she began, looking upward and moving her hand to point. She looked back at them, "There, is where our people used to live! We lived happily and in peace for many thousands of years, walking on the dry land and breathing air!"

Gasps echoed through the water at this, bubbles flying from every mouth opened.

"Like I said, it was peaceful, until our people began to get jealous and hate each other. They fought and killed, causing so much unhappiness. Darkness came over the world, that finally nature decided to turn against itself, flooding the world and with it came new ways of living. Syreni, we now live underwater and can breath here. Although it took a long amount of time for us to get accustomed to this life, we did it. Now, we keep peace between us by being kind and considerate of each other. And, with the use of our great sacrifices we can be made clean of all of our past offenses!"

"But how does that happen? Is it magic?" a little girl asked.

"Oh no," Cassida replied, shaking her head. "It is most definitely not magic, yet we still don't know how it happens. Many believe it's the creator who does it!"

"But how-"

"Now, that's all the time I have for today, my little Syreni! Come back in the next cycle and I shall have another story to tell!" she said, ending story time before there could be anymore questions.

As her students began to disperse she noticed how half of them had already been taken away by their parents. What a shame, her story had been good.

Cassida stood up and started to walk to the other part of civilization, the market. This day she only had to pick up one thing, as that was all the coins she had enough to buy.

After she bought her one piece of food for the day she started to head back to her home when she ran right into someone. Cassida gasped and looked up, her heart sinking at who was in front of her.

"Oh look who it is! Is that a little low-girl I see?" one of the girls who had been mocking her earlier shouted right into her face.

"Oh, I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh I know you didn't!" the girl interrupted.

Cassida curtsied, "Excuse me, I have somewhere to be," she said, starting to walk around the girl when she got back in front of her.

"What's wrong with your eye?" the girl asked, smirking as her hand landed on her hip in a swift motion.

Cassida always forgot that she couldn't see through one eye, it became natural for her to see everything differently, but every time someone mentioned it, her vision would immediately waver, blurring what she saw.

"O-oh, I'm blind in it, that's why it's white," she replied.

The girl hummed. "Oh what's this?" The Syreni grabbed the only food Cassida had been able to buy and bit into it, throwing the rest out as her friend who had been standing behind her ripped it to shreds.

Cassida gasped, all of the work she had to do to get that one piece of food was all gone. Now she probably wouldn't be able to get anything for a whole other cycle.

"Why, why would you do such a thing?" she asked, tears coming to her eyes.

"Ugh, I don't care about you and your problems! Oh and by the way, how's finding your great sacrifice going? Did you find it?! Oh, then it must have not worked on you! Do you know why?"

She gasped at her harsh words, trying her best to remain emotionless, but failing as tears escaped her eyes and vanished into the sea.

"Because you're always going to be this way! And I like it!"

Cassida sniffled, turning away from the girl. She didn't understand it, fighting was the reason they had to live underwater. Everyone know that! And yet many times when Syreni made their great sacrifice and got everything they ever wanted, they forgot to be nice. Because they were higher.

"Hey! I wasn't done with you!" the girl yelled, grabbing Cassida's shoulder and pulling her back around. The girl smirked, looking down into her sad brown eyes, "You're so ugly. I've never seen anyone more hideous than you."

Before Cassida could react the girl began to hit her in various spots all over her body, causing her to shrink back in fear. "Stop!!" she pleaded, unable to stand so much pain. "Stop!!"

The girl suddenly stopped when she heard the loud scream escape Cassida's mouth.

She looked up once she didn't feel anymore hitting, meeting blue eyes, "Leave me alone!" And with that she quickly pushed off, swimming away from the girl.

When Cassida finally sat down on a small rock far from the likes of her torturer, she didn't know what she had done. What she had thrown away. All of the kindness and sacrifice she had slaved over in all of her years, thrown away just like her little bit of food by one scream.

She was done for, after everything she had done she didn't want to fight anymore. Cassida didn't want to try and find her great sacrifice, it didn't matter anymore to her. She was giving up.

Looking up she watched a pretty sea plants fluttered and waved in the silent water. She wished that her life was a simple as living and not having to worry about anything. How she always wished her life could be different.

"How dare you!"

Cassida gasped when she heard the girls voice behind her, and screamed when vile fingers wrapped around her hair.

"No lower Syreni yells at me!" the girl screamed, pulling at her victims hair frantically.

"No, leave me alone!" Cassida yelled, hitting the girl.

She gasped when her fist came in contact with her shoulder.

Cassida turned around and her eyes widened when she saw a vicious looking animal racing straight for the girl.

She didn't know what came over her as she got in front of the girl, protecting her from getting pierced.

Suddenly Cassida knew exactly what a great sacrifice meant as the animals sharp nose dug right into her stomach.

As she felt her life begin to fade, she smiled. Her appearance was changing. She felt her skin soften, her legs morph together to make the tail she always wanted, she felt her eye heal and both of them turn blue, but most of all, she felt her heart swell with more kindness than she had ever felt.

For this was her ultimate sacrifice... and Cassida was going to die for it.

~

Word count: 1782

Wow, I don't think in my whole career of writing have I ever had such a story relate to me so much. It's amazing! And I hope you all enjoyed this ^-^

Btw Syreni is actually the Latin word for mermaid, cool right?