I don't own Di-Gata Defenders or the Di-Gata Defender characters.

Chapter Seven: Aquinae

It was unlike any room the defenders had ever seen before. The ceiling was made out of some sort of blue glowing crystal which appeared to be the source of light in the room. The height of the curved ceiling almost made them feel dizzy and the shifting white colors in the crystal was breathtaking.

What was even more breathtaking was the beautiful statue that appeared to be made out of an unknown white crystal. Kneeling before them was a young and beautiful lady whose hands were outstretched as they held a white orb. Her hair was long and full with what look like two streaks that went from where they met in the middle of her forehead to the end of her hair. A few strands of hair covered her right shoulder while the rest flowed behind her. Her face was sculpted so magnificently that the defenders could see everything line on her face. Her nose was a picture of perfection, her cheeks full, and her head was tilted slightly to the left as if to emphasize the importance of accepting the gift. She had the sweetest smile upon her lips and her eyes were filled with kindness and had a hint of love. She had two diagonal line tattoos that went from the top corners of her face to covering her eyes. The flowing dress she wore did nothing to hide her curves and even though it was made of crystal, the defenders were sure it would have been made from the finest of materials. The defenders were certain that they would never ever come across a statue more beautiful than her.

"She's beautiful" said Mel in awe. "It's as if the artist was in love with her and wanted to catch her best qualities."

"I would completely and totally understand how he could love her" said Seth dreamily. "She's almost like a dream." His expression became serious and he shook his head before saying "but we must not forget why we're here. There's a device to be found."

Erik was the first to look behind her and saw what he was certain what they sought. He saw what looked like a complex control console with buttons, levers and gauges of all kinds of color on it. A few meters away was a small pedestal with six claw-like attachments resting on top of it. Above the pedestal was a metal stalactite with wires sticking out and connected to a strange yellow crystal. What confused Erik the most was the four strange black stones that surrounded and curved towards the pedestal.

"Those must be the Sacred Stones of Arvkarc" said Kara as she and Erik approached the console. "And I guess she must be Aquinae" Kara said as she looked over her shoulder to the statue.

"Sooo, this must be the device then" said Seth as he, Mel and Rion joined them at the console. "Do you think you can figure out how to work it, Erik?"

"It'll take some time; I need to familiarize myself with this equipment first."

"We're willing to wait. Just do your best."

Mel turned around to see that Adam was still staring at the statue. What is he doing? Is there something wrong?

Adam looked over the statue with appreciative eyes. She is indeed a beautiful woman. The artist truly must have loved her and put so much of his love into her. He smiled at the workmanship until his eyes trailed to the orb. Something about the orb caught his attention and he crept closer to have a better look.

The orb began to glow and an image started to form on its surface. Adam immediately recognized it as the woman in the statue, except this was in color. Her dark blue hair looked like it was made of silk and Adam could see that there were indeed two white streaks in her hair. He saw that the tattoos on her face were a light blue that the sky would envy. She had cream-colored skin which looked soft and had no blemishes. Her lips were the color of blood and her eyes were a breathtaking grey. The black dress she wore had to be of the finest material he had ever seen. She looked straight at him and Adam could feel a connection between them. She gave him a dazzling smile and he could swear that there was a look of recognition in her eyes. Impossible, we've never met before. How could she possibly recognize me? But, why do I feel like I know her? Like, I want to be with her? She reached out for him with her left hand and a strange emotion that he had never felt before started to grow in Adam. No wait. I felt something similar like this before but not quite like this. It's so familiar and yet it's still so foreign. What could it be? Although, he could not attach a word to the feeling, it didn't actually bother him. All that mattered was that this woman was standing before him and that he needed something from her. Even though I don't know what it is I want, I can tell that she is offering it to me and will gladly give it. He found himself unable to resist and reached out for her as well. Their fingers were so close to touching when…

"Adam! Are you all right?"

Adam snapped out of the trance that he was in and saw that his left hand was reaching out for the orb in the statue's hands. He couldn't help but notice that his hand was as close to touching the orb as his fingers were close to touching the hands of the woman in his dreamlike trance. What was that? He looked towards his left to see a concerned Mel standing at his side.

"What… what was happening?"

"I don't know. The orb the statue was holding seemed to have your full attention and you looked like you had fallen into a deep trance. Did you see something?"

"Did I see something?" Adam's eyes were full of confusion and then they brighten up as he smiled. "Yeah, I saw something." He turned to the statue and placed his left hand on her right cheek. "I saw something alright."

Mel felt anger starting to build inside her at the scene before her. Adam was giving the statue an affectionate look and was caressing the statue's cheek. She clenched her fists and frowned as Adam looked lovingly at the statue.

He didn't know what it was but something about the statue was reaching deep inside of him and releasing something that he didn't know existed in him. He found that he couldn't resist and felt like she was a long lost friend that he always known and love. Love? That's a bit strong, but yes, it is love. Not the same love that I feel for Mel but still love. He let his left hand returned to his side as he bowed his head, a perfect figure of sadness. Adam could feel a desire to do something building in him and he resisted as best as he could. Finally, he could hold it back no longer and he gave the statue a big hug. He couldn't understand why he wanted to do it or why it made him feel so great, but he somehow felt that this was something he waited his whole life to do. It feels so… "Yeow!"

With a snarl on her lips, Mel dragged Adam out of the room by his right ear. The sight of Adam embracing the statue not only disturbed her but also had filled her with anger that was more intense than she ever felt before.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Come on Mel, just let go. I can walk by myself you know." Sheesh. What got into her?

Mel dragged Adam into an empty room and shoved him in so that she was between him and the door.

After he recovered from the shock, Adam touched his aching red ear. He turned to Mel with an angry faced and demanded "what's gotten into you Mel? This isn't like you."

"What's gotten into me? What's gotten into me? What's gotten into you? You've been acting weird these last few days and you've been having nightmares but do you tell us anything? Nooooo. You have to go and handle everything your…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mel. Who told you about the dream? What is it Seth? Cause he really should mind…"

"No, it wasn't Seth! I had to wrangle the information from Rion and he…"

"Rion? Rion told you? Jeepers, next he'll be telling Kara and Erik."

"Well, he should be telling them or rather it should be you who tells them. It doesn't do any good to keep secrets from us Adam. It's not fair. I thought you trusted us." I thought you trusted me.

"I do trust you guys, it's just… just… it's just that what goes on in my head doesn't concern you. I can handle it on my own."

"Why would you want to do it alone? You've been alone so long, surely you must be tired of being alone. We care about you; we want to be there for you; even during your worst moments. Plus, misery loves company."

"Misery may love company but I rather not be the cause of your misery, Mel" Adam said as he smiled sweetly at her. "I want to spare you the pain and suffering that I go through."

"So, you admit that you've been suffering. And you think not telling me will prevent me from feeling your pain? Well… you're wrong! Telling me nothing doesn't spare me from pain, it only brings it! I want to know everything Adam! And I want to know it now!"

Adam's smile quickly vanished at her outburst. He felt agitation starting to build in him as he said "forget it Mel. You couldn't possibly understand what I'm going through."

"You're right, I don't understand what you're going through… because you won't tell me what's going on! If you told me, I would understand Adam!"

"No you wouldn't Mel. And I meant it when I told you to forget it because I'm not going to talk about it. Not now, not ever. So I'll just be taking my leave."

Suddenly, Mel's eyes starting glowing blue and her hair swayed in a nonexistent wind. Adam, who was a bit unnerved by the spectacle, tried to walk towards the door but found that he couldn't move his feet. He looked down and saw that his feet and the floor he was standing in were covered in ice.

"Okay…." said Adam as he looked up at Mel, "well, I've changed my mind. We'll talk right now."

"That's good Adam, I'm happy to see that you changed your mind. Now what should we talk about first? I know, how about your dream?"

"Dream? What dream?"

Mel's narrowed in anger before she closed her eyes and began to concentrate. Adam was at first confused until he realized that the ice was slowly climbing up his legs.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Just wait a minute. The dream, you mean the one that's been bothering me, right? Well, the thing is… I really don't want to talk about it."

The ice kept on creeping up his legs.

"I mean it, Mel. I don't want to think about it. Look, it just scares me, okay. I don't want to think about it, I don't want it to exist. I… I… I just want it to go away."

The ice stopped and Mel opens her eyes and looked at Adam in the eyes. She saw that he seemed to be depressed and his eyes seemed almost tired. "It won't go away just because you want it to. It also won't go away if you don't talk about it."

"It won't go away if I talk about it, either."

"Stop it Adam! I'm your friend and I demand to be treated with respect and trust. I want to be there for you but I can't if you keep pushing me away."

"I'm not pushing you away; I'm trying to protect you from…"

"Protect me? From what? I'm a defender Adam, I'm not weak."

"I'm not saying you're weak…"

"I know Adam but you don't need to protect me, I can take care of myself. It's you who needs protecting; this dream is obviously getting to you. Get it off your back; tell me everything." She placed her right hand on Adam's left shoulder as she gave him a weak smile.

Adam sighed and said "I won't tell you everything but I will tell you this: the dream worries me. I fear that it means something but I'm not sure what. Whatever it is, I have to watch my back and I don't want anyone getting hurt because of it. Especially you, Mel. I've told you before: I don't know what I would do without you."

Mel's eyes narrowed again as she said "don't sweet talk me Adam. I won't fall for this trick. How can you keep this a secret from me? I was worried about you. I don't want to see you in such bad shape. Promise me that you'll turn to me if you ever feel like talking, okay?"

"I promise Mel." Adam did the cutest puppy eye look that Mel had ever seen before saying "now, can you release me? My toes are starting to freeze."

"Ummm… not quite yet." Mel removed her hand from Adam's shoulder and started to shift her right foot.

"Is something wrong, Mel?"

"Well…" Mel murmured as she blushed, "I was wondering…"

"You were wondering what?"

Mel's face once again became angry as she said "what was with you and the statue?"

"Me and the statue? What are you talking about?"

The ice again slowly crept up as Mel growled "you were staring at for a long time and you hugged it like… like…"

"Staring at it?" Adam put on a thoughtful expression as the ice continue to creep up. "Oh, yes, I remember now. Ummm… Mel? Do you think you could keep this a secret?" When he saw Mel's face become angrier, he quickly said "I mean it, Mel. It's kind of embarrassing, especially the part where I hugged the statue. The guys will never stop making fun of me if they found out. Please, Mel, please?"

"Well, okay" said Mel as she stopped the ice from climbing up Adam, "but this had better be good."

"Okay, this is what happened" said Adam. Mel noticed that Adam appeared to be getting excited and she didn't like. She wasn't sure why, but she just didn't like it. "I was admiring the handiwork on it; I mean she was pretty but I felt that you looked better." Mel blushed at the comment while Adam kept going; "anywaaaay, everything was normal until I glanced at the orb. It was like some sort of spell; I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. I saw her in the orb and I saw that she was waaay prettier in person than she was as a statue. I mean, she was drop dead gorgeous and simply breathtak…"

Wham! Mel punched Adam right at the bottom of his chin with the angriest expression on her face. Some of the ice broke as Adam landed on his butt. He rubbed his chin and glared at Mel who glared back.

"What did you do that for?!"

"What did I do that for? Why do you think I did it?"

"I don't know. If I did know I wouldn't have asked the question, now would I? Seriously, why did you do it?"

"I… I… I don't know!" snarled Mel as she left in a huff.

Adam glared at Mel's retreating back until he realized something. "Wait! Mel! Come back! You didn't defrost me! Mel?!" He sighed and sat there as he tried to figure out what was going on. What was with her? Why was she so upset? Suddenly, his eyes opened wide as he dug his hand into one of his pockets. "Firefox, ignite!" Firefox appeared in front of Adam and awaited his command. "It's time to melt this ice, Firefox. But, ummm… please be careful, okay?"

Mel stormed into the room and stopped before the statue. Where there was once admiration, there was only frustration and anger. Stupid statue. It's not that great. In fact, the handiwork is pathetic. She walked up to the statue and, in frustration, gave it a good kick. "Ow!"

Seth turned away to see Mel rubbing her foot and glaring at the statue. What's going on here? "Are you alright, Mel?"

"Huh? Um yeah, I'm okay."

"What happened to your foot?"

"I…. ah… stubbed my toe on…. um… something."

Okaaaay then. "Well, maybe you could bring the Key here. Erik almost has the thing figured out."

"Right" said Mel as she joined the others at the console.

Kara turned around and, with a quick scan of the room, noticed that someone was missing. "Hey, where's Adam?"

"Adam? He's… ah…. cooling off his heels somewhere. I'm certain he will join us when he's ready."

"Ummm, okay" said Kara as she stared at Mel with a concerned face. "Are you alright Mel? You seem kind of…. distracted and…. ticked off."

"Oh, I'm fine. I'm not the least bit upset. Not the least bit. There's nothing bothering this girl. Nothing at all."

Kara only gave Mel a strange look before turning back to her brother. "Are you almost finished tinkering with machine? This got boring before you even started."

"Actually," said Erik, "I think I've figured at how to work it. Mel, could you put the Key on that pedestal?"

Mel nodded as she took the Key out of her pocket and walked over to the pedestal. The moment she placed the Key down, the claw-like attachments closed in on it holding it in place.

"Okay Mel" said Erik "you better join us over here. According to these gauges, those stones are going to release some powerful energy."

Once all the defenders, minus Adam, were behind the control console, Erik turned on the machine. At first, nothing happened; but then the black stones began to glow and black beams shot out from the top of the stones to the metal stalactite. The wires started to crackle with energy while the yellow crystal began to glow. The area between the pedestal and the crystal were filled with strange yellow energy and the Key began to turn red.

"Is that normal?"

"I hope so. Or at least, it should be normal. I haven't done anything wrong."

"Well, this is it guys" said Seth, "we're taking the first step in our long journey."

The defenders smiled at the thought of what was ahead and waited for the machine to finish its job.