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

Chapter Nine: The Dream Of Sorrow

The fire had been reduced to embers and all the defenders except for Mel and Seth were sleeping.

"Don't worry, Mel. You heard Erik, Adam is going to be okay."

"I know, but I can't stop worrying about him. I wish there was something I could do."

"How about you fall asleep so that way he can see a well rested Mel tomorrow? I'm certain Adam would like to see you in good shape. You know, when he wakes up." If he wakes up.

"Yeah, I know. But, I just have this feeling… Oh, never mind."

"Yeah, Adam's really been having a tough time these last few da… Uh, I mean that he's been having a tough time dealing with…. with…. um…"

Suddenly Mel turned to Seth and said "that's right. Both you and Adam were keeping secrets from me. Why would you do that? Why didn't you tell me about Adam's nightmares? Don't deny anything because Rion told me everything." Sort of.

"You're mad at me for keeping secrets? You should be mad at Adam; they're his secrets."

"I was mad at him. I mean I am mad at him. I had a talk with him about it today."

"Really? Do you let him have it?"

"Umm… yeah, I did in a way." I let him have it right in the chin. "He assured me that everything was fine and… well… Anyway, Seth, tell me what you know about the nightmares."

"Nothing." He looked at Mel and saw that she was starting to get angry and so he continued; "no really, Mel. Adam told me nothing. He jut kept telling me that he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't tell Rion anything either. In fact, he had to nerve to tell both of us that it was nothing, that it was only bothering him a little bit. Can you believe that jerk?"

Mel's eyes widen in surprised after Seth finished his tirade. If what he says is true, does that mean that I know more about the nightmare than them? Adam trusted me enough to tell me more than what he told Seth and Rion.

Seth smiled as he saw a smile started to return to Mel's face. "Finally Mel, you're smiling. You know, you look a lot better with a smile on your face."

Mel looked away as she blushed and her eyes once again lay on Adam. "Poor Adam" she whispered.

"Yeah" said Seth. "The fact that he hasn't been eating these last few days probably hasn't helped either."

"He hasn't been eating! What do you mean he hasn't been eating? How do you know? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was watching him during mealtimes and he didn't eat anything. I confronted him about it today but he denied it. Hey, what are you doing?"

Mel angrily walked over to Adam and began to shake him. "I'm waking him up so that I can yell at him for not eating." She stopped, however, when she got a look at Adam's face. "Adam? Seth! Get over here! There's something wrong!"

Seth ran over and took a look at Adam's face himself. Adam had a grimace on his face, was breathing harshly and sweating. "He must be having a nightmare" said Seth.

"Wake up, Adam, wake up!"

Adam felt uncertain as he walked down the dark and gloomy road. He was surrounded by nothing but rock and the sky was a dark grey. As he walked, he noticed that some strange stuff started falling from the sky. He caught one in his hand and took a close look at it: a black cherry blossom. When he looked up at the sky again, it was filled with them. An entire shower of them, but…, he looked down at the empty ground in wonder why aren't there any on the ground? He couldn't understand what was going on but he felt that he should continue with his journey. He had to get to the end of the path. I wonder why.

As he walked further down, he noticed that there was a dark figure standing on the path. Curious, he started to run over to the person only for the person to run away. He chased after her as they both moved down the path until the figure finally stopped. Adam stopped too, a few meters away from the figure and saw that the figure was wearing a black old-fashioned ball gown that appeared to be made out of the finest silk. She turned around and Adam saw that it was Aquinae with a baby in her arms.

[IA baby? She had a baby[/I? He squinted his eyes at the baby and saw that she was wearing a sky blue frilly dress and that she had the same tattoos as Aquinae. The baby smiled at him and he smiled sweetly back at her. For reasons he didn't understand, he felt the same way towards that baby as he did for Aquinae. Weird. I don't even know either of them. Why am I so certain that this woman is Aquinae? He then turned to Aquinae and asked "is she yours?" His eyes opened wide at what he saw.

It was definitely Aquinae but there she was looking terrible. Her skin was pale, almost white, her grey eyes were dull and listless, there were bags under her eyes, her cheeks were sunken in so much that he could see cheekbones, her hair was lifeless and disheveled, and a sad and desperate expression was on her face. She's dying.

There was a hint of recognition in her eyes but it was pretty obvious she was too tired to do much. She reached out for Adam but collapsed. "Aquinae!" Adam rushed to her side and looked for the baby; she was nowhere in sight. He began to panic but Aquinae grabbed his arm and pointed away from the path. Adam squinted and saw a small shadow duck into the darkness. "I don't understand. Is that supposed to be her?" He turned to Aquinae to see her nod, a slight smile on her face. Adam reached out to place his hand on her cheek when a sudden wind blew black cherry blossoms into his face; momentarily blinding him. When he looked back at Aquinae, he was astonished to see that the wind and black cherry blossoms were blowing Aquinae away. He started to run after her with his arm outstretched when suddenly a familiar black energy wrapped itself around and squeezed her until she dissipated into black cherry blossoms covered in blood. The dark energy vanished and Aquinae's cherry blossoms joined the others, making it almost impossible to tell which were hers. The black cherry blossoms began to wane until there were no more.

Adam started to cry; I can't believe she's gone. Why did this have to happen? "Why?! Why?! Why her?!" He felt his knees become weak and fell to the round in sorrow.

"Adam! Adam! Come here! I want to talk to you!"

Adam lifted his head and looked behind him. The voice was coming from where he saw the shadow disappear. He was scared and sad but something about the voice made him trust her. Maybe the baby grew up and wants to talk to me he thought as he plunged into the darkness.

It was unlike anything he had ever seen. The moment he had entered the darkness, the scene had completely changed. He was now standing in a swamp and there was a small group of glowing fireflies nearby. I feel like I'm a kid again. He looked at himself and was surprised at what he saw; he was a kid again. Okay, change of scene and appearance.

Adam soon felt his childish impulses take over and started to chase the fireflies around. As he chased them around, he began to notice that they seemed to be leading him somewhere. They reached a clearing that had fireflies flying in patterns that reminded him of mist and in the middle of the clearing was a little girl. The fireflies he was chasing suddenly joined the others, who rose a little higher, like a mist lifting in the morning sun.

Adam smiled and looked at the girl who had her back turned to him. He noticed that she was wearing a frilly sky blue dress that was just like the one the baby had been wearing. When she turned to face him, he had no doubt that she was Aquinae's child. She had the same tattoos as Aquinae, the same beautiful grey eyes, and the same dark blue hair(although hers was shorter, and had grey streaks). Adam noticed that she was wearing a sky blue ribbon in her hair and was wearing dainty shoes.

She smiled sweetly at Adam and said "hi, Adam. My name's Deirdre." She giggled and then began to spin around before stopping and facing him once again. "Isn't this place beautiful? I always carry it in my heart no matter where I go. But I suppose, I no longer really go anywhere anymore."

"Huh? I don't understand."

"I know you don't. And it's probably best for now that you don't but you're going to have to understand one day. I hope you're ready when it happens. I won't tell you and neither will mother."

"Mother? Oh, your mother, she's…"

"Gone? Yes, I know she's gone. She was gone when I was a little baby. I'm going to be gone too."

"What do you mean?"

Deirdre started to grow up at an exceptional rate. She was a teenager when she said "no one stays forever; eventually you'll lose yourself to the world. It's so strange; I lost my mother when I was a baby and yet I still spent many, many years with her."

"I don't understand."

"I know you don't. Life is so complicated and it goes by so fast that it's almost like it's only a fleeting moment." Deirdre had stopped aging but was now an adult in a light blue strapless dress. She smiled at him before continuing: "all our lives are actually a fleeting moment in the vastness of time. Each life is nothing more than a minor flash in the never ending timeline. That includes mine and hers." She held out a little baby that was wrapped in a blue blanket. "My little child, but sadly I will spend very little time with her" she said as the baby faded into nothing. "She will grow up without me as I did without my mother. It's sad and unfair but life is hardly unfair. It's time for me to take my leave." She turned her back on Adam and started to walk to the shadows behind her.

"Noooooo!" cried at Adam as he attempted to run over to her. The fireflies, however, flew down and became a shield that he couldn't cross. Adam watched as Deirdre began to fade from sight but noticed that a strange familiar black energy wrapped itself around her. She faded completely from view and, shortly afterwards, some fireflies flew from the direction she went and join the others. All the fireflies then flew up until Adam could no longer see their light. He crouched down to the ground to cry as the world became black.

When Adam opened his eyes, he was sitting on a hard floor and surrounded by darkness. He squinted his eyes but still couldn't make anything out. He decided to check himself and found that he still a small child. What is going on here? He heard the soft clinking of shoes behind him and turned around to notice a figure standing there.

Although, he couldn't make out the person he knew that it was a woman and he felt a strange intense love for her. It was similar to how he felt for Aquinae and Deirdre but somehow his love for this stranger was much stronger. When she opened up her arms and knelt towards him, he couldn't contain himself; he ran over to her to give her a big hug.

But before he could reach her, she was hit by a dark blast that sent her flying backwards. Adam heard her let out a short but horrible scream, heard a loud thud, and then silence. Somehow, even though he couldn't see her, he knew she was gone.

He ran over to look for her but slipped on a pool of a warm and sticky substance. He looked at his hands and saw that they were covered in blood. Not my blood. It was than that he noticed the form of a dark body lying nearby. It's her! He began crawling through the mess to reach her when someone suddenly grabbed him roughly by his shoulder from behind. "Hold it, brat" came out a rough male's voice, "you're coming with me." The unknown man began to drag him away while Adam struggled against him to no avail.

Desperately, he reached out his hand towards the dead body and screamed out as tears fell from his eyes. "Noooooooooooooo!"

"Adam! Adam! For the love of Altas, wake up Adam!" Mel desperately shook Adam as the pain on his face seemed to get worse and worse. Why won't he wake up?

Suddenly Adam shot forward and clung himself to Mel's neck while placing his head on Mel's left shoulder. Mel was about to push him off until she noticed that Adam was sobbing uncontrollably. She glanced at Seth who was staring at Adam in concern.

Although Seth had not been happy when Adam had wrapped himself around Mel, he realized that Adam needed comfort right now so he contained himself. He watched as Adam cried like a little baby. Eventually Adam's crying stopped and his body slumped on Mel. He waited patiently for an answer but Adam made no noise.

Seth was about to shove Adam off when Mel held him up, turned to Seth and said "he fell back to asleep." Seth was at first confused until he heard Adam's soft snoring. He is asleep. "How can anyone fall asleep that quickly?"

"I don't know" said Mel as she placed him back on his sleeping bag. She looked at his face as she pulled his blanket over him. It still didn't look peaceful but it was at least better than it was a few moments ago. "I hope he's alright."

"He will be, Mel, he will be."

"I hope so" said Mel as she laid her head on Seth's right shoulder and held him for comfort. "I hope so."