Generation 4, Chapter 6: Farewell to France

When Sam and Mitchell finally awoke, the situation looked pretty grim. Sam went on a cussing spree, pushing past us and rushing down the stairs to someplace, and Mitchell...well, he was a lot calmer. Darcy theorized that it was because he wasn't entirely lucid.

Things finally returned to normal the next morning, but none of us were happy. There were a lot of bruised egos in the room.

"I don't think I'm coming back to France anytime soon," Darcy groaned next to me, her neck resting comfortably against the back of the sofa. It was an interesting scene to observe. Darcy never sounded depressed. When everyone was down in the dumps, she'd crack the volume up on a Hi-Fi and start dancing with them. The strange thing was, it always worked. People seemed happier around her, and irritated around me, mostly because I over analyzed things and shared my opinion too easily. Perhaps I should have left the room a long time ago.

"Definitely," Samantha agreed, looking equally as sad as Darcy. "I'm trained in combat, but when the first real opportunity presented itself, I got my butt kicked my a thief. Just wait till my dad hears about this... I'll be the shame of the family."

"Then what am I supposed to feel like?" Mitchell hummed, his eyes half closed, seemingly still bothered by the headache he complained of earlier. I suddenly felt a lot better about the fact that I hadn't been in the room with them guarding Vala.

"Oh, shut up, you big baby. You're an artist, not a fighter. It's expected that you wouldn't be able to defend yourself."

"No need to get agitated...," he sniffled, adjusting himself in his seat. Mitchell didn't have a better answer, because he knew it was true. His arms were puny, and he had no knowledge of martial arts whatsoever.

"She's right," Darcy cleared her throat, sparing a moment to look Mitchell in the eyes before she went back to lounging against the chair. "You're only trained with your paintbrush, not your hands."

While they argued, I zoned out, my eyes pinned on the fireplace. In a way, the wood and fire were also fighting for their lives. Sadly, the wood was losing, having no way to defend itself against the flames. It needed help from a friend: Water.

It was a clear representative of our lives. If we wanted to win against the bad guys, we had to work together.

And there I go again, over analyzing things...," I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose, trying to focus my thoughts on their discussion.

"You know, we're being really negative here, guys...," I started, interrupting whoever was busy ranting away about their problems. "So Vala escaped. So she kicked our butts pretty well. But the thing is, we're still alive! And seeing as she's pretty well trained herself, we should be grateful. Better yet, we should be enjoying the fact that we're in France , an extremely beautiful country with a rich culture, instead of being depressed like hell. We should be enjoying the few days we have left here!"

"He kinda has a point...," Mitchell mused, though he appeared to agree with me, he didn't make the effort to get up at all.

"Sort of," Sam nodded slightly, "but I think I need a few more hours of sleep before I can join him and his high spirits."

At that precise moment, Jack made the mistake of entering the room and making a bravado comment, as usual. "Damn. I can't believe that chick got you down, Sam. I mean, you want me to join the air force, but if you got your butt kicked, what am I supposed to think?"

Lesson learned: Never insult an officer of the air force when she's been defeated.

"Oh, don't get me started on that," with surprising agility, Sam jumped over the back of the sofa and faced Jack head on. "I haven't been trained as long as the other recruits, but trust me, I can still put your face into the ground. Yes, I was beaten, but next time, it won't be done so easily."

As Jack and Sam continued their quarreling, Darcy finally made the effort to sit upright. "Nice speech you made," she commented.

"Thanks," I smiled, "but it doesn't seem to have worked."

"Nonsense! You got me sitting up, so that's something, wouldn't you say?" Darcy curiously looked at the two fighting, chuckling to herself. "I have to admit, they'd make a cute couple."

"Right... The two of them fighting the whole time? Oh, the poor children!" I joined in with her laughter, but paused. "If they have any. Judging from that, I don't think it would happen."

"I think it would," she persisted with her idea. "I mean, you have got to see the chemistry between the two. If only she wasn't trying to change him into someone he-."

Darcy broke off with her statement as the sound of skin meeting skin with a strong force emanated through the room.

Sam had slapped Jack through the face.

"Don't you ever think that you're a superior specimen!" she hollered, blinking rapidly, struggling to keep her gaze focused on him. She turned towards us. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a cold shower now...maybe more than one."

We all stared after her as she hurried up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Even Mitchell was sitting upright. Jack tenderly poked at his cheek, grimacing as he found a sweet spot that pained more than the rest. "I think she slapped one of my teeth loose."

"What did you say to her? That she's hormonal?" Darcy could barely contain the laughter that was fighting to make an appearance.

"Something like that, maybe...," Jack rotated his jaw. "I don't think I'll ever say that to her again."

~*~

Jack was in an incredibly sour mood when we left the boarding house, and for good reason. Though he didn't lose one of his teeth, the slap was still burned into his skin.

Samantha was much chirpier after her shower, agreeing to accompany us around the small vacation town. As Mitchell and Darcy decided to explore the grounds of the winery hand in hand, I was forced to spend some more quality time with Sam. After seeing what she did to Jack, I was a little nervous just to be standing next to her.

"I don't think Jack was insulting you. He...he just has a weird way of approaching things, that's all. He hasn't had much experience with women, to be honest." I decided to break the ice that was forming between us, defending my best friend in the process. Though I defended his honor behind his back, I still believe that he got what was coming to him.

"I know...," she bit her lip, her eyes pinned on the sight of the Eiffel Tower that peeked over the hills. "It's just that the whole subject of men and women and who's superior is a touchy one for me. I've been defending myself for a long time. That's what you get when you have three crazy brothers, a strict father, and an absent mother."

"Woah...," I felt dumbstruck. "No wonder you slapped him."

"Yeah," she shrugged. "I'm on okay-ish terms with them, though. Why else would my dad let me borrow one of his jets? Of course, he's doing it with ulterior motives, hoping that he can soft soap me into changing into someone I'm not."

A comment that Darcy had made earlier suddenly popped into my mind. "Isn't that kind of what you're doing to Jack? Trying to change him?"

"No, no, definitely not!" Sam turned his head towards me, smiling slightly. "I'm just trying to let him see that he has so much more potential, something that he's hiding behind that macho act of his. All he needs is some discipline."

"You know who else needs discipline?" I jerked my head towards Darcy and Mitchell, who seemed to be having a lot of fun in each other's company. "Those two. It's unsettling, watching my sister with another guy. That protective feeling towards her is trying to take control." In all honesty, that wasn't the only reason it bothered me. I was afraid that Darcy could experience the same heartache as I did with Sarah. We had enjoyed walking along the streets of Paris, arms around each other, but somehow, that had unraveled into chaos.

Sam chuckled. "Let the young people enjoy themselves."

I could only frown in response. When did I start feeling so old in comparison to Darcy, who was but a year younger than me?

~♥~

Jeez... This chapter is out a lot later than the usual. O.o Mi scusi, I've been really busy, and, to be honest, not in the mood for writing or taking the time to load my game.

Our test series has officially has officially started, and I should actually be studying right now, but I'm just taking a few minutes off to write this. So, expect some more delays in the future!

Oh, I've been meaning to ask. Who of you bought Sunlit Tides? What do you think of it?

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to read the chapter (and my ranting ^_^), and have a super great day! Hope you guys don't have as much homework as I do.

PS: I made some poses that I'm thinking of uploading...thoughts on that? They've actually appeared on my blog. Darcy and Mitchell in the last photo of this post, and some poses back in chapter four, where Vala had Daniel on the floor.

:)