Unlocked (a Mormor Fanfic)

Part the third

At 4 years old, Sebastian was still relatively scrawny. An had been correct in thinking that he would have a tougher time than their other siblings- even more so than Theodore. Theo was number 6 and was a gentle soul. He never much cared for the rough housing way that all the other boys were with each other but he had his twin, Elizabeth who managed oh so wonderfully to take care of him. They all knew that Theo would never really get into the military and even if he did, he wouldn't belong. An was not really involved with her siblings, not really. Everyone sorted themselves into groups (which generally followed as David and Darla; Theo and Elizabeth; Mary, Ella and Millie and then the rest of their brothers) but An excluded herself after the Incident that left her champion of the most scars out of them all; therefore, along with being friends with her, his build was mostly the cause of his trouble. Even Theo had had a strong build at the age of 4, all of them had obviously been strong in health. Not to say he was unhealthy, just...scrawny.

His earliest memories of her involved her mostly teaching him how to fight so that, by the time he was 4, he could fight quite effectively. She was incredibly skilled when it came to scaring people off- namely their brothers who always wanted to 'play' with Sebastian. He didn't like his brothers. He might've, had his first memory not have been of their cruelty.

His earliest memory was from when he was about 3 and he trailed his tiger everywhere with him (it had been the source of much teasing in the past). He had finished his lessons with his tutor for the day and so had some time for himself. With him being over 2 years, he'd moved out of the nursery and it being around 4:30(ish) there quite some light streaming through the windows...until a few shadows passed over it.
"Lookie here then. Ickle wickle 'Bastian with his Ickle tiger" the ensuing giggling erupted from the mouths of his older brothers; Joseph (13), Matthew (12), Christopher and Robert (twins at 10). They had easily surrounded him (Joseph and Matthew directly in front of him and twins beside him).
"John and Mark say that you're just like Theo, that you're a weak pansy. Father doesn't like pansies with your stupid toy" Christopher had grabbed his tiger and passed it to Joseph whose voice had just broken and was using it to his advantage. "Look at him. Following An's example, that fucking freak. Not talking to anyone except your pathetic self. Don't have anything to say?". Neither he nor An really spoke to their siblings outside of each other. They didn't really like their siblings. He was worrying now, his veins were surging with the familiar fear that he felt without her by his side. He could fight but there were 4 of them and he still wasn't that good.
He didn't move at all until he saw Robert take out a pocket knife. His fear melted turning it to pure anger.
"Don't you dare!" It was an expression he'd heard often but it didn't have the same effect. They broke into laughter mimicking his high-pitched voice.
"Awwww, missing tiger" crowed Matthew "too bad" and with that Robert tore apart the tiger in Joseph's hands. Sebastian kicked Robert as hard as he could which only sought to earn him anger from them. "He appears to be trying to fight". Christopher punched Seb in the stomach causing him to double over from the pain. He was familiar with pain, he'd made mistakes and been reprimanded for them but An had told him that you sometimes need to know when to play weak. He didn't cry out though, none of them ever did, not from the belt from Father or other punishments. Tears carved their way down his face and so he remained in his curled ball on the floor. He couldn't see if they tore his tiger apart whilst they laughed hysterically. Through their laughter though, he heard the ripping of tiger's fabric.
Being only 3 he wasn't sure how much time had passed, yet he felt something hit his side, not painfully, and heard their footsteps fade away down the hall. Peering carefully through his fingers, he saw tiger's fluff everywhere. Being as delicate as he could through his tears, he picked up all the stuffing and made his way to the only place he felt relatively safe, her room.

Once there, he had calmed down significantly. He knocked, there was no reply and this nearly made him burst into tears again in panic.
"Bastian? Shhh. Come here" her whispered voice came from David's room. Relief flooded through his small body as he quietly made his way there. Not being necessarily friends, they were allies of David and Darla. It was almost an unspoken agreement to not be seen together in public (you had to be careful who you were associated with and An always said that you had to be careful)but in private they could be friends. The door was closed immediately behind him and he saw that An had been healing both Darla and David's most recent wounds.
"You heard me knocking?" He asked, for he hadn't thought he'd been that loud.
She gave a light hearted laugh "we are the only ones up here because some people got themselves into trouble again. What's up Tiger? Hmm? You've been crying". She walked over and gave him a quick hug before returning to her duties. Sebastian gave a small humph to show that he didn't really want them knowing, even if they could plainly see from his red puffy eyes.
"Tiger?" Darla piped up. She'd been already bandaged, probably at David's insistence- that his young sister went first.
"You have your nicknames, are we not allowed ours?" An's voice was the perfect mix between sincere and joking.
"Didn't have you down as the type"
"They tore up tiger" he mumbled under his breath. An drew in a sharp breath and he could see David and Darla exchange looks, ones that,had he been older perhaps, he'd have seen as oh shit.
" Well then, I shall just have to patch him up too, after David. How's that?" She said turning to face him as she just finished bandaging up David. Sebastian thought it a wonderful idea and smiled brightly. After wiping her hands together, she held them out for tiger. What needs to be understood about An and Sebastian, is that they didn't need to talk to each other because they understood each other well enough as it was, almost perfectly. That is not to say that in private, they never spoke, just that in public, they could communicate without words. As they grew older, they got better at it which was lucky, because it became more important.

The two of them went back to An's room where she patched up tiger (all the girls had to learn sewing) telling Sebastian that he ought to be careful not to take tiger everywhere.
"But he protects me"
"Sebastian, he has done a wonderful job, but he is wounded. You will need to protect yourself- not alone, I'll be there as well. But this is a dangerous family. You have to pick your battles. Tiger is angry, he wants revenge. You'll see. Wir mussen mehr Deutsch lernen jetz?"

The next day, all four boys (for Sebastian never needed to specify who) were found guilty of breaking the Meissen vase and were punished for it when their Father got home (he worked from 6:00 to 4:00 precisely) from His job at the company. The four boys said they never did it, 3 people suspected they were set up but never said anything. 1 person knew they'd been set up and obviously, she never uttered a syllable.

German question , we must learn more German now?