Key of Liberation

It was Christmas, but all was not well in the Kurenai household.

There lived a mommy, a daddy, their kitten and two cubs. The mommy and daddy loved their kitten and two cubs equally, but their kitten still wasn't used to sharing his mommy and daddy.

Alastair grumbled as he walked into the mall with his mom and baby brother. "Mommy, why do we have to go shopping? Couldn't I have gone with Daddy?"

"No, sweetie. Daddy went to fix a client's computer."

"Couldn't I have gone with him to fix it? En did!"

Lena laughed at her middle son's remark. "Honey, you don't know the ins and outs of computers yet." She ruffled his orange hair. "Maybe when you're older. Besides, En got to go because he hid in the car."

Alastair puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms. "I would have been fine sitting in a corner..."

Alastair's baby brother waddled over to him and stood between him and his mom. "Shop!" he said with a smile.

"Yes, we are," Lena said, smiling at her little boy.

Alastair leered at the kid. Things used to be simpler before he was born. It was bad enough that he had to share his dad with En, but now he had to share his mom too. Sometimes, he wished that Noah would disappear.

Alastair followed his mom and brother into the mall.

He saw his mom stare at a list that looked suspiciously like the one that he had made with his dad for Santa.

"First on the list is a tie for Daddy," she said.

Alastair blinked. Was his mom secretly one of Santa's helpers? His dad sometimes referred to her as his 'fairy'. Elves were a kind of fae.

Lena led her boys straight into a large store known for selling some of the best ties around.

Star stopped and stared at the blinking lights of a Christmas tree in the entrance of the store.

"You sure love lights. Don't you, Atty?" Lena asked, giggling.

Star nodded. "I do," he said as if in a trance.

"Hey, is that who I think it is? Sister!" a lady called out.

The boys' mom turned around and saw a blonde lady running over to her.

"Josie!" she yelled, running over to her sister with open arms.

"Hey, Helena! Out holiday shopping with the kids?"

"Yeah. Normally I leave them with Rin, but he's out on a job right now."

"Oh, I see. I would volunteer to watch over them, if I weren't doing my own shopping." Josie had bags on each of her arms.

Lena laughed. "Atty probably would go with you if you weren't. He was throwing a bit of a fit on the way here."

Josie stared at the hypnotized boy. "Well, seems he's calmed down now."

"Yeah, lights tend to do that to him." She glanced over at her youngest son who was going around in circles, grabbing the empty gift boxes below the tree. She laughed. "Noah, there's nothing there."

Noah put down the last box and frowned in disappointment. He must've been hoping to find a toy among them.

"He's so cute," Josie said, smiling at little Noah. She reached into her purse and pulled out an orange lollipop and unwrapped it. "Here's a little gift for you, little one."

Noah ran over to her, but the lollipop vanished. He glanced at Alastair who had taken it.

"Thanks," Alastair said, popping it into his mouth.

Lena frowned. "Atty. That was for your brother, not you."

Alastair glanced at a sad Noah. "It's mine now," he said victoriously.

The mom sighed. "Atty..."

"That's fine," Josie said. "I got another one." She unwrapped a green lollipop and handed it to Noah.

Noah let out a giggle as he took it.

Star stared at his and reached for it, but Lena stopped him. "Atty, don't. It's Noah's."

Alastair yanked his arm free from his mom's grip and pouted.

"Atty, please don't do this here. We've gone over it many times. Now, be a good big brother and watch over Noah while I look for a tie."

Alastair crossed his arms and stomped his feet several times.

"Relax, Lena," Josie said, patting her sister's back as they walked toward a couple of ties.

Alastair glanced at Noah who was now staring at some suits. He shrugged his shoulders and returned to staring at the tree.

Lena soon came back with Josie and a black and white striped gift bag. "Atty, honey, where's Noah?"

Alastair glanced at the suits to find Noah was gone.

Lena walked over to the area and glanced around. "Noah, honey? Where are you? We're going to move to the next store."

"Noah?" Josie asked, glancing around at another area.

Lena bit her nails. "Noah's gone. Where could he have gone?"

Alistair smiled impishly. "Does this mean that It'll just be us and En again?" he asked.

Lena had put her hand over her mouth. "Oh, no. Atty, did you let him wander off on purpose?"

"Huh? No, I didn't."

"You sure?" she asked, grabbing him by the shoulders.

He felt himself shrink at the sight of his mom's eyes. They were a mix of furious and sad.

Lena took a deep breath. Her heart was beating rapidly. "Sorry, dear. I'm just worried about your brother. Hopefully he wandered off and not..." She gulped.

"Not what?" Alastair asked.

"Kidnapped."

"I'm sure he's fine. If someone tried to kidnap him, Star would've been alerted by his screams."

"What if they lured him away with candy or something?" Tears dripped down her face.

Alistair frowned. "Mommy has her kitty and her lion still," he said, hugging her leg. "You don't need Noah."

"Atty!" Lena yelled. "How can you say that? Do you hate your brother that much?"

Alastair let go of her and backed away. "He took you and daddy away!"

Josie walked over to him. "Atty, you're no longer the baby. You have to share your parents with Noah, too."

"I don't want to!" Atty yelled.

"I'm going to go find Noah," Lena said, not even looking at Alastair.

Star lowered his head.

Alastair ran over to the suit area as he thought about how upset his mom was. He glanced at each one, hoping that his brother was hiding behind one of them. He didn't want his mom to hate him.

He went through the ties, too, hoping that maybe Noah went to look for their mom but missed her. He didn't have any luck there either. Alastair didn't like the changing rooms, but he tried them, anyway.

"He's not here."

Josie came up behind Alastair and gave him a tight squeeze in the shoulder. "It'll be alright, Atty. Your mommy will find Noah soon. Why don't we go wait for them by the Christmas tree?"

Alastair tuned her out. Where could Noah be? He cried as he thought about how upset his mommy was. She didn't use to scream at him. If he couldn't find Noah, she would never look at him the same.

"Atty, it'll be easier for your mommy to find us if we're there." She rubbed his back. "We can enjoy the lights together." Josie then led Alastair back, but he was still was crying.

Atty stepped forward and shook his head. "I'm going to go find Noah!" He went around his aunt and ran off.

"Atty! Wait!" Josie yelled, chasing after him. "Don't get lost, too! Atty!"

Alastair huffed as he ran frantically through the mall. As he ran, he overheard an announcement about a missing kid fitting his brother's description.

He gasped as he heard familiar giggles. They belonged to his brother. He turned right and saw his brother riding a train around the giant tree. It looked fun. He should try it.

He shook his head and ran over but was grabbed from behind.

"Atty," Josie said, panting. "Don't run off like that!"

"Noah!" Star said, pointing at the train.

Josie smiled as she saw the kid. "You did it, Atty! You found him!"

The two walked over to the train.

"Hello," a brown haired man with kind eyes said. "Want to ride the train?"

Atty smiled. "Yeah!"

"Atty! Priorities," Josie said.

"Oh, right."

Josie smiled at the man. "Can you stop the ride? One of the kids there is his baby brother. His mom is looking for him."

"Wait, is he the kid from the message just now?" he asked.

Josie nodded. "Yes!"

"Alright. Sorry kids, going to have to stop the ride for now."

"Aww!" the kids yelled. The train came to a stop.

Josie ran over to Noah and picked him up.

"Jojo?" he asked, blinking.

"We found you, little rugrat!" She turned to look at the man and smiled. "Thanks."

The man blushed slightly. "It's nothing." He paused. "Might I suggest visiting the coffee shop? I think they're running a promotion today."

Josie glanced at Atty who was staring at the train with interest.

"Let's go and get your mom. You can ride the train with Noah once she knows where you two are."

Atty smiled. "Okay!"

Josie then called Lena to let her know where they were.

Lena scooped Noah up when she ran over. "Noah! Thank goodness you're okay!"

"Mama!"

"Atty." Lena spoke gently as she got down to his level. "Thankfully, Noah is okay. We have to be careful with babies. They're curious and can get themselves into trouble."

His pale skin made his red cheeks stand out. "I'm sorry, Mommy... That was scary..." He shook his head. "Can I take Noah on the train?"

She took a breath. "I'm sure he'd like that. I'll come, too."

***

**Noah**

Aunt Jojo folded her hands like she was closing a book. "And that was how protective big brother Atty was born."

I clapped my hands.

En looked at Atty. "Atty was mean..."

"But at least he changed for the better because of it," Del said.

I hugged the sleeping Atty. "Yep!"

Len got up and put her hands on her hips. She sighed. "Star was the only one who fell asleep during story time. You'd think he was the little brother..."

Ivy stared nervously at her twin. "Eleanor..."

Since En knew Atty might fall asleep, he had already set up for us to camp in the living room.

En laughed. "He will always be the little brother to me."

Aunt Jojo smiled. "It's okay. I'm happy to see the twins and Noah again."

I gave Aunt Jojo a hug. I was too.

En scooped Atty up and laid him down on the blanket we were using as our bed. I curled up next to Atty and En laid down next to me.

Aunt Jojo covered us with a blanket. En and I fell asleep beside Atty.