A/n: There's some Conneree in this chapter y'all. And expect ALOT of that ship in this story because they're my ULTIMATE OTP OKAY? BYE!

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"Alex...what's happened to you?"
Conner thought out loud, shaking his head. Not only had she left, but she...had caused destruction. Destruction was a bad thing. The words Alex and Bad had nothing to do with each other.

He didn't understand. And he was angry for not understanding. One thing he was sure of though, was that this mess belonged to his sister. He knew it in the pit of his stomach.

Conner had no idea how long he'd been staring at the wrecked bathroom until a voice interrupted his thoughts, reminding him that there were still other people in this world.

"Ach mein Gott..." It was Emmerich. That little german boy that Conner had met while he was on his wild escapade around Europe. Emmerich looked shaken, both of his hands were over his mouth.

"We're too late....They-they've got to her a-already." He said, his small high pitched voice skaking as he spoke.

Conner turned toward him so fast, the little boy jumped.

"What do you mean they've got to her?" Conner demanded. He stepped closer to Emmerich."What are you talking about? Do you know something? Who's 'they'?!" Conner's blood was rising as well as his voice. Emmerich didn't reply. He just stood there completely silent and looked at Conner, his eyes wide.

"TALK!!" Conner shouted.

"Conner," said a calm familiar voice, snapping him out of his trance. He turned to see Bree Campbell glaring at him. It took him a moment to realize that he was firmly gripping Emmerich's shoulders. He was so blinded by his rage, he hadn't noticed what he was doing. No wonder the boy didn't say anything. Conner must have frightened him...

Conner removed his hands off Emmerich, already feeling guilty for scaring the little guy like that.

Bree moved her eyes back to Emmerich, "Do you know what happened to Alex, Emmerich?" She asked in a tone that was way more placid than Conner's. Gosh! How did she always manage keep her head all the freaking time?!

"When I-I was kidnapped by the witches, I overheard them talking..." He muttered.

Kidnapped by the witches? What on Earth had happened to him exactly? Why and how was he even there? Did Bree have something to do with it?

"What did you overhear them say?" Bree asked gently.

Emmerich was so nervous knowing that everyone was watching him, waiting for what he had to say. He gulped "They were talking about... about um... Alex." He said the last word as he glanced at Conner nervously.

Conner's heart sank.

The witches.

Soulless vicious beings. They had no mercy. They had no heart.
But they had his sister.
They had Alex.

"What did they say about her?" Conner was shocked by how calm his voice sounded now, and how it strongly contradicted his burning insides.

"They said that... they w-wanted to use her as a weapon." Emmerich replied.

Conner went in a daze as Emmerich started talking about how the witches had some kind of 'bewitched evil dust' in their possession that turns someone evil and how they had used it on Ezmia the Enchatress. He told them that they'd already tried using it on Alex before, but failed because her heart and good will were alot stronger than their magic.

Conner flashbakced to the way Alex had reacted in the past. How she constanlty seemed to lose her temper. How she felt alone and betrayed- the way Ezmia always felt- when nobody believed her about the masked man being their father. He remembered being one of the people that didn't believe her... He remembered the amount of times she cried because everyone thought she was going crazy. And he also was one of those people. His sister had been under the effect of the witches the entire time. And he hadn't done anything about that matter... Sure he didn't know that it was beacause of some evil dust, but he could have supported his sister. He could have stood by her side when the Fairy Council accused her of going out of her mind. Conner had watched his sister get consumed by dark magic and what had he done about it? Nothing. Conner had let his sister slip away from him. And after all that, Alex still had goodness and purity in her heart and was able to overcome the cusre, but right after she did, the witches had her back under their grip, but this time, it was a stronger grip. Alex didn't deserve any of this. She didn't. But all of it had already happened and right in front of Conner...again. Conner felt like the worst brother in the history of humanity.

Everyone was very quiet, listening so intensly to Emmerich who kept telling his story. Even Bree looked intense. She watched Emmerich so closely as he said every word. But her look wasn't really a look of intrigue ... it was more of... worry? Conner couldn't decide since it was always really hard to determine Bree's emotions through her expressions.

"And then they were having a debate on who should do the... the task of getting the dust to her," Emmerich said. "There was that witch that signed up for it. The same one that kidnapped me." He continued, looking at no one directly. His face was paler than usual. Conner even noticed that he looked at lot thinner too. How long had the witches held him hostage? Had they been feeding him? Judging from the boy's small weak body, they hadn't. Conner was finding more and more reasons to be angry by the second.

"What did that witch look like?" Goldilocks asked. Goldilocks was the last person Conner had expected to hear from. She'd just given birth to her first child! -Who by the way was very calm and still. It was almost like he was listening too.

Everyone looked back at Emmerich, anxoius to hear his answer. Perhaps they knew who that witch was?

Emmerich gulped. The memory terrified him. "Well, she looked like a normal woman, except that... on both sides of her head," He pointed to his temples. "She had...she had uh..." He closed his eyes and scratched his forehead as if he had forgotten the word.

"Horns?" Queen Red Riding Hood said through clenched teeth. Her voice sounded deadly and very low. So unlike her normal annoying high voice.

Emmerich snapped his fingers. "Yes! Horns! That's the word." He said. "The woman had horns...like a goat." He looked disgusted.

Red's arms were crossed as she angrily drummed her fingers on her arm. "I'm so very going to kill that cow." She spat.

"Who is she?" Bree asked.

"Her name is Morina." Conner said, staring at nothing as the wheels in his head were about to combust from turning. "And she's a very very bad lady."

Everyone fell silent as everything Emmerich had said started sinking in. There were about three armies now. The army of Conner's fictional characters, the Literary army that previously belonged to the Masked Man, and the army of witches who had apparently decided to join the fight too. And not only that, but they had Alex on their side. And Alex was no weak worrier. There was an upcoming war and Conner had no idea what the heck they were gonna do about it.

Another shaking voice spoke, "How are we going to get her back?" It was Charlotte, Conner's mom. She hadn't said anything the entire time while listened in shock to the story of how her daughter was taken away from her.

Conner watched his mother's red eyes as tears were silently making their way out of them. Conner wanted to go and hug her, to tell her not to worry, that everything was going to be alright. But the thing was that, that was what Conner himself needed. He was scared too. Terrified even. He wanted to believe everything was going to be fine... but how could he when everything was turning into hell before his eyes?

Bob put a hand on Charlotte's shoulder. "Don't worry, dear." He said, even though worry was written all over his face. "She will come back. She always does." Charlotte started sobbing.

"Where do these witches live?" Charlotte cried desperately. "I'm going to their place right now!"

"Guys," Jack said, loud enough to get everyone's attention. "Getting Alex back from the witches won't be a piece of cake. They are not just gonna simply hand her over." He said reasonably. Conner hated that he was right. "We have to prepare for battle. The witches are probably going to strike at any moment and we have to be ready when that happens."

"He's right." Captain Auburn Sally said walking to where Conner stood near the bathroom as she adjusted her pirate hat. All the other characters made way for her as she walked, the way they would if a leader was walking. Had Conner been in a different situation, he would have smiled. Auburn Sally was a brave, fierce and intelligent leading character. That was exactly the way he had written her in his story. And now seeing her walk with much confidence, and how everyone showed her respect, Conner felt like a proud creater- no, a proud author. Unfortunately, Conner had no room for pride or joy in his body at the moment.

"We can't take a step unless it's carefully planned for," Auburn Sally continued. "This is war we're talking about, y'all. And it's why we're all here in the first place." She spread her arms gesturing to all the other fictional characters present.

"Don't worry, Ms-Conner's-mom," She put a hand on Charlotte's other shoulder. "We're going to get your daughter back." She reassured her with a smile.

"I suggest we start taking action tomorrow." Jack said. "It's getting dark and anything we do or plan now will be pointless. The army needs to rest and collect itself before the big fight." Jack finished and everyone started nodding and agreeing.

Conner couldn't wait until the next day! He was so anxious about his twin sister. What was she doing right now? Was she alright? Had she already turned evil? Were the witches treating her well or were they torturing her? Conner had no clue. He sat down in frustration. Everyone else were leaving for their rooms in the hospital wing and started getting ready for the following day.

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It was late at night. The world was quiet and peaceful, unlike Conner's restless chaotic mind. He couldn't sleep, he didn't even try to. It was hard to rest when he knew it was the farthest thing from his sister at that time.

Conner didn't have the slightest idea on how they were planning to defeat not just one but two armies. Dang it!Why can't anything be right? Why does everything have to crumble down to ashes whenever they made any progress? When he found out that the Masked Man was froming an army of literary villains, he thought there was no chance of defeating him. But once Conner had started recruiting an army of his own, the spark of hope had reignited in him... Not for too long though. It had quickly been dimmed when they bumped into Masked Man in the hospital when he demanded a blood transfusion from his son. But as the Masked Man was gone in Bree's story and Goldilocks gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Conner had again dared to feel there was still a tiny bit of hope at least, only to be slapped by the disappearance of his sister. If there was an award for the most sucker person in life, Conner would have proudly won it. With his head held high even. He didn't need proof though, it's not like everyone didn't know how much his life sucked.

Conner was walking down the empty halls checking to see if everyone was sleeping and if anyone needed anything. Maybe helping someone would make him feel less useless.

He was about to turn right down a hall when he spotted a figure sitting alone on a hospital bench. It was a blonde girl in a purple beanie. She wore a dark grey jacket, blue jeans and white coverse shoes. Both of her hands were in her pockets and her ankles were crossed as she stared into space.

Conner didn't realize he was staring until Bree Campbell looked up at him.

Conner, embarrassed, cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I was just checking if everyone was asleep. Why are you still up, though?"

Bree sighed and rested her head on the wall behind her. "How could anyone sleep in this mess?" She said.

He was about to ask which mess she was talking about: The place or the 'life or death situation' they were currently in, but decided that was a stupid question.

"I know right?" He said as he took a seat next to her.

They both had tons of questions for each other but didn't know where to start, so they just sat there. Scilence lasted for a moment.

"So," Bree said. "There's a war, huh?"

"That's what they say." Conner replied.

It was the first time Conner and Bree had had an actual talk since their unexpected encounter earlier and so far, it was going a bit awkwardly.

Bree looked at Conner, "Hey, don't worry about your sister. I'm sure she'll find a way." She said reassuringly. "I mean, this is Alex we're talking about."

He let out a long breath. "Yeah, but what am I gonna do until that happens?" He asked, frowning. "I can't do anything without my sister, Bree. I need her by my side. I..." he closed his eyes as he inhaled deeply. Conner's thoughts were so jumbled up in his head he couldn't even translate them into words.

Bree placed a hand on his shoulder. "That's not true," She said with a small smile. "You can do great stuff on your own, Conner. I don't remember that Alex was there when you led that crazy journey around Europe to find the portal and save the Fairy-tale world. You also managed to bring Emmerich and me back safely," She said.

Conner wasn't really convinced by that. Bree would have done perfectly fine on her own with that adventure. She wouldn't need his help.

"And," she continued. "I've seen how well you can handle a sword, Bailey." She said with a smirk.

Conner remembered the great battle with the Grande Armée in the Fairy gardens. He had been fighting with a sword, yes. And he remembered being kind of good at it too. But... had Bree been watching him then? Did she see all of his -what he thought were cool- moves with that sword? He felt a faint burn in his cheeks. It didn't last long though.

"But I'm not going to fight a whole big army-excuse me, two whole big armies, with a sword single-handedly, am I?"

"No," she said. "You're going to lead your own army, Conner. Have you forgotten? You have another whole army," -she said mocking his tone- "on your side. An army of your own fictional characters."

Conner furrowed his eyebrows. "How did you know they're my fictional characters? I don't remember telling you." It was a stupid unneeded question, but Conner was curious.

She smiled again. "I don't need someone to tell me. I've read your stories, remember? I can recognize some of your characters for sure."

Conner felt that same tingling feeling inside him again, but... it didn't last either. Not like the old times. Maybe because he hadn't fully grasped the fact that she was there, sitting right next to him... after all that time...

"I would have led that army without a single bit of hesitation with Alex around, you know. Her presence kind of...well, it makes me more confident," He said. "She also keeps me from doing any stupid stuff, which, as you know, can happen occasionally." Conner joked but his smile quickly wore off.
"And now that she left me... now that I'm alone... I don't know what to do honestly." Conner put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands.

"But you're not alone, Conner," Bree said softly. "We're with you." She waited for a second before she said, "I'm with you."

Conner looked up at her and was overwhelmed by her wide smile. What kind of an idiot was he? There she was, trying to make him feel better yet he kept on complaining like a child. He decided he should return her smile. "Thanks, Bree. I...I really appreciate that." And Conner did. He really was greateful she was...there. That made another question cross his mind.

"Hey, how did you end up with the Masked Man anyway?" He asked. "And what happened to Emmerich?"

Bree loosed a deep breath. "It's a long story."

She started telling him about her 'trip' to Connecticut and how she met Cornelia and her daughters. She told him the wierd stuff she'd learned, that whole thing about how the Fairy-tale world and the Otherworld were connected. She told him about how she got a call that Emmerich was suddenly kidnapped by the witches. How she-with the help of Cornelia flew a war plane to Germany to look for him, where they met his mother who told them that Emmerich wasn't actually her biological son and that he was from the Fairy-tale world. She told him how she'd found Emmerich with the Masked Man in Neauchwanstein castle after the portal was opened from the other side. She told him how he'd forced her to take him to Charlotte so she can transfer Emmerich's blood into his. As Bree was telling her story, Conner looked so intrigued and was on the edge of his seat. When she finished, he just stared at her in shock, his eyes wide open.

Bree was expecting to see confusion or disbelief on Conner's face, which she received indeed. Though it wasn't exactly what she had expected.

"You flew a plane?" Was Conner's only response to all this.

Bree rolled her eyes. Seriously? Out of all the important stuff she'd just said, that is what he comments on? Typical Conner.

"Like, an actual plane?" He said and then shook his head. "Seriously, is there anything you can't do?!"

Bree laughed. She liked how Conner always found her amusing.

"Well, I suppose not." She said smugly, a huge smirk on her face.

"Jeez, I can't even stand being on a plane." He said, allowing a little bit of laughter to escape him.

Bree looked at her phone "Wow. It's getting really late now." She said as she stood up."Time always flies when I'm with you I guess." She added.

Conner was surprised by that sudden comment, he glanced at Bree and her smile instantly melted as she realized what she'd just said. Bree cleared her throat. "We should probably go to sleep. Big day tomorrow." She said.

Conner groaned. He'd almost forgotten about that stupid 'Third World War' he was supposed to take part in. "I guess you're right." He said.

Conner stood too and faced her.

All of a sudden and without any previous warning, all those old irrational feelings came rushing back through him like an avalanche as he looked at Bree's hazel brown eyes, and how her blonde bangs with the tint of now-faded-blue shoadowed them. He studied her calm features for the first time in a long time. Conner could feel his heart rate increasing, the temperature of his cheeks rising. Even that strange fuzzy feeling he always felt when he was around her started to tingle in his stomach. It felt as if this was the first time he'd seen her since she left through that portal after the battle with the Grande Armée. Why was he feeling like that? This wasn't the first time he'd seen her that day for sure! He'd met her earlier.... when the Masked Man was pointing a gun at his head... and they were running for their lives in the Cemetery of the Undead. Then it slowly dawned on him. Conner had been so buzy and overwhelmed by those events, he hadn't had the time to comprehend Bree's presence or...or how she made him feel.

Now that she was right in front of him, and he had quite mostly took in that she was there, Conner didn't know what to do or say. So he just stood there. Slowly turning bright red. Even though it painfully embarrassed him, Conner had actually missed that totally unreasonable clumsiness that came when Bree was around.

"You've gotten taller." Bree noticed.

"Well I guess my height's probably the only thing that's progressing normaly in my life, haha." He laughed nervously and put his hands in his pockets. Be cool, Conner, dang it! You were doing just fine a while ago! He thought to himself.

Bree smiled which did no help at all in calming Conner's dancing insides.

"Despite the unpleasant current events, I have to say I'm glad we met again, Conner," She said.

That damn smile is still there, crap!

"Uh... yeah. I'm glad we've met too." Conner was dissolving from the inside. There was that other feeling crawling inside him too... one that made people feel happy...what was it called again? Oh right! Happiness! Conner was glad Bree couldn't fully read his awkward mind....

She beamed and stepped forward to hug him. Conner was paralized. He tried to focus enough to hug her back. His brain had abandoned him and travelled into a hazy daydream as he felt her warmth. That aura of magic around her that apparently affected only him, made him feel as if he was in a different world. One that had nothing wrong with it. Where everything was perfect.

There was no hiding it now, she could definitely sense his racing heart as they embraced. And Conner found himself kinda okay with that. She had to know about the way she made him feel. Yes, he might have admitted his um.. 'crush' to her last year, but somethings aren't just said. They had to be felt.

Conner suddenly realized that Bree was right. He had gotten taller. Her head was almost under his chin now. It wasn't like that before. Conner felt another electric spark flow through him.

She broke apart. Her lips trying to suppress a smile. Conner knew it! The girl must have noticed his mad heart gosh dang it...

"Goodnight, Conner." She said.

"Good, night, Bree." Was he imagining it or did his voice sound higher than usual?

She turned and headed to the room where she was to sleep that night.

Conner watched her go as he finally let that wide smile he'd been holding back, cover his face. How was he even denying it before? It was certain Conner had... had some kind of ... feelings for that girl whatsoever.

Conner realized this was the first he'd actually genuinely smiled that day. It was the exact same moment when it quickly faded as well.

Conner cared about Bree. She was important to him... and judging from the pattern his life was flowing through, he'd constanlty been losing people he cared about. What if something happened to Bree? What if... what if he...lost her too? What would he do? No. That'd be too much. His heart had suffered enough already. He couldn't let anything happen to her. He wouldn't have someone else he cared about fade away... though doing that would be a little too difficult a task. They were on the brink of war after all.

Conner reluctantly went back to his bed, he never stoped thinking. A million unanswered questions were crowding his brain. Will they be able to win this time? What if they didn't? What will happen? Will there be... casualties? Why did Conner's life always have to be like this? Why did he always have to be so afraid to care about something because he knew he'd eventually lose it?

Please. Let this end. I'm so damn tired and I can't take this anymore.... I can't.

Conner closed his eyes and tried to remember the last time he'd done that. He couldn't....

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A/n: Hi everyone! I hope you liked tbis chapter! Please vote and comment! 💕