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The drive in the carriages was a dull yet exciting experience. I had never been kid-napped before, and I'm all for new experiences! But, in the middle of an actual war, no thanks. I wanted no part in this, but, yet, I was oddly excited.  

We had been traveling at top speed for a few hours and the scenery seemed very familiar.  The thought had dawned on me that the army might be taking us back to the Fairy Palace, but why?  6Why not just take us into the woods and kill us there? Public display! ^ The thought hit me like a truck, and I sat up a little straighter.  ^Of course they would want to show of their finding to their enemy!  We were going to be killed in front of everyone to prove a point!  NO! I couldn't get killed!  I still had the rest of my life ahead of me!  Or did I?  What was their for me back at home?  Getting grounded til' college, no privileges, no hanging out with friends after school, if I did have friends, that is.  What reason would I have to make it back? ^

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As we approached the Fairy Palace certain soldiers who had been marching along side the carriages ran ahead and started piling hay and pounding stakes into the ground.  ^They were going to burn us on the stake! ^

As the carriages caught up with the soldiers, the royals were shoved out of the carriages, and just as I was going to get out my carriage to follow Red, Princess Hope and Princess Ash were torn from their mothers arms and tossed in our carriage. 

I turned to look at Emmerich whose eyes were losing their panic, and beginning into realization.  He was holding Ash, and I picked Hope up, who had begun crying.  I tried to calm Hope down, with so-so luck, and watched out the window. 

I saw the royals being tied down, two to a stake.    The carriage was pretty much sound-proof, so we couldn't hear anything that was going on.  But, on the flip-slide, the noise didn't disrupt the girls, so I guess that's good.   I saw someone cutting the royals away from their stakes, and after setting Hope down and looking closer, I realized it was Conner.   I got really giddy, which I never like to be that way but Conner just brought it on. 

He cut the ropes off of Jack and Goldilocks's stake and after Alex supplied them with weapons, Conner came running over to the carriage I was in.  I got another wave of giddiness as Conner slashed the locks on the door away, and the door slung open. 

*Now, I know the whole fandom is waiting for this precious Conneree moment.  It is one of the very few ones we have in the whole series, so I won't make you wait any longer.  But, if Conneree is your favorite OTP, then please comment on this! So, here you go, your Conneree moment.*

I jumped out of the carriage and threw my arms around Conner's neck. "Conner!  It's so good to see you!"

*Switches inspirational song playing to If I Could Tell Her, from Dear Evan Hansen.*

"Are you guys all right?" Conner asked, and I let go of him. 

"Besides jumping out of our skin with fear, we're fine," Emmerich said with large eyes.

I reached into the carriage and helped Hope out. Conner turned and whistled for Lester, who came flying towards us. 

"Lester, take these four to the palace, too!  Make sure they get inside safely-they mean a lot to me." Conner said to the goose as he landed.  Even though I wasn't the only one included in the 'they', it still made me feel amazing. 

Emmerich and I helped the princesses onto the goose and then got on ourselves.  I looked down to Conner, expecting him to get on right behind us.  But when he didn't, I was concerned. 

"Are you coming?" I asked him. 

"I'll be there soon," he said, and winked at me.  "But don't worry."

"Impossible." I said, my eyes twinkling.

As Lester lifted off the ground, I realized I hadn't hugged Conner good-bye. ^ It never had seemed to matter before, but it seemed to now.  I thought that if something were to happen to him, that I would regret not hugging him good-bye for the rest of my life.  And the wink....  Well, I never expected that to happen, I mean Conner didn't have the guts to do that normally.  But in the middle of a crisis, leave it to him to do something way out of his comfort zone.  ^

Lester dropped us off on the balcony of the Fairy Palace, and after depositing the Princesses to their respectful mothers, went to watch the battle from the balcony.   Without realizing it, I had my eyes trained on Conner.  But, I wasn't watching him like a hawk, I was thinking.  I slipped into think-zone, where my mind was still reeling from everything. 

^Not just the fact that Conner had winked at me, or that fact that that thought made me giddy, but the fact of everything that had happened in a span of just a few days.  that's not including the weeks in the portal, that is. Let's see, what had I done again? ^

^I had run away from a class trip with a boy that I barely knew to find a key to get to a portal to a fairy-tale world that I hadn't known existed until that moment.  Then, together, we had broken numerous laws, kid-napped a grandma, gone to an underground vault that was hecka cool, lied to a little German boy, stolen that little German boy away from his mother for a few weeks, illegally sneaked into Neuschwanstein Castle, and gone through a portal to a fairy-tale world.  Wow...well, we went on one heck of a trip.  And I had a sneaking suspicion it wasn't done yet.  ^

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One dragon slain, and one dead grandma later, we had a celebration party.  It was probably more of a funeral, but almost no one treated it as a normal funeral.  Plaques bearing Gator and Little Bo Peep's name were put in the garden, and a statue of the Fairy Godmother was erected in the square.  

Emmerich and I had begged to stay, and agreed to go home right after it was over.

"I am so going to grounded when I get home." I laughed.  "Too bad my parents would never believe the truth- they might go easy on me."

"What will you tell them?" Conner asked.

I shrugged.  "That I fell in love with a circus clown and followed him around Europe," I said.  "We know it can happen."

I smiled at him and he smiled back at me.  I saw Alex smile to herself from a little ways away.  It was crazy to think that even though I had spent so little time with Conner, we had sooo many inside jokes. 

"Would you mind letting my mom and stepdad know where I am?" Conner asked.  "They'll probably know already- Alex and I aren't strangers to going missing now and then."

"Sure," I said.  "Maybe they can talk my parents into softening the blow of the punishment.  They can tell them what a horrible influence you are or something."

Conner's cheeks tinted pink, and I smirked at him. 

"I bet all the kids in Fussen are so worried about me." Emmerich said, his smile beaming. "I'm going to tell them I was kidnapped by secret agents- which isn't far from the truth!"

"What will you tell your mom?" I asked. 

"I'll probably tell her the truth.  I'll have to do the dishes for months, but it'll be worth it!  Evne though my life was put in danger several times- I've never had so much fun!"

"I agree," I concurred.  "This certainly has been the adventure of my life."

The celebration was amazing, even if the gardens were half destroyed.  Alex looked a little uncomfortable after someone bowed to her and called her the Fairy Godmother and I saw her tell Conner about it and laugh. 

I wasn't really excited about leaving, okay I was devastated about leaving, but when the celebration was over, I went up the stairs with Conner, Emmerich, and Mother Goose.  We went to one of the tallest towers, it was a dusty circular room that looked like it was mostly used for storage. 

"This was one of the original portals we used to  travel into the Otherworld during the heyday of fairy tales," Mother Goose said.  "Those were the good old days."

Conner leaned forward and put his arm around Emmerich and me.  "You know, now that you two have seen the fairy-tale world, it's your job to help keep fairy tales alive in the Otherworld."

I was very eager to have this responsibility, adn by the looks of it, so was Emmerich.  I nodded my head.  "I think I'm up for that challenge," I said. 

"Me too!" Emmerich said in agreement. 

Mother Goose pulled a lever on the wall and a transparent blue curtain appeared in the doorway. 

Conner hugged Emmerich before he stepped into the portal. 

"Thank you both so much for helping me get here," Conner said.  "I promise to visit you once everything gets straightened out here."

"I'll miss you, Herr Bailey," Emmerich said, evident that he didn't want to leave. 

"Take care, bud," Conner said. 

Emmerich stepped through the portal to the Otherworld.  I hung back.  Saying good-bye just didn't seem like enough.  ^We had been through so much together, it was impossible to find the words to express everything in a farewell.^

"I'll see you around," was all I could muster. 

"Yeah, definitely," he said, and shifted his glance around the tower. 

I kissed his cheek and stepped toward the arch. 

"Hey, Bree," Conner said, and I turned back toward him.  "Before you go, there's something I want to tell you."

"What's that?" I asked him.  For a split second I was hopeful that he would finally tell me that he liked me.  I had known for so long, it was almost hard to keep it a secret.  But I kept that hope down, he would tell me when he felt comfortable. 

Conner scrunched his whole face up.  "After a lot of thought and self-reflection, I've come to the conclusion that I might-possibly-maybe-do have a crush on you," he admitted. 

I laughed.  ^He had actually admitted it!^ "I know you do," I said and leaned closer to him.  "And by the way,  I have a crush on you, too." I winked at him and stepped through the portal.

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