Meanwhile, Back with the Trolls
Once Anna had left to fetch Estelle, Grand Pabbie turned back to Elsa and Kristoff and sighed. "Now for the other nasty business at hand. I can feel the pull of the dark one's power even from here. Where have you placed the mirror?"
Elsa looked at Kristoff and raised an eyebrow, but Kristoff just shrugged. "I stopped questioning him a long time ago about this sort of thing," he said.
Elsa sighed and snapped her fingers. In an instant the snow sentinel with it brought the mirror forward and slammed it into the ground in front of Grand Pabbie.
Grand Pabbie walked up to the mirror and placed his hand on the ice sheet and nodded in approval. "I am not sure that this would have kept him contained if push came to shove, but it was a wise precaution nevertheless. Still, I would like you to remove your ice for now."
Elsa made a gesture and the ice that sealed in the mirror's face vanished although she left enough behind so that it wouldn't fall and shatter.
At first the mirror did nothing, acting just as a normal mirror might. "It was working before," mused Kristoff. "Maybe you have to hit it." He began to walk up to give it a good smack when he was tackled by two members of his family.
"Best not," said one.
"To touch it," finished the other.
"It's not safe," they said in unison.
"Kristoff, allow me," said Grand Pabbie as he turned to face the mirror. "Bound one, servant of the first fallen, I command you to come forth and speak to me."
His voice rang with authority and soon enough the pale face surfaced in the mirror. "Hello, brother," it said with a smirk.
Grand Pabbie ignored its greeting. "What is your aim, Fallen?" His voice was filled with a quiet rage Kristoff had never heard from him before.
The pale face frowned. "You call me Fallen? You're one to talk, Bystander," it said, spitting out the word.
Grand Pabbie ignored whatever slight the face in the mirror intended. "I call you Fallen because it is true. Now tell me what your aim is here."
The face in the mirror rolled its eyes. "My plan? Dear brother, my plan is the same as it has ever been. Why should I change it now?"
Grand Pabbie's eyes narrowed. "Because now, as before, it affects me and mine. Cease your meddling or suffer."
The face in the mirror just laughed. "I can't stop it now any more than you can. The pieces have been set and the players are in motion. It's only a matter of time before things go as they should. So lock me away or seal me up, but no matter what you do, know that I won."
"The game is not over yet, Fallen, and Anna is stronger than you think," said Grand Pabbie defensively.
The face in the mirror just shrugged, if that was possible for a thing without a body. "Perhaps you're right, Bystander, but the witch hunters of Weselton are skilled as well and I am sure that Anna, while an adept student, is not yet as adept at avoiding their powers as they are at finding hers."
Elsa gapped at his comment. She hadn't thought, nay, even considered what Weselton would have done to prepare against witches, real or imagined. "What do you mean by that? What could they do to her?"
Again, the face in the mirror seemed to shrug. "Any number of things, I suppose. Anna isn't the first witch to cross their path, after all, and they are such a clever people."
"What is your plan, anyway?" Asked Kristoff, but the mirror didn't respond.
"War and hate. Endless war, endless hate, those have been the things it has striven for since the moment it was made," said Grand Pabbie as the mirror's silence continued.
"But at least I have goals, unlike you," countered the mirror.
Grand Pabbie narrowed his eyes. "My aim is to protect my family and my clan, for better or for worse."
The face in the mirror laughed. "Like I said, unlike you. Bystander."
"Why do you keep calling him that? His name is …" began Kristoff indignantly, but the mirror interrupted him.
"I am aware of what you say his name is. I call him Bystander because, at his core, that's all he is. A bystander. Never interacting, never interfering, never doing anything that will hurt him. He would sit and watch your world turn to ash if he thought it wouldn't affect him and his."
"That's not true," said Elsa as memories of his healing touched resurfaced. "When I hurt Anna as a child, he healed her with his magic."
Again the mirror laughed. "And look where that got him. His adopted grandson is more or less engaged to marry both royals of a kingdom, so it still worked out well. Do you think that he would have done the same if you'd been some lowly peasant?"
"Yes," said Grand Pabbie without hesitation.
"Then you are much more foolish than I remember, brother," said the mirror in turn.
"Stop calling him brother, you fowl thing," said Kristoff.
The mirror chuckled. "But we are brothers, he and I, or have you not heard this story?"
Grand Pabbie was loath to ever tell stories of his own past, so Kristoff had heard very little of what Grand Pabbie's extended family was like, although he tried to not give rise to his curiosity.
The mirror seemed to have picked up on it anyway, since it laughed. "He hasn't, has he? Well then, great nephew mine, I think it's time you learned about your adopted family."
Grand Pabbie scowled but said nothing to stop the mirror.
The mirror rolled its' eyes back in its' head as it reminisced. "This was ages ago, mind you, but the time still burns bright in my mind. Our father had just created a new being, a thing that was superior to all of us, or so he said. My peers disagreed while his favorites stood up for him. My peers and I lost the little scuffle we had and so we were cast out. Fair enough. Your dear Grand Pabbie, on the other hand, did nothing. His folk just stood off and watched us fight, content to join the side of the victor. Of course Father didn't like that at all, but they decided to leave before they were banished themselves, content to say that they would leave on their own terms rather than become members of the Fallen. So instead they are the Bystanders, unable and unwilling to act on behalf of those that won't benefit them in some way."
"And so you think you're better than him?" Said Kristoff after a while, filled with silent rage.
The mirror laughed. "I know I'm better than him. At least I stand for something, no matter what that something is."
"Grand Pabbie stands for something!" Cried Kristoff.
"What?" Asked the mirror in a bemused tone.
"Arendelle. We stand for Arendelle," said Grand Pabbie. The rest of the trolls gathered behind him and nodded in agreement.
The mirror smirked. "Again, you stand for you and yours, but would you stand for Arendelle if your grandson wasn't engaged to both of its' royals? I didn't see your influence spread to Weselton during their little hiccup."
"We did what we could for them when we learned what was happening," said Grand Pabbie.
"But since what you could do was nothing, I think it all works out the same way, doesn't it?" finished the mirror for him.
"What is your plan?" Asked Elsa as she brimmed with curiosity.
"I already told you. War. Endless, mindless, glorious war," said the mirror.
"War with who? We're trying to make peace with Weselton," said Elsa as she narrowed her eye as the mirror.
The mirror chortled. "But when the witch hunters of Weselton strike her down and discover who was flying above them, what do you think they'll do? Let it go? Or perhaps, if Anna does return, when Lord Derek wakes up from his nightmares, what do you think his reaction will be? Thanks for waking him, or rage at being forced to live and relive his worst nightmares for hours on end? The die is cast, your Majesty, and there's nothing you can do about it."
Kristoff looked up and grinned. "Well you can just shove it, mirror man. Anna's back."
Elsa looked up and saw that Anna's misty form had indeed returned, but it looked strange. When Anna had left, it was a solid, coherent thing. Now it looked ragged and seemed to warble across the sky, dipping and weaving like a drunkard stumbling home. "Something's wrong."
The servitor leapt into action, scaling and bounding from tree to tree like a squirrel until he was able to leap out to catch Anna. To their surprise, it took a little part of the shadows away from it while the main chunk continued in a straight line for Kristoff.
It slammed into the ground once then rose and slammed again before rolling to a stop in front of Kristoff. It shimmered for a moment before materializing back into Anna but she didn't look well. Gashes, scrapes and bruises covered her while some of her limbs were bent at angles they shouldn't have been at.
"Anna," Kristoff murmured as he knelt to gather her into his arms. Louder, he said "Elsa, Anna's been hurt."
He needn't have bothered, though, as Elsa had dashed over to her sister the moment she saw here come down. "Anna! Oh Anna, please stay with us, please. I can't lose you again."
"Is Estelle alright?" Asked Anna as she opened her eyes.
"Who?" Asked Kristoff.
"The little girl. Is she alright?" Asked Anna, trying to get up to look around for her.
Kristoff held her down in his arms to keep her from moving and tried to spy what she was talking about. He saw Shadow leap down from a tree and saw that he was carrying a small, sleepy little girl, unmarred by the damage that had marked Anna.
"She's fine," said Kristoff.
Anna heaved a heavy sigh. "Good. That's good," she said. She closed her eyes and her breathing slowed.
Elsa began to weep and Kristoff just held her in his arms as he felt Anna's body start to shut down.