—{Princess Anna}—
I'm starting to doubt coming with the man in front of me. I'm not sure if there's something wrong in his head.
Why, you may ask? Well, first of all, he's been talking to his reindeer for the past few hours. At first, I thought he was just one of those guys who talk to animals, despite knowing they don't reply.
To my surprise, however, whenever the reindeer grunts, Kristoff replies as if he fully understands what the reindeer is talking about. In short, he's having a full-blown conversation with an animal.
If that's not enough to make you doubt the man's sanity, then hear me out for the next one.
He's describing his friends as a bunch of rocks with consciousness.
Fortunately, thanks to meeting Henry and discovering the existence of magic through him, I'm not surprised too much by Kristoff's weirdness.
"Uhhh. Are you sure they're your friends? And not just a bunch of rocks, only moving because of your….I don't know, imagination?" I sat behind him on the wagon and asked.
The man laughed out loud, and then replied, "Let me guess, you're thinking that I must be crazy, right? Don't worry, I thought so too. But instead of explaining it to you, I'll just show it to you." He then stared back on the front straight and continued, "After all, we're already here."
I followed where he was looking at and that's when I saw we're surrounded by nothing but rocks and dead trees. A few holes in the ground were releasing smoke that slowly fogged the surroundings.
"We're going here on foot. The road ahead will be jagged and I don't think my wagon would be able to handle it." Kristoff said before getting down from Sven.
Hurriedly, he went to the back of the wagon and offered his hand for me—I blinked several times from the gesture before understanding his intention. He wants to help me get down on the ground, just like he did earlier.
"Thanks." Anna tucked a hair behind her ear, appreciating the gentle manner.
Kristoff puffed up his chest in pride, "My pleasure." And with his hand, I managed to get down on the ground just fine.
Unbuckling straps on his reindeer, Sven. The three of us walked forward, with Sven running around as if he were back home while Kristoff was leading on the front with confident strides.
Not liking the awkward silence between us, I cleared my throat and initiated a conversation with a question, "…So, can you tell me more about these…trolls? Anything I should take note of just in case I don't accidentally do something that might offend them?"
Kristoff shook his head and replied, "Nothing that I can think of. This entire time, they've been nothing but kind to me." He kicked a small pebble on the floor, "Even if there is one, I doubt they'll be mad about it, knowing their inherent kind nature."
Before the silence could envelop us again, I asked another, "How did you meet them? Don't tell me you were born here and they raised you?"
"It's a long story, actually. It was ten years ago, and I was on my way back to an abandoned barn that Sven and I had been using to sleep in. One day, we heard hurried gallops of two horses. We panicked, thinking the knight guards caught us and tried to escape." Kristoff stared at the night sky as he reminisced, "Turns out, it's just a family of four, probably nobles guessing from their attire. They left the Kingdom through the rear gates."
"Curiosity got the better of me and I followed them without hesitation. Riding on little Sven to catch up with two adult horses. As I said earlier, Sven likes to show off his speed, he's faster than he looks."
"And then what happened?" I asked, trying to steer him back to the topic instead of divulging to another.
He coughed embarrassingly and continued, "Right. Anyways, we caught up to them, hid and that's when we discovered the trolls. They just rolled towards the family and then there's this older one named Grand Pabbie. He started doing this weird magic thing on one of the unconscious children." He rubbed his chin, "I'm not sure what happened after that because we were caught by one of them, who is now my adoptive mother, Bulda. She took us in once the family of four left."
Well, long story indeed, "Wow."
I saw a smile creep up on his face. He seemed proud of this troll family of his. Enough for me to know not to ask questions about his true parents. That might just complicate our current relationship.
Wait, why am I even concerned about that? That's weird.
"We're her—wait what?" His words interrupted my thoughts all of a sudden. Stopping in my tracks, I stared ahead, and what I saw made my eyes go wide.
Partially because of a bunch of rocks with eyes, a nose, and moving around. But the real shock came in the form of my sister crouching and interacting with them. Along with the familiar figure of Henry sitting near one of the trolls.
"Elsa!" I couldn't help but blurt out all of a sudden, attracting everyone's attention to us. I can hear Kristoff sighing on my side but I don't care about that.
Elsa's eyes went wide when she saw me and I heard her mutter, "Anna?"
Before we could reunite, the trolls suddenly yelled in unison, "Kristoff's back!" Before swarming us all of a sudden.
"Oh come on guys!" There was a huge smile on Kristoff's face as he fell on his butt and started to be carried around. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh from this.
Which coincidentally was heard by Kristoff and his face turned red all of a sudden. Oh, look at him getting embarrassed. How cute.
"Guys, come on now. Stop!" While he tried to get the trolls' hands off behind his back, I slowly made my way to Elsa who had her arms crossed and her foot tapping on the ground. Her squinted eyes didn't help.
How great of you, Anna. Second time since I last saw her after years and I made her mad at me.
"L-Look. I can explain."
Elsa didn't reply at all. Just a look that says 'I'm waiting.'
Alright, think Anna. Think!
———
Seeing the puppy look on Anna's face as she tries to plead for his help, Henry chuckled before turning the other way. Betrayal or not, all that matters is survival.
"It seems like the whole family is here. And so is the truth." Henry whispered to no one. Watching as Elsa and Anna start to soften with each other before eventually finding a private spot, probably to tell Anna the entire truth.
'I'll stick around in case she needs me. Emotional support and all that.' Henry murmured under his breath.
Standing up from the ground, Henry made his way behind the twin sisters, silent enough to sneak up on them and not to alert them of his presence. As much as he wanted to trust Elsa that she'd be able to handle things herself, it's better to be cautious than never.
As soon as he stepped into their vicinity, their conversation managed to reach his ears.
"Can you tell me what's happening now?" Anna spoke with a hesitant tone, "And please don't tell me it's complicated. I've waited years for this." Her face turned bland at the last sentence.
Elsa giggled at it, her sister is still the same from ten years ago after all, "Alright. But promise me you won't panic or anything, okay?"
Anna leaned forward and eagerly nodded her head.
With a deep breath, Elsa narrated. Starting from the moment she discovered her powers up until the tragedy where Elsa accidentally struck Anna and inflicted a curse on her heart.
"A-a curse? But how? I don't remember anything about it." Anna frowned, expressing her disbelief over her sister's words.
Elsa took her time contemplating before shaking her head, "Grand Pabbie had to alter your memories about my powers for a reason. Reasons that I'm not sure of yet."
That's when Henry stepped in, "Grand Pabbie altered your memories for two reasons. First, to prevent the curse from spreading and killing you fully. Second, so you would no longer pester your sister to play with her magic especially considering you were still a child back then. They had to take measures."
Anna stared down at the ground and dimly replied with a grim chuckle, "So it was my fault after all."
Elsa was quick to pull her back out before she could fully submerge and drown herself in guilt, "It is not your fault, Anna! It's no one's fault, okay? Please don't blame yourself like that again." She then pulled Anna in a hug, "Everything is okay now. We'll just need to find a way to fully remove the curse in your heart."
Anna's eyes turned blurred slightly before sniffing and reciprocating the hug. Henry was about to leave the two for their privacy when all of a sudden, he noticed the single streak of white hair on Anna started to disappear, being slowly replaced by her natural auburn hair.
He opened his mouth and spoke, "I don't think finding a way is necessary anymore." When cast with confused looks, Henry pointed at her hair.
Elsa's eyes widened when she saw it, "It's fading…" And when it disappeared, she caressed it a few times, "And now it's gone. But how?" She turned to Henry for answers.
Henry smiled and just as he was about to answer—like an all-knowing wizard he is, he was interrupted by an elderly voice from behind, "Only an act of true love can remove the curse."
Grand Pabbie stepped forward with his hands behind his back, ignoring Henry's glare towards him, he continued, "Some might think those words mean an act of love between two lovers. But its meaning is broad and ranges from lovers to family members."
Caressing his beard, which Henry found odd to look at, Grand Pabbie finished, "The two of you have shown love, compassion, forgiveness, and moving on from the past shows an act of true love."
"What he said." Henry curtly chimed in, trying to stay relevant.
"So that's what it is," Elsa murmured to herself, her shoulders slightly loosening as relief finally settled in. Although she has managed to control her powers, and told Anna the truth without hiding anything, the matter of her curse is still weighing heavily on her mind.
But now it's finished. All because of a few words and acceptance between the two of them.
"You all should go back now. The state of the Arendelle Kingdom is left to your hands." With that being said for the last time, Grand Pabbie left, with Henry still glaring at his back.
'So you just came in to steal my spotlight and farm aura huh, Grand Pabbie. Good. Very good. I accept your challenge!' Unbeknownst to the oblivious old troll, Henry just declared war in terms of looking cool to the audience against him.
Henry was snapped out of his thoughts when someone called out to him, "Henry." Turning around, he came face-to-face with an embarrassed Kristoff who finally seemed to have escaped his family's clutches.
Though with a single glance behind his back and seeing Sven being dragged and carried around by the trolls, gives him an idea of how.
'Fate has truly destined Kristoff and Anna together, huh?' Henry murmured under his breath, noticing how Kristoff and Anna arrived together earlier.
Well, at least that way, Kristoff will be with Anna and the troublesome Hans wouldn't be trouble anymore once the coronation day arrives.
'Life is good, I guess. Solved a big problem for Arendelle and prevented the tragedy that's supposed to strike the Kingdom.' Henry muttered under his breath.
Although the film didn't show any casualties caused by the intense snowstorm that haunted their Kingdom for days, come on, that's a Disney film right there—designated to be watched by innocent kids. Showing Elsa accidentally causing deaths might traumatize them.
But right now, Henry is not watching the film. He's living in it and that means he'll get to see what the film didn't dare to show.
Another thing, though preventing the tragedy might sound good but it also comes with a few setbacks. Such as the Kingdom's citizens wouldn't know that their future Queen has the powers to harness the ice and revealing it to them might cause problems compared to the one in the film.
'Well, I guess Olaf won't be here too.' But then he remembered Elsa and Anna's wish, 'Well, maybe not forever. Just won't be here for now.'
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[I'm starting to enjoy ranting about hate comments here lol.
Reader: Why isn't he focusing on grinding magic and training to become so strong. He's just wasting his time. He has the talent and a magic teacher for it, he's just doing useless things.
Author: Why are you wasting your time reading here in Webnovel instead of grinding your way to the top then? You have the internet that provides you almost everything for free. Be it knowledge, tutorials, and literally everything you need to start grinding but you're using it to read fanfictions that contribute little to nothing to your life.
You complain that Henry is wasting time to enjoy his life when you're literally the same if not, worse than him. Look at the great figures in both history and today, why can't I see your name beside theirs if you know so much about GRINDING? What are you even doing with your life instead of GRINDING knowledge, you could've become a famous doctor, a high-demand engineer, or an infamous programmer.
Instead of raking in millions or billions of dollars if you just grinded from the start, you're just wasting your time reading this shit.
This might hit a few strays but…you gotta get a life.
Now. Do you see the similarities?
You remind me of my relative that kept comparing my ass to her children just because we're of the same age.
Once again, I'm not mad. Just clarifying to some readers. You can ignore my rants like this in the future chapters.]