A Tale of Life and Death

~Interlude~

October 31st, 1981, Nurmengard Prison

Location; Unknown

~After Voldemort's Defeat by The-Boy-Who-Lived~

- POV Gellert -

It was dark.

He sweated. Shivered and tossed about.

He convulsed on his… bed. If one could call it that. A thick plank with four posts and some dirty, now old, ragged sheets for a mattress and covers for the night. Gellert Grindelwald shook madly, his back arched terribly as bouts of pain shot throughout his bad. His mouth foamed as his mind began to become overwhelmed by what he was undergoing.

He was experiencing visions, and events of the future. He saw it, he lived it. The future of Wizardkind, …and that of the world as well.

Gellert shook so violently that he fell off his cot, and smashed his head against the stone floor, passing out.

Hours passed.

Gasp.

Gellert woke in surprise, he breathed heavily. Eyes wide. Heartbeat fast. He wiped his mouth of the spit and grim that collected around it. Gellert unsteadily stood up. His body ached, the years of battles and war had taken its toll on him, and demanded its price be paid over the years of his imprisonment. Now he was a shell of his former glory and self. Or so many would believe, whilst physically weak, it did little to diminish his genius intellect and mind.

'You should have killed me when you had the chance, Albus.' Gellert thought as a laugh escape his mouth.

He eyed his cell, a dark thing it was, its only source of light was the opening that was bared up to the point where a pinky finger could barely even poke through. Gellert appearance was unkept, he had grown a beard, and his hair was balding, whatever locks he had left were matted and dirty beyond belief.

Voldemort was gone, for the time being. Gellert smiled. It was… poetic, funny even, that the man who so feared and ran from death, unknowingly sealed his fate when he went to confront it, his fear of death that is.

He caressed his beard in thought as his mind ran through the images of the visions he was gifted, the future, he chuckled as he reminisced, …was everything he envisioned, but better. Oh, how he wished to be able to go back in time to convince his younger self of the beauty he witnessed. To be able to retake command of his armies during his time as Führer with the images of the future as his reference guide for his conquest.

Gellert turned to the door of his prison room, it had the smallest opening possible for him to allow air to vent, but he used it to communicate. With who though, he had no idea, but he knew they were a follower of his ideals, and that they worshiped the ground he walked on.

"Rosier." Gellert's rough, hardly used voice croaked out.

Loud, quick shuffling sounded from the other side of the thick, rune-covered, enchantment layered, steel door.

"Heil Grindelwald, my Lord, what is your command?" An exuberant voice exclaimed, with a tone of admiration. Something of which Grindelwald smiled lightly at. He was glad his acolytes still practiced the mannerisms of his old regime.

"Rise, Richard." Gellert commanded evenly, there was a hint of cockiness to his voice. "I have a question for you." His emotionless voice asked.

"Of course, mein Führer," the admiration in Rosier's tone never waning.

"Tell me, how many of my followers still wait for me?" Grindelwald asked. "How many of my warrior legions wait in slumber?"

There was a pause, Gellert assumed it was because Rosier was silently counting in his head, which he was glad for as it gave him a chance to think of what he would tell the man next.

"Mein Führer?" Rosier began tentatively. Gellert hummed to indicate he was listening. "My estimates put your legions are a thousand wands at the ready. What are your orders, sir?"

"Does the rest of House Rosier still follow me?"

"They do, Führer."

"Excellent, Rosier, your loyalty is greatly appreciated, and will be rewarded later."

"I strive to please your great expectations, my Lord." The acolyte answered, indifferent to the promise of reward.

"Nevertheless, your loyalty shall be awarded," Gellert replied. He applied the tips of his index and middle finger to his temple and concentrated, with a quiet groan, Gellert began pulling copies of the visions he witnessed from his mind. "And what better reward, …than a peak of the future. Your wand, Rosier. Point it at the crack of the door." Once Grindelwald saw the end of Rosier's wand dot part of the ventilation slit in the door, he pressed the liquid-like, slivers of memories into the crack, attaching it to the other Wizard's wand.

"My Lord, are you sure?" Richard asked hesitantly.

"You must see to understand what I will ask of you to do, Rosier." Grindelwald remarked. "Go on." He then commanded with a steel tone. "Take your reward."

Gasp.

Gellert smiled as he heard Rosier experience what he saw. As he waited, he contemplated the current defenses of Nurmengard. They were strong still, but the runes and enchantments that he and Albus applied many years ago had begun fading several decades before. Grindelwald almost laughed at his best friend's foolishness of not replenishing the barriers and Wards that held the near impenetrable, now pointlessly useless prison together. He could have escaped long ago. But he didn't.

Memories of the fateful duel between him and Albus came to mind, and the reason why he kept himself confined to the prison the two of them built together.

Grindelwald also started forming the beginnings of his plans for the future. Rather, to the formation of the future he witnessed.

"Are you done, Rosier?" Gellert asked the moment he heard the gasping stop.

"Mein Führer, it's beautiful, the future. Such peace and prosperity." Richard spoke with a genuine joy.

"Yes…. It is beautiful. And to achieve it, I need you to start gathering more wands for an army. I need you to build me a new army, one that is fully trained and loyal to me." A smile formed on Gellert's face as he began to explain his plans. "Can you do that?"

"I can, my Lord."

"Good."

"Mein Führer, may I ask a question?"

"Proceed, Rosier."

"Is this the birth of a Fourth Reich?"

"...I suppose it is."

"I understand, mein Führer, I will not fail you. Heil Grindelwald, long live your reign!"

"Yes. Heil Grindelwald indeed."

Interlude End

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