Reckless Paradise (GGAD/Grindeldore)

1 - The Road to Absolution

The road to redemption was a long one, filled with sharp stones and cutting thorns. Yet, Gellert Grindelwald crawled on. What else was there left to do, when one was locked in a cell, with no company but the howling wind? It started slowly, with an appeal to the ICW for permission to write a letter.

There was no sense of time in his prison, no change. In the beginning, he had counted the days, etching a thin line into the wood of his cot with a small stone he had found loose in the wall. The most feared wizard of the century had not believed himself to live long - not with the hatred the world threw at him after his imprisonment. At some point, there was bound to be an enemy determined enough to obtain his long-sought revenge. Perhaps the scarce food-rations would not appear one day, perhaps there would be poison, or maybe the ceiling of his cell would mysteriously collapse.

However, Gellert lived - survived. He stopped counting his days after two-hundred, a round number he found oddly appealing. It was not much later that he found himself begging for the right to send a letter. Somehow, in the end, they agreed, though he suspected the reason to be the designated receiver of his mail. On a whim, he asked if it could be a postcard, on which he would send a message to his former lover, friend, and nemesis. Surprisingly, a card with a picture of the Alps printed on the front left Nurmengard four days later.

Please do not forget me and all the things we did.

Albus would recognize his handwriting. There would never be an answer.

***

The first time he felt remorse, true regret, was coincidentally the first time someone talked to him in what he would have known to be five years, had he counted. Auror Schneider appeared in front of his cell, wand in hand, and Gellert was sure his time had finally come. Yet, the brunet man merely began renewing the enchantments around his cell, while simultaneously reinforcing them with new runes and incantations. It offended and flattered the older wizard all the same.

Offended, as he had built this prison himself and felt insulted at the mere insinuation that his work may not be competent enough. Flattered, because they thought him strong enough to break free even with his lack of wand.

"Why did you do it?", Schneider suddenly asked him in a german dialect that betrayed him to be from Austria. He did not look up from his work, nor did he stop.

"Do what?", Gellert inquired, his voice hoarse and weak from the lack of usage.

This time, the man looked up, face neutral, though his eyes betrayed a fiery fury Gellert would have admired, once upon a time.

"Kill all these people. Muggles, wizards... innocents", the man finally clarified. There was something in his voice - the same curiosity with which a psychiatrist would examine a serial killer.

"I am certain you read the papers", Grindelwald snapped with a lack of composure that would have mortified him, had he still been a free, powerful man.

The question riled him up every time, ever since it had first been posed during his interrogation in the twenties. They did not listen to him, did not understand the weakness that made up those muggles. He had shown the Aurors his visions, had revealed the coming war, which would cost millions their lives, and they had merely shrugged him off. He could not comprehend, how they could have the audacity to ask him for his reasons when they refused to listen to his answers.

The Holocaust had occurred, proving his argument, his visions, his purpose, yet they chose to ignore the signs.

"I did, though I wanted to hear it from you", Schneider spoke, words void of any emotion. It infuriated Gellert. The boy was not even thirty, had probably just finished his training, yet he stood before the most feared wizard of the century with more composure than said wizard.