33 Gellart Grindelwald
A/N: You know, just saying, but if Bucky would have been alive and fighting when Steve vs Schmidt happened in the plane, Steve would have actually tried to find a way to land the plane safely.
While he does love Peggy, Bucky has been is only friend since childhood. He did not want to live in a world where Bucky is not there, is my headcanon. Just saying.
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2 days after Steve went MIA, presumed KIA, I let Dugan and Bucky take over the fight against Hydra. Dugan was the second best tactician after Steve, and Bucky had a lot to prove.
I meanwhile, was flying towards Austria, Nurmengard prison. Grindelwald was inside the castle, along with 100 of his wizards, and his army of over 2000 inferis.
Vinda's memories had showed me, that Grindelwald had succeeded in making inferi, despite the absence of the Resurrection Stone. He was going to use the inferi to kill most of the muggles, and finally let the wizards take over the world.
I had sent a message to Moody, and the Auror Force, along with him, two days ago informing them of the location of Nurmengard prison. We were going to finish this, once and for all.
Thankfully, the obscurial, Credence, or Aurelius Dumbledore had vanished, not believing in Grindelwald's goals anymore. Or I would have had an even harder fight on my hands.
Grindelwald had trained Aurelius to fight his older brother Albus, and kill him, since he was unable to do it because of the blood pact. But, he felt Grindelwald was not all he spoke of, and vanished.
Right now, Grindelwald has 5 of his lieutenants left, and over 100 other wizards in his army, along with 2000 inferi. And against them, I was alone.
As soon as I see Nurmengard castle in the distance, I drop down on the ground, still invisible, and slowly wave my hand in front of me. Wards. Thank God, I learned ward breaking, and with it, ward sensing.
The wards, that were over half a mile away from the actual castle, prevent entrance for anyone not possessing a specific ring, attuned to their Magic. Along with that, you have to say a password to be allowed in. Plus, there's a ward that prevents anyone inside from harming the Ward Master, Grindelwald.
Well, any normal Wizard that is. Good thing I'm not normal. Sending a telepathic message to Helena and Dorea, through a link I'd set up, I ask, 'How much time?'
Helena and Dorea, being the concerned citizens that they were, were coming along with the ICW Wizarding Force, currently coming from the Austrian Ministry.
They had stormed Austria a couple nights before, and taken control over the Ministry back from Grindelwald's forces. Helena and Dorea had joined the invading force, along with Dorea's father Cygnus, cousin Arcturus, and a few other influential Wizards of Britain.
'30 minutes. We're Flying using brooms, as apparition is not possible.' Helena answers, and I feel her rolling her eyes at flying using a broom.
Chuckling a bit, I say, 'Well, I'll clear the wards in a minute or so. You'll be able to apparate then.'
Dorea's concerned voice says, 'Good luck, Mason. And stay safe.'
Smiling, I say, 'I always stay safe, love. Now, I'll clear the way for you.'
While I could probably remove the wards within 10-15 minutes, I don't think Grindelwald is going to let me have that much time when I start.
So, brandishing my wand, I fly high into the air and a hundred meters away from the ward line. Pointing my wand at the sort of transparent barrier around the fortress, I say, "Fulgur Percutiens!"
A lightning bolt exits my wand tip, and strikes a spot on the wards. The force behind the spell actually makes the wards visible all over the area. But, the wards don't get harmed, beyond a few cracks in them.
"Hmm.. a bit more Strength then." Pointing my wand again, as I see a few wizards apparate inside the wards, I again cast, this time shouting the spell, "FULGUR TEMPESTAS!"
This time, a visual storm of lightning comes out of my wand, and fires a continuous stream of focused Lightning on the same spot as before, while also striking smaller lightning strikes in the surrounding area.
Elemental spells, are very dangerous, especially Lightning element. Water spells are usable, and so are earth and wind spells. Fire spells, while dangerous, are used a lot of times by Wizards. Even Fiendfyre, the most dangerous fire spell known to the wizards, is used only by the most resilient wizards.
Lightning, is the most dangerous to use. You cannot control lightning, but you can direct it. While before, I couldn't properly control my Lightning spells, even using Telekinesis, as the Lightning would just try and fry me first, this time, I had something else with me.
An Electromagnetic Force Field around my body, that stops the Lightning recognising me as a conductor.
So, when the Lightning Storm spell strikes the spot, again and again, the wards start to crumble, and I see more and more wizards coming in and trying to push my Lightning Storm spell away.
Smirking at that, I exert even more force, and with a jerk of my wand, the singular beam of concentrated Plasma splits into two, entwines together, and starts spinning like a drill.
Within a second, whatever defences the Wizards had put up get destroyed, and the Lightning storm strikes the ground inside the wards, making the wards crumble, all over the place.
'Helena! Tell them to try apparating now!' I shout, mentally and dodge immediately, letting 6 killing curses pass by my flying form.
While about 20 or so wizards had been fried when my spell hit them, about 30 or so still remained here, alive. Cracking my neck, I simply use my wand and shield from whatever spell they throw at me, using anything, and everything.
The first wave consist of more Killing curses, which I cut with Gulthris, and absorbing the last one, throw Gulthris at the one who fired it. Taking advantage of their shock, I use Telekinesis, mixed with magic, and transfigure the land in front of them into spikes, stabbing them towards the group.
Before it can happen, though, a wall made of some tough metal rises from the ground, saving the group from my spikes. Looking for the one who cast the spell, I find the dichromatic eyes of the man who started all of this.
"Gellart Grindelwald." I mumble, looking at the threat to my family.
"Mason Aves. Or should I say Captain Paladin?" Grindelwald says to me, and then turns to the wizards gawking at him. He says, "Go and take care of the Aurors, you idiots. I'll deal with him."
By now the ICW Forces, along with Volunteers had apparated directly near the Fortress, and were fighting the forces of Grindelwald's army.
From my connection to Dorea and Helena, I could see that Dorea was currently using Fiendfyre to destroy the Inferi army, along with the other Black's, while Helena was fighting 2 of the Lieutenants of Grindelwald by herself.
Inferis are weird. Unlike zombies, they're not slow. They're as fast as the bodies used to be, only highly magic resistant. Only fire spells work on them, not even normal muggle fire. Even killing curses splash harmlessly on their skins.
"You can call me anything you want, you're going to die anyway." I say, casually snapping the necks of the wizards that were still standing near us, using telekinesis. I try to use Telepathy, and telekinesis on Grindelwald, but it does not work. I only hear static from his mind, and my Telekinetic force simply splashes over him harmfully.
Grindelwald scowls at that, and says, "Weak. You know, your wandless tricks won't work on me anymore. I learned a lot from your fight with Vinda. Though, I wonder how you survived. I'm pretty sure I killed the whole Aves Family."
Shrugging at his try at making me angry, I say, "Well, you missed one, Gellart. How did the search for the Diadem go? Did you find it?"
"How do you even know that?" Grindelwald asks, looking a bit confused, and even fascinated.
Smirking, I say, "I guessed. You just confirmed it for me."
Grindelwald tilts his head to the side, ignoring the carnage happening behind him, and smirks. He says, "Don't worry, I'll find out soon enough anyway."
Saying that, Grindelwald fires a blasting hex at my chest, followed by a few other destructive spells. I cast Aegis, but the force behind the barrage of spells slides me a foot back.
Smiling in exhilaration, I twist the shield a bit, sending his own spell at him. He steps around the spell, and fires a stream of fire.
Waving my left hand, I transfigure the ground in front of me into a wall, and kick it with a telekinetically enhanced leg. The wall moves forward and blocking the fire, continues towards Grindelwald. I send two Lacero's to each side of the wall, in case he dodges, and a depulso a second later, right at the wall.
He blows the wall apart with a bombarda, and transfigures the debris into stone daggers, sending them towards me. Unfortunately, for him, my depulso uses that moment to hit the daggers, and send them back at him.
One dagger nicks Grindelwald on the cheek, while he shields from the rest. He looks surprised, and surprisingly, laughs. He says, "You managed to make me bleed! Join me, Aves, be my Lieutenant! You've fought in the war. You've seen what destruction the muggles have brought upon the beautiful world. Join me, and we will make this planet beautiful again!"
Damn. If I didn't know that he's just justifying his own dreams of ruling the world with this, I would have agreed with him.
"Good point. But you forget about the part that you manipulated Hitler to make this war possible." I say, and send a lightning strike at him.
Grindelwald conjures a lightning rod, sending the strike underground, and says, "So be it. You will have to die then, for the greater good."
Grindelwald begins the attack this time, sending a blast of black fire, which I know is bad news. I've seen Leta Lestrange die of that spell. I conjure a ball of concentrated ice, and throw it at the spell.
The two spells collide, and explode, sending both of us flying backwards. I hit the ground, and immediately shield from a barrage of spells from the still standing Grindelwald.
Gritting me teeth, I use Telekinesis to float up, and drop my legs on the ground. Immediately, Grindelwald stops his spells, getting distracted with struggling to stand up amidst the small earthquake I just telekinetically caused.
Taking the opportunity, I bring my left hand up, the debris coming with it, and send them all flying a circle around us. Using my wand, I send a few spells at Grindelwald, who stabilises himself, and shields or parries them away.
Every once in a while, a small rock would fly in from the spinning circle around us, and try and hit Grindelwald. While he's protected himself from my telekinesis, that does not make him invulnerable. He can still be hit by telekinetically thrown objects.
One rock hits him in the head, and in his distraction, my depulso hits his shoulder, sending him flying into the pseudo asteroid belt.
"ENOUGH!" Grindelwald shouts, finally angry, and disintegrates all the spinning rocks.
Standing up, with a bleeding head, he points his wand at me, and fires rapid spells at me. I cast a wandless Aegis, and deflect them, while casting my own spells back at him.
Copying me, he casts a shield with his left hand to deflect, or absorb the spells I throw at him.
But, Grindelwald shows his higher experience, when three of the spells I deflected to the side turned out to be Transfiguration spells, that Transfigure the ground around me into quicksand, and also creates 2 wolves that immediately attack me on forming.
Using my Telekinesis, I send out a blast, using myself as the epicenter. It destroys the wolves, and gets me out of the quicksand. But, Grindelwald fires a few spells through the Telekinetic force.
The first two were stunners, which I shield against easily enough. But the third one was a bone breaking hex. While it is a medium level spell, which should be easily defended by an Aegis, the force behind the spell destroys the shield, and hits me right on my left shoulder, breaking the collar bone, and my shoulder blade. It also sends me flying back, and into the mountain behind me.
Groaning, as I feel the bones repairing themselves, I stand up, and glare at Grindelwald, who smirks back.
Normally, my force filed that I have around my body, would stop any spell, bullet, rock, etc thrown at me, and deflect it. But, thanks to the Elder Wand, Grindelwald can increase the power behind his spells, without compromising the control.
Spells cannot be "overpowered" by sending more magic into them, unless you have sufficient control. But, even still, some spells can't be over powered. It either happens, or it doesn't. Like Killing curse, Imperius, or the Cruciatus.
While the Strength of the Torture curse depends on the wizard casting it, and the emotions behind the spell, you cannot just put in more magic and expect the spell to get stronger. It'll just fizzle out. Same with the Killing curse. You can either Kill with that spell, or you can't. There's no increasing the Strength of that spell.
"The Elder wand. Fascinating, isn't it?" Grindelwald says, showing me his wand and smirking.
He continues, "Wrongfully called the unbeatable wand. The wand does not make a wizard. But, in capable enough hands, it is the most powerful tool in the world. It gives me perfect control over my magic, and I can increase the Strength behind my spells without the spell compromising in its integrity."
Rolling my eyes, I reply, "Thanks for the lesson. At least you learned something from Bagshot."
Gellart looks at me, and says, "You know a lot of my secrets despite not being in my head. I will have a lot of fun torturing answers out of you."
By now, my shoulder was healed, so I simply swat his initial spell aside, with my left hand, and keep firing bombarda, expulso, Bone breaker, blood boiling curses at him.
He still manages to defend against them, but I smirk. Suddenly, he stops firing, and freezes in his place.
He asks, "What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"
He starts firing Killing curse, after Killing curse at me, which I block by either conjuring blocks of physical shields in between, or by moving the debris in the way of the spell.
I answer, "You were so focused on the Physical battle, that you forgot the battle happening in your mind."
Multitasking is something any telepath mind is engineered to do. I can fight someone with full focus and still read their mind at the same time. Which is what I was trying to do now.
Gellart has amazing Occlumency shields, and even now, after battering through his artificial shields, I was having trouble getting a read on his thoughts.
Finally, getting even more angry, Grindelwald shouts, "Ignis Diabolica!"
Immediately, a large wave of blue-black fire starts coming from his wand, and towards me. Summoning my swords, I telekinetically join them with their handles, and spin them in front of me.
While the swords absorb the fire, I apparate, and appearing behind Grindelwald, I kick him in the head, sending him rolling to his left, and dazed. Taking the opportunity, I focus entirely on his mind, and blow through his defences, copying every little thing he has in his head, while he screams in agony.
While he's screaming, and dazed from the hit, I cast, "Expeliarmus." And disarm him.
Grindelwald is defeated.
I catch the wand, that flies to me at my summons, and store it in my pouch. I'll deal with the wand later.
He still stands up, stumbling a bit, and I summon the swords. Looking at Dumbledore, and a few of the Government leaders, who were watching the fight, I say, "He's all yours."
Saying that, I apparate towards where Dorea and the Blacks are still trying to deal with the Inferi. About 1000 inferi soldiers were still undead, so I simply float high up into the air, and say, "DOREA! STAND BACK!"
As Dorea retreats, taking the others with her, I throw the swords down. As soon as the swords stab into the ground, the dark flames spread out, taking all of the Inferi, and even swallowing the Fiendfyre spell, which was losing control.
Within a minute, the Inferi army is dead, and I'm standing next to Dorea again, hugging her and healing her wounds. She had been scratched a few times by the Inferi, and a few of Grindelwald's soldiers had tried attacking her.
I could see that Helena was standing to the side, smiling at me, without a scratch. I smile at her, and nod thankfully, knowing that after defeating Grindelwald's Lieutenants, she had come here to defend Dorea and the Blacks, and helping them in dealing with the Inferi.
"Finally the War is over." Dorea mumbles into my chest, as Cygnus watches with a conflicted look on his face.
Smiling, I simply summon a small box from my pouch and ask, "Now that the war is over, will you, Dorea Black, do me the honour of becoming my wife?"
Dorea cries, tears of joy, and nods, saying, "Yes, you dumb arse. I'll marry you."
She sniffles a bit, and hugs me again, ignoring the ring box. Separating the hug, I kiss her with all my heart, and whisper, "I love you, Dorea."
Dorea kisses me back, and says, "I love you too, Mason."
Smiling at her, I open the box, and put the ring on her finger. It was one I'd had made when I was studying at Medical College, in preparation for this day.
Silver band, with a blue sapphire on it, it was beautiful.
Meanwhile, Grindelwald was arrested by the ICW, and Dumbledore managed to convince them not to kill him. I knew this was going to happen, so I left a gift for him with my kick.
A Psionic blast, which will activate within a year or two, and damage his brain. He will become a vegetable within two years, at most.
Plus, he won't be able to tell any of my Secrets to anyone, as I removed those memories from his brain. Completely removed them, not blocked, or sealed. And I also got all his knowledge.
While his knowledge is impressive, it's mostly related to the Dark Arts, which I don't use much. But, I'll still be able to create counters for anything those spells can do. I even got his special fire spells, which were a bit related to necromancy.
Summoning my Elvish swords, I place them back in the scabbards, and say, "Let's go home now. Dorea, Helena."
As Cygnus opens his mouth to argue, I simply pick Dorea up, and fly into the air. They've already seen me fly anyway. As Dorea squeals in my ears, and holds me tightly, I see Helena Apparating, and joining me in the sky, making everyone ignore her.
The Hydra war is over, and so is the Grindelwald war. Now, only Hitler remains, and we're close to capturing Berlin now, so it won't take long before he's dead.
Life is good.
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A/N: Yes, Grindelwald stayed alive, for now, or Dumbles would have lost his shit and attacked or something. It would have been annoying.
But, he will die within two years.
FINALLY, MY POWER STONES ARE WORKING ON THIS BOOK! I'M ACCEPTING VOTES NOW!!!
Next, Mason has the Elder Wand now. What will he do with it? I'm not telling you.
As for Peggy and Bucky, I have three options.
1. Peggy/Bucky. They marry, live happily ever after.
2. Bucky gets kidnapped by Hydra, because Zola asks them to bring him, as he's someone Zola previously experimented on.
3. Bucky and/or Peggy, agree to be frozen in time until Steve gets woken up again. I don't want to do this though.
Until next time, Tata!
