Author's Note: I really love the tragic and ultimately devastating story that is Albus Dumbledore's past. Here's just a short 500-word drabble that I wrote to go with a picture I drew today...I'm a terribly huge Gellert / Albus fan, so please excuse my obvious adoration for them both. Such a sad pairing!

Albus Dumbledore trudged up the desolate corridors of the enormous wizarding prison Nurmengard, climbing higher and higher until he finally reached the uppermost chamber, barely out of breath. When he saw him, he almost couldn't believe what six months had done to his once-handsome features. Indeed, Gellert Grindelwald looked beyond mad; his once beautiful curly hair was matted and long, the beginnings of a rather crude beard peppering his dirty, crazed face. His eyes widened immediately upon spotting his vanquisher, narrowing dangerously.

"Dumbledore," the broken man hissed, his voice hoarse.

"Grindelwald," Albus greeted softly, gaze dispassionate.

“Come to gloat, have you?” Grindelwald spat, clutching at the bars of his cell with scarred hands. “That you have finally felled the most powerful Dark Lord this world has ever seen?”

“No,” the wizard revealed quietly. “I simply wished to visit you.” One last time, he completed within the confines of his head.

The prisoner’s eyes stared suspiciously up at his former friend and lover, seeing nothing but open honesty. “Albus,” Grindelwald finally breathed, relief coating his voice. “Albus, I knew it. Have you come for me?” The crazed look returned to his haggard features, an enormous smile overtaking his bruised face. “Together, you and I would be unstoppable! I knew you would come to your senses sooner or later, Albus, I knew it!”

“No,” Dumbledore repeated once again in the same melancholy tone. “I have not come to release you, Gellert.”

The man’s face immediately shuttered, face twisting into a horrible snarl. “You fucking traitor!” he screamed, “You miserable double-crossing—“ here he choked, rant dissolving into a bout of wet, rasping coughs, shuddering against his white-knuckled grip, head bowing as sickness plagued his lungs.

“Come to give me the Kiss, then?” he asked harshly once he’d recovered enough for speech, peering up hatefully at Albus from his long fringe.

“Of sorts,” Albus admitted quietly, slowly dropping to one knee so he could see his old friend eye-to-eye. With an unceasingly gentle hand, he cupped Grindelwald’s wasted face through the bars and leaned in for one last, chaste meeting of lips. The prisoner was too stunned to react in any way, only realizing what had transpired when Dumbledore had already pulled away and rose to his feet, turning slowly and walking away.

“Don’t you turn your back on me!” Gellert Grindelwald roared, snapping out of his shock. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

The other appeared not to have heard, continuing on his way with the same deliberate, unchanging pace.

“Dumbledore!” the prisoner screamed hoarsely. “Dumbledore, stop! Don’t leave me here!”

The wizard’s footsteps had begun to fall away, his from no longer visible as he’d turned a corner.

“Albus, please!” Gellert tried one last time, voice cracking halfway. “ALBUS!”

But the man was already gone.