antebellum [t. riddle]

bonus ii: all the presidents men

i will not end this letter by imploring you to reach within yourself and look for some lost bit of humanity. i know that you are too far gone. instead i ask you to consider this:

one day, your ignorant ideology will give birth to an even more extreme and authoritarian version of your beliefs, and one day, even you will become too moderate for your rapidly radicalizing underlings. soon, your band of sycophants will realize that even you have a limit to what you'll allow, and when you try to regain control of the puppets, your head will be the next on the chopping block. 

you do not appear to realize that many in your circle do not truly align with your beliefs— you simply provide them with an opportunity in which they can commit all the murder they'd like. 

 in your death, from your ashes will rise another who will be far more powerful and have far more impact than you ever even dreamt of. and this cycle of destabilized society will continue on until the portion of us who has always rebelled against disorder and anarchy regain power and restore our society to what it once was. you will go down as a man whose own regime collapsed on top of him, because that is what has happened in the past, and history always repeats itself. 

there is no balance— no order in your ideology. and that is why even if you win, you will inevitably lose. i cannot wait for the day you are brought down; whether it be by wand, by knife, or by nature. 

i dream every night of how the world will rejoice at your demise. 

•••

madam president,

i must say how pleased i am to hear from you. i believe from the bottom of my heart that open communication channels between my organization and the rest of the world are key to preventing the unneeded deaths of our magical brethren. but you and your press have shut me out, and as a result, miscommunication and ungenerous interpretations of my message have run rampant. however, the past is the past, and i am quite glad to finally be given the opportunity to speak to you directly.

the first thing i noticed in your letter was that you wrote to me through unofficial channels— your personal offices rather than from macusa. though, somehow, i suspect it was written in your office. if i receive a response to this letter, i'd love to know if my assumption was correct. there is no doubt in my mind that you receive and read every other letter i send you; perhaps you'll continue on with ignoring my attempts, but if not, please, do tell.

as for your more colorful words, i must remind you that the threat of arrest has never dissuaded me before. you can tout claims of my future all you like, but the message has always been beyond me. i am first and foremost a populist, and i believe in the will of the people. the only 'murders' as you say, that i facilitate are of those who stand in the way of the peoples' will. i will not grieve the lives of those who wish to take rights from my magical brethren. 

now, for our matter of greatest importance.

the agent. i am certain she murdered three of my envoys on macusa premises. perhaps you should ask albus if you are at all uncertain on that matter. interestingly, i've seen absolutely no coverage on the break in, nor on the deaths in the capital. though, i should not be surprised— you have never run on a platform of free press. and you have the gall to name me a tyrant.

i am nothing if not thorough, seraphina. do not doubt that. i could execute a civilian publicly every day until you either have to give her up or resign, and then i'd ensure your successor would hand her right over to me. 

but— that is not how i choose to act. i've never claimed to be a madman who murders on a whim. i have said time and time over that my every action has a purpose, and that any blood spilt as a result is for the greater good of our society.

as leaders of the free world, you and i, i feel that it is our responsibility to be honest with our constituents and act in ways that truly represent the needs of the people. how would your citizens feel knowing that spies, whose homes are on different continents, roam through their homes and businesses and governments? how would other nations feel knowing you do the same, with and without their permission?

where is she, seraphina? this recent reign of terror can be over with just one address. 

she's a security threat, as i'm sure you are well aware, to both you and i. the claim that macusa is what is protecting her from me is entirely ridiculous. we both know that it is her own individual talents that temporarily evade me. what i cannot seem to figure out is why she continues to provide macusa information when it is clear enough to me that there is no passion in her work. 

i would bet anything that i could turn her.

as for how i sleep, i assume the same way you do. 

i want her gone, and when i find her, i will not be lenient.

heavy is the head that wears the crown, they say, 

gellert grindelwald