ALIBI! | oneshots

OUR LITTLE ARMY BOY - FREE WRITE/PRACTICE

LAE'S DRABBLE!

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— "OUR LITTLE ARMY BOY IS COMING HOME..." -- KATE BUSH
— FREE WRITE, PRACTICE WRITING
— CONTAINS: ANGST, DEATH, THEMES OF VIOLENCE, SUICIDE, MURDER
— OCS

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"Will you be home by the time winter arrives? The cold will be unbearable, even for someone as remarkable as you."

Daniil had always longed for the simple life; a house of straw and a beautiful yard to plant the most colorful of plants in, however, the rural areas were just about as close as the couple could get to that. Nadezhda stared at him with those big, ice blue eyes of hers that left the man breathless each time. She beckoned him to stay through those eyes of hers, and he'd forever curse her for not trying hard enough. Her gaze nearly had him pinned to the low, wood picket fence around their home.

"I am sure of it," Daniil carefully brushed a stray strand of his wife's brown hair behind her ear, letting his palm linger on her cheek and relishing in the love and affection that he never he wouldn't be able to experience in those death-ridden battle grounds. "Sing my songs for me, my love. Sing them every night to our perfect Mila. Praise the Tsar--and may He have mercy on my soul."

Nadezhda smiled fondly at the man she'd always considered her other half, infatuated with his deep brown eyes and just about everything else he carried with him. She even dared to lean into the touch, bringing her hand to the back of his and pressing it to her cheek. "I suppose I shall be reading to Mila in your stead then, will I?"

Daniil revealed a precious bouquet of lily-of-the-valley flowers to his beloved, letting her take it in his hands and admiring the soft giggles that passed her lips at the gesture. "A clever one I chose to marry."

She set them in her pocket. "I am but a fool in comparison to your intellect."

"Now, now," the dark-haired male sighed and pressed his forehead to hers. "There is no proper reason to slander the face, heart, and brain that'd been entrusted to you. I will love them ever so, no matter what nonsensical speech you allow yourself to utter. Do me one last favor, will you?"

She laughed sweetly. "And what favor is that?"

"Love yourself in my stead."

--

"Forward, soldiers--forward at the enemy!"

Daniil panted heavily from the depths of the trenches, clutching his long gun to his chest with both hands. If anything, he felt his arms would be at better use if they were holding up his heart, the organ heavy in his body. He could hear the sounds of soldiers screaming and crying out, the sad whimpers of those breathing their last breaths--he could even see one right next to him. What a pitiful sight it was, the blood seeping through the man's gymnastyorka as he coughed out the rest of the crimson substance through his mouth. He clawed at the soil, the earth just about all over the khaki uniform.

The young soldier found himself being presented with a small photo of what he could only assume was the dying soldier's family, now tainted with the assaulted man's blood. Daniil took it into his ahnds and studied the people within the photo: a young boy, no older than five, stood next to what he assumed was his older brother. The mother of the two wrapped her frail arms around the two, the famine having evidently taken a toll on the mother. To the right of the three stood the father--the dying soldier--proud and rigid.