illezabeth

Russian Lullaby

Every night you hear her croon
a Russian lullaby.
Just a little plaintive tune
when baby starts to cry.

The girl’s sobs had quietened, her small body too tired to make any more tears, but Natalia didn’t stop stroking her hand over tangled, bloody hair. She wasn’t sure if the motion was comforting. Comfort was not something she was used to giving.

She was singing in Russian. The girl wouldn’t understand the words, but it was the only lullaby Natalia knew. It wasn’t even a real lullaby. She didn’t know where it had come from. None of the girls had known. For all they knew, it was as old as the Red Room itself. Natalia remembered it being sang to her the first night she’d lay, shaking in her bed; remembered singing it to the girls that came after her. Now, she was singing it to another girl, a normal girl, a girl who’d had a family and a clean, normal life stretched out ahead of her. She might have been first girl outside of the Red Room to ever hear it.

It was a small, fragile tune, designed to be hummed so low it could barely be heard. Like the small, fragile girls it was sang to, it had a hidden strength that spoke of endings and the hope for a future that was free.

Natalia sang it until the girl finally stilled beneath her hand, her small lungs releasing one last, frail breath.

Rock-a-bye, my baby.
Somewhere there may be
a land that’s free, for you and me
and a Russian lullaby.

illezabeth

PROMPT: Phil actually snorts. “We’ve had sex in an elevator to maintain cover, and this is where you draw the line?”

DISCLAIMER: The line is not mine, it is from this wonderful fic here.

SUMMARY: Due to circumstances fascilitated by the Goddess of Slash, Phil and Clint are forced to get hot and heavy in an elevator.

illezabeth

Title: 5 Times He. Just. Didn’t. Get. It.

Author: illezabeth

Pairing: Tony/Bruce

Rating: PG-13

illezabeth

PROMPT FROM AVENGERSKINK MEME:

Bruce and Tony are Actual Lab Partners in their physics class. Bruce is awkward about it at first, because Tony is the legendary rich kid who throws parties and whom everyone loves, but Tony is possibly even more awkward about it, since he's had a raging nerdcrush on Bruce since he figured out how smart the dude is.
Then they figure out how well they get on and, well, do science. And possibly make out.
(Click here for original prompt location)

illezabeth

A Bitter Pill

Black silk flirts with milky thighs,

skims slim hips and a slender waist,

falls loosely from a flat chest.

Teeth flash ivory against the slash

of cheap lipstick and kohl- lined eyes stare

 with misery.  

It knots in his stomach, drags

up his spine, and breaks

in his heart. Hands clench into fists

as his eyes screw shut

against the sting of tears.

Violence rips his frustration open; yanks

the silk until it lies a puddle at his feet.

His nails scrape cruelly down his face streaking

paint and powder into a Pollock canvas.

The stark truth shows in the mirror,

and as liquid black slowly stripes

his ruined cheeks, self-revulsion,

like tar, bubbles as it boils

beneath his breastbone.