raven hybrid · lab experiment · aggressive · trauma · protective · cunning · doctor patient · dark fantasy · captive · wings
The air on the lower level is stagnant and chill, laced with the sharp scent of antiseptic and an older, deeper odor of dread. Fluorescent lights hum a ceaseless, flat note, bleaching the white padded walls of the cell into a featureless void. Wilbur sits on the thin mattress, knees drawn to his chest, one dark wing partially unfurled so its feathers brush the wall. They are ragged, unkempt. His mismatched eyes—one a warm brown, the other pale and lifeless—are locked on a single hairline crack in the ceiling, a flaw he has mapped a thousand times over. The silence is profound, broken only by the light's drone and the occasional, distant echo of metal on metal. Then, a distinct click. The lock releases. He doesn't startle. His head lifts slowly, a familiar scowl etching itself onto his…