I highly suggest you read this on AO3 (Archive Of Our Own) (Under same name) instead since AO3 fully supports indents which this fic was written with, and blank lines, both of which makes the story much more visually appealing. But reading it there also makes it much easier to read in the long run, instead of it just being the wall of text it is here. Just looking at the story here makes me feel sad down to the core of my being.

I'll keep updating here because I know there are some people here that don't touch AO3 but just know that how you read it here isn't how it's supposed to read.

Thank you.

There is art for this chapter, it can only be viewed on DA Tumblr or AO3. View my bio.

[Chapter Two] HYBRID - FLIGHTLESS

Simmons couldn't fly and it was a long time before he had sat down and fucking acknowledged it. His entire fledging was waiting until he wasn't a fledgeling, waiting for that first flight, that first take off that made him an adult.

But it had never happened, he'd just sat around reading and learning instead because no matter what he tried he never made it more than a few feet off the ground. It took a broken arm before he decided that maybe this was it, he just wasn't going to fly.

Did that technically still make him a fledgeling? Still fledging and twenty-two. That's… Not something he wants to think about.

He was a Flightless Crow-Raven Hybrid with a base education and no head starts in life. Simmons is still sure that even if he did have a higher education it wouldn't get him anywhere anyway, nobody will hire a regular Hybrid never mind one that's as pointless as him.

What kind of avian can't fly? That was the thing that made them, them.

What a sad, sad life he was in for.

So, when nowhere else would take him, he went to the military. One of the few places that legally wasn't allowed to discriminate the Flightless or Hybrids.

If nowhere else wanted him he'd force the military to take him or he'd cry prejudice.

Dick move Dick.

But it had worked though. In an attempt to fill up their quota list he'd been accepted almost instantly. He hated how he'd been put down into a statistic again.

At least this time it had got him somewhere.

Moving up in the world.

Take that bitches.

….

Here he was, everything finalised and his training squadron set. He'd also finished his basic training, or the basic training to prepare you for the basic training? God, he didn't want to think of the week that was literally all just repetition of ranks and how to salute correctly.

Currently, he was just waiting around in a cold room at the edges of the temporary station. The hanger bay was next door with the engines of ships taking off and entering clear to the ears of everybody waiting with him.

Waiting, with a bunch of Flightless.

Flightless that were all much higher rank than him so when they stared him down he held his tongue. Not worth stirring up an argument with the bunch he was going to walk into a plane with. Emu's were also notoriously violent so Simmons definitely wasn't going test them.

But at least there was one person like him.

Round wings, curved talons, black feather masks around the eyes, he was certainly a type owl. With his head resting against the wall he was sleeping soundly, somehow ignoring the twittering of the Flightless around them.

He had a sling and hike around his right wing, hospitals only do that when the bone has been damaged so something had obviously happened to this owl. Wings were pretty sturdy Simmons thought as he remembered all his failed flights over the years. He couldn't imagine what would do that to a wing, how much it had to have hurt, especially something that garnered a complete hike, tying it completely to the back.

Immovable.

Owl had a scar too, but certainly not as new as his damaged wing. It ran over his left eye down the bridge of his nose then over his cheek with a small nick on the neck. One long slice from either a knife or talon, it was fascinating. Maybe Owl had a penchant of hurting himself?

That would be something new, something interesting to watch, observe.

The sound of the door to the hanger rattling and slamming open startled everyone out of their seats.

Even Owl in the corner was now awake and at least appeared to be paying attention. He's probably exhausted Simmons noted, owls simply weren't meant to be up at these early hours. He bet he hadn't slept all night per normal and now has to stay awake for a transfer.

He's happy he's not him right now.

'Up and at em' guys, your flights ready. Hanger bay 2, ship 11-A, pilots already geared to go so ya' got me greetin' you 'nstead. Simmons walk with me.'

Instantly his ears prick up.

Still confused he stood where he was as the Flightless walked by, glancing at him out the corner of their eyes. Even Owl had given him a side glance an attempt at a smile.

He followed her a little way behind the rest of the group. Glancing down at her wings, fluff around her neck, and lack of hair feathering immediately made him more nervous.

Vulture.

'Sergeant says to catch you up on a few things, you at least good on what squad you goin' tah?'

Simmons thought about it for a moment, 'Uhh yeah, Squad two-four-four-three Planet-Tristen Base, twenty-six other trainees going with me, half are noc's half are duis. That's about it, sorry.'

A ships engine started up to the right him filling his ears with sound the roaring of flames. The previously quiet sounds of the hanger suddenly sounded so much louder. He tried not to make his cringe noticeable but Vulture still narrowed her eyes at him when his wings twitched tighter.

She had an earpiece on and her eyes were shifting, her attention was at least divided.

Good.

'M'kay neat, the rest is about the actual flight. S' gonna' be a long one, first yer stoppin' off at a ship just outa' Earthen territory to drop these Flightless off then you'll be on yer way with Owl. Yer not goin' with tha' rest of yer team cause you've got extra checks and medical forms an' shit to do before'and.'

Simmons gave a hum of confirmation as he stepped into the back of the ship. This was normal stuff then; extra medical forms were expected and they probably needed more time and effort to work out a way to get him and Owl through checks and travel, especially with his… Disability.

The Flightless were already buckling up and a few had already brought the security bars down over their heads.

Owl was one of them.

'Righ', and if Owl doesn't know tell 'im the same thing, he's been in bases 'ospital for a while so e's well outta the loop at this point. Oh, sergeant also said you hadn't got yer' tags yet.'

The pieces of metal hit him right in the face making him jolt, he caught them before they fell to the ground. By the time Simmons had looked back up, she'd already brought out her pad and turned away from him, flicking through various messages and chatting quickly on her earpiece.

Vulture hadn't even looked back at him when she started talking again, 'Kay, so I've gotta' escort a ship down from fuckin' Moon Base-8, 'parently one of the passengers is done in fuckin' 'ead. See you never Hybrid.' …

He narrowed his eyes, wanted retort, fuck you bitch, but she'd already started walking away so he guessed that was that. No point in drawing more attention to himself by shouting anything.

As satisfying as that would be.

The only seat left was opposite Owl near the cockpit door, the very front of the ship. The simple walk there past the Flightless made his skin crawl. When he sat down, pulled the bar over his head and finished buckling up all he got was venomous stares from Flightless and lidded tired ones from Owl.

Now, this is just fucking depressing.

There goes the idea that maybe he'd talk to a few avians on the ship. Nope, awkward silence all the way he guesses.

The ramp to the back of the plane started to wind up and the door slid down. When the engines started to hum the feeling before returned, the… Uneasiness. Its thrums could be felt through the floor so quickly his talons were raised and placed on the bar under the chair. That helped slightly, at least.

You'll have to look at them eventually you know.

He wrapped his right wing around himself when the ship started to accelerate and gain altitude, the black feathers making for a good curtain. At least he didn't have to see the others staring at him anymore, plus they wouldn't see his nervous tics.

Here we go,

The tags.

Focus on these instead of ship exiting the atmosphere…

HYBRID -

FLIGHTLESS

It started here he guessed.

The word HYBRID being the largest thing printed on his tags, placed in a way so it would be the first thing anybody would see. It was eye-catching as possible, even raised higher than the other information.

The word FLIGHTLESS was only slightly smaller beside it. Grouping him in with them.

Warn others of his fucking impurity and disability.

He had expected this.

It's okay.

But he still hated to look at it, knowing he'd have the wear this around his neck, even if it was concealed under his uniform.

He hated how he wasn't a luckier Hybrid, one that could still pass as one species or another, no he had to get the perfect fifty-fifty. Voice and caws to low and raspy, height too tall, a diamond-shaped tail, and feathers too dark to be any type of crow, even less a hooded one. But his feathers are too short, wings the wrong shape, and talons too blunt to be raven.

Stuck in the middle.

He despised it.

When he'd filled out the forms to join he couldn't just lie, anybody with fucking eyes would see through it right away. There was simply no point, avians who'd lied about their species would always find it biting them in the tailfeathers later anyway. Simmons had watched enough films to know that, plus the many real-life examples that's been forced onto the news over the years.

He couldn't say he could fly either, that'd just be stupid.

He had to put down what he was and simply buckle up for the way he was going to be treated. He hadn't known if he would be treated better or worse here than out in the real world.

With these tags, he was regretfully starting to realise that it would probably be the latter.

He didn't want to look at them anymore nor put them around his neck, instead shoving them into a breast pocket.

Simmons pulls his wing down slightly and tries to subtly peak over the top.

The sounds of the ship and other avians slowly started to seep into his ears. Some had their helmets on and were quietly chatting on their comms, others were reading from pads. The penguin next to the cockpit door was even drawing.

Could the silence of vast space also make noise?

…

You're wringing your hands again Richard.

You're embarrassing me.

Stop.

Owl.

Owl?

Owls eyes were staring intently at his. This guy had such creepy golden eyes, the black feather mask made them stand out all the more whilst also making him look like a fucking racoon.

Simmons had only caught it out the corner of his eye, and now they were stuck in a weird stare-off.

Eventually, he decided, nope, too weird for me and lowered his wing completely, tucking it oddly behind his neck, also ow, and finally turned fully towards Owl.

He started off with a low voice trying not to draw attention from the others, 'Did you want to ask me something Owl?'

Owl's round eyes somehow widened even more as he flicked his gaze away, 'You talking to me?'

'… We're on a ship full of Flightless and I called you Owl. Who else would I be talking to?' A few of the Flightless' eyes turned their way, but they seemed to mostly not care.

Simmons swallowed.

'Holy shit you guys do have eyes!' Simmons jolted backwards. Somehow in the two seconds he'd taken to observe the rest of the ship this fucking Owl had fully leaned over and was once again looking him directly in the eyes. Embarrassment from before completely gone.

Did- Why- Was he embarrassed in the first place? Everyone's looking at them.

Seriously… What… the fuck?

Giving it a few seconds to actually comprehend what the fuck Owl had just said, and trying to ignore the eyes of the other avians, eventually, his words came back to him, 'Were you somehow of the opinion, that crows did not in fact, have eyes?'

'Ughh, no I don't mean like… Eyes eyes, I mean like… The fucking… You've got brown eyes but black eyes instead of white so shits really hard to see and I can't tell where you're looking. You know?'

He only managed to mouth out a what before thinking that, nah, he's just not up to dealing with this today. So, he did the first thing he could think off and simply pulled his right wing back around him, blocking out the world again.

'Oh, how fucking mature of you,' Owl stopped like he expected some sort of retort before realising it wouldn't be coming, 'Damn fucking crow.'

….

Damn fucking crow.

'C'mon we know you're in there!' He peeked over the edge of his window looking down at the boy, a little swift by the looks of it.

There were others with him, a vulture, a girl was there, she was an eagle of some sort, there was an older bright red parrot too.

An emu.

A Flightless.

Useless wastes of space.

What's the point of an avian who can't fly?

There was no point to them.

This wasn't right, everything was mismatched, you're supposed to stay with your own species, they're the only ones that would understand you for you.

'We know you don't go to the same school but you must be really lonely!' The girl shouted up, cupping her mouth trying to sound louder.

'Yeah, you haven't come out at all in the month you've moved here!' The parrot had a deep voice.

They're not going away even though he was ignoring them. Would they go away if he asked?

'I'm not allowed to talk to other children, please go away!'

The one who spoke up started again, 'Oh, c'mon dude we're just talking through the window, we can see you, you know! Are you sure you don't want to at least talk‽'

He stood up further so they could see him more clearly before sliding the window up and shouting out again, 'I can't come out right now, sorry!'

'If you're busy now we don't mind if you want to come out later if you want! We're going to be out in the field and forest all day!'

Richard wants to do that, other avians want to talk to him. They look really nice.

Maybe… 'Richard,'

Father was standing in the doorway his wings blocking the entrance.

The escape.

'You know I didn't want you talking to the other children. Look, they've got a Flightless with them too, you know we don't talk to their kind. I thought you knew that already, you're making the both of us look bad, again.'

Richard grit his teeth together as he turned back towards the window, the children had just started to walk away.

Talking among one another, smiling, laughing–

'Hey!'

They turned back towards him, he made sure to look directly at Emu, he was almost shrinking in his gaze. The others shifted too once they realised where he was looking.

'Don't dare come back! We don't associate with your kind.'

They gaped, maybe they didn't know he was Flightless? No, of course, they knew.

Why didn't they care?

'Goodbye! Please don't talk to us until you decide to come to your senses and get rid of the Flightless!'

'Hey! Come back! You damn fucking crow! You don't talk to him like th-'

He slammed the window down, surprised that the glass didn't crack with the force. Quickly he drew the curtain back over too.

'Good, Richard. You've made me proud. Maybe they'll come to their senses too one day.'

When he turned around away from the window the tears in his eyes were clear, the sniffling and tight throat only made him feel worse. They'd looked so happy, and then they'd looked at him…

Warm arms and wings enveloped him and suddenly he was sniffling into his father's neck.

'Oh hey, please don't cry Rich, you did really well.'

'I know father, they just looked really angry and –' Father hushed him holding him tighter. When he pulled back Richard looked into his black eyes and saw the sadness there too. He brushed his thumb over Richards tear-stained cheek.

'Hey, how about I take you to the bookshop in Marley town, you know, the one you really like? I'll buy you any book you want this time, would you like that?'

Still sniffling and with a quiet voice he responded, 'Yes please, I'd really like that, could I get that storybook I wanted, the one with the Swan and the pirates?'

Father stood back up and closed his wings again, still holding Richard's hand. 'Did I saw any book or what? C'mon if we go fast we'll get there before they're closed.'

He smiled, 'Yeah.'

Simmons' discrimination and hatred towards the Flightless is bad and don't worry he's called out on that shit later.

Hey, I might as well put this here but I was in the Air Cadets for a bit when I was younger, Squadron 2443 if you want to look it up or something idk. I actually still know how to do basic marches and formations and shit. My social anxiety and stuff started to really swell around the same time. Eventually, it just got too nerve-wracking for me to continue and it was starting to affect my overall health so I had to stop. (Also, that's literally the extent of my military knowledge and it's not even the same fucking branch or country that I'm trying to write and also this is in the fucking future so sorry if I screw things up I'm trying my best here.)

How do I end this chapter? Fukin flashback dude, do it, do a flashback.