Once upon a time – y'know, I dunno what that even means, but it's how all good stories start – once upon a time, there was an angel.
Now, angels, they're amazin' things. They do so much for other people, and don' ask much in return. It just so happens that one angel wanted to come down from Heaven an' live with us humans. 'Cuz we really aren't so different, right? Mostly the wings that set us apart. This angel was good at some things and not so great at others, just like we are. It didn't think of bein' an angel as somethin' that was that big of a deal.
The humans, though, had a whole laundry list a'reasons they didn't want the angel around. "Ain't no room in our world for an angel. It does things different, isn't even human – an' it thinks it's better'n us!" But did one person stop for a minute to think, maybe an angel could bring a new perspective? Or that just 'cuz it ain't human don't mean it's less than human? Maybe it even is better than some a'you. 'Course, no one thought any a'those things.
The angel didn't know what to make a'this. It had no reason to think it wouldn't be accepted. Had the gall to think it was worth the same amount a'respect as any human. An' it heard all the BS so often, it started to believe everything they said. Started thinkin' about everything that made it different, an' that those things must be bad. It grew to hate those wings that marked it as not human. It grew to hate itself.
So the angel decided it didn't wanna be an angel no more. Picked up human habits and ways a'speakin', even managed t'hide away its wings. But the angel still wasn't happy. For years, it lived in our world, alone and angry and bitter. Tried its hardest to be just like us humans, but it was always just a little different, a little weird, an' no one wanted anything to do with it. The angel didn't know what it was doin' wrong, what it ever did to deserve any a'this. Didn't know any better, so it thought if it could just stop bein' an angel – that'd solve everything. If it weren't for those wings, it'd be human, and people'd like it. But there wasn't anything it could do. An angel will always be an angel.
'Til one day it got a crazy idea in its head. Without the wings, it wouldn't be an angel, right? So what if it could get rid of 'em? They were already in pretty sad shape. It hadn't been takin' care of 'em, hadn't been cleanin' or groomin' em. Poor things were shriveled down to nothin'. You know how much pain the angel endured every day, abusin' its wings like that, never even stretchin' em? Like nothin' anyone, human or no, should ever have to go through. But if it was human, the angel told itself, it would all be over. The pain, the loneliness. It would finally belong in the human world. It was only a matter a'time before they woulda given out on the angel anyway, it was just speedin' up the process.
One day, though, the angel fell into acquaintance with a group a'people. Years in the human world had made it cynical an' cold, so the angel didn't think much a'them, but turns out these people weren't quite human either. They had tails, or fur; odd things about 'em. They didn't have no one in this world but each other, either, an' when they found out what the angel was, they welcomed it into their group a'misfits. "Look at us," they told the angel as they bandaged its wings. "We got raggedy tails an' natty fur. It was worse before we found each other, though, an' someday your wings'll be big an' beautiful again. Ya jus' gotta take better care a'them. It ain't easy, but we'll help you. Some people ain't gonna like you for what you are, but we do. We do, an' someday you can too."
The angel'd never heard nothin' like this before, never been told it was fine the way it was. Still, it was tough, lettin' its wings out after so long. Kept 'em close at first, didn't wanna get in no one's way or stick out too much. Some days it felt like plucking out all the feathers it had let grow back in. But it learned, wings are easier to take care of when you ain't alone. When the angel couldn't face the world on its own, now it had friends to get it through the bad days. Never had friends before, and it started to like it. Started to like itself again, even.
The group a'misfits, they don' got much. They got each other, and that's what they're livin' for. The angel's got a purpose now, an' one a'these days, its wings are gonna be bigger an' better than ever. It'll be able to spread 'em wide, wrap 'em around its friends to keep 'em all safe an' warm, fly anywhere its heart desires. Maybe it ain't quite there yet, but it's workin' toward it. For now, the angel's happy, somethin' it hasn't been in a long time.
All good stories end with a "happily ever after," right?