In 2026, on the playground of Lilac Elementary School, children’s laughter echoed through the air as they played tag, swung on the swings, and chased after stray balls. A very typical recess for everyone there. Being typical wasn't always a good thing though, as one girl always stood out, and not in a good way. A typical day for her was one of constant verbal and physical abuse.

“Freak!”

“Monster!”

“Why don’t you just go away?”

These cruel words, spoken by a group of girls, were something the nine year old girl had to hear everyday. It started as just murmurs about her, but quickly escalated. This group of girls were the main cause of the bullying, but it wasn't just them. Everybody, both young and old, spoke behind the poor girl's back.

The leader of the group, a tall girl with long blonde hair who was sipping on a yellow drink, stepped forward. Her name was Lora. Her eyes, a cold, icy blue, stared down at the nine year old with disdain. Both were the same age, but the difference in both height and strength was evident. Lora kicked her to the floor, and she fell on her side, scraping her arms. She let out a stifled whimper, holding her arm in pain. She had an unmistakable appearance. Pale skin, bags under her eyes, and the most beautifully horrifying jet black wings.

“What did you say, freak? I better not here you whimper anymore or I'll keep kicking you!"

“S...Stop!”

Lora sneered, a twisted smile curling on her lips.

“What’s wrong, monster? Afraid someone might see your ugly wings?”

The other girls laughed. In the world we know as Earth, being different is the biggest crime in the eyes of those around you. This girl, who went by no name, knew that better than anyone. Her wings, the very thing that made her different, were her greatest source of shame. She didn't know why she was born like this. In this world, magic, angels, demons, gods, they were all just human constructs and concepts. Seeing wings on a human was something no one could accept, and so they didn't. Instead, they refused to believe, and they tried as hard as they could to convince themselves that it wasn't real the only way ignorant humans know how. By destroying it.

“No… Please…”

Lora wasn’t satisfied. She reached down, grabbing a handful of the girl's hair and yanking her head up so that she had no choice but to look her in the eyes.

“You’re nothing. You’ll always be nothing. You’re just a freak who doesn’t belong here.”

Tears welled up in the nameless girl's eyes. She wanted to scream and fight back, but she was too scared. The other girls continued to laugh, and suddenly, Lora let go of her hair, letting her fall back to the ground.

"Alright, let's get out of here and leave the monster alone for now."

Lora went back to sipping on her drink and walked away with the rest of the group. As they walked away into the distance, the nameless girl curled up into ball and began sobbing on the ground. She didn't know how she was born. She didn't know why she was attending school. She didn't even know who she was. All she knew was that the girls were right. She clearly didn't belong. Her crying was interrupted by a rubber ball hitting her head. Thinking that the girls had returned, she immediately covered her head, but when no one spoke, she lowered her arms cautiously. She saw a boy running towards a ball that he had dropped. That was most likely the object that hit her.

The boy grabbed the ball and the girl started scooting backwards in fear that the boy was going to notice her wings. She instinctively tried to hide them behind her back, but they were still very visible. The boy didn't seem to care though. He simply grabbed his ball and looked over at her with a concerned expression.

"I think the ball hit you. I'm sorry about that."

She was not expecting anyone to speak to her in a non-aggressive voice, let alone apologize to her. She was frozen there, expecting the boy to say something harsh, but he never did. He walked up and reached his arm out.

"Need help?"

No one had ever offered help to her before, and she didn't actually believe that what was happening was real. She just sat there, looking up at him with a fearful look in her eyes. However, he continued standing there, reaching his arm out. She gulped and slowly reached out her hand to hesitantly grab his, and let him help her up. She was very light, so it wasn't hard for him to lift her up at all.

"There you go."

She wanted to say thank you, but couldn't speak. She had been hurt too many times to dare to use her voice again. The boy tilted his head a bit upon noticing some scrapes on her arm, and her dirty clothing.

"You okay?"

The girl opened her mouth slightly to respond, but no sound was made. She closed her mouth again and simply nodded her head. In this situation, one is expected to lie about being fine even if they are not.

"Okay. But if someone is hurting you or something, you should tell your parents."

This boy was very intuitive. He could read people pretty easily, even at such a young age. The girl decided that it was best to speak, even if it was hard. Her voice was very quite and hoarse.

"I don't have parents... I was taken in by an orphanage, but... they aren't my family."

"Oh... I'm uh... I'm sorry about that. I didn't know."

"It's okay..."

"Mind if I ask for your name?"

She was silent. She truly didn't know.

"I don't have a name."

"What? Everyone has a name."

His words stung. It just made her more confident that she wasn't mean to be here. He saw how her expression darkened, and felt very upset with himself. It wasn't his intention to make her feel bad.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say it like that. Well, how about I just call you Chrona okay?"

"C...Chrona?"

"Yeah. My cat was named Chrona, and it died recently. I really liked the name though. Not saying you are a cat, but you get what I mean. Hehe~"

She had never been called any name by anyone, aside from insulting ones. The name "Chrona" floated around in her mind for a while as she stood there completely motionless, not knowing how to respond.

"Well anyway, tell the teachers or something if you are getting hurt by someone. I don't want you to get hurt. And here. I'm sorry I hit you, so you can take the ball."

He tossed it to her which she wasn't expecting, but she managed to catch it anyway. With that, the boy left, running off. She gasped a bit at his sudden departure and reached her arm out, but he was already out of arm's reach. She just stared as he ran off, as she still had her arm raised out.

Of course, she never told the teachers. She was far too afraid of their reactions. For all she knew, they could react the same way the other girls did.

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Days passed. Then weeks passed. Then months passed. Then years passed. But one thing remained the same throughout all of it. That group of girls never stopped. Every year they were put into the same school she was. And like always, it wasn't just them. Everyone hated the girl who was now named Chrona. People on the streets would give her disgusted glares, as would the teachers, which only made her more sure that telling them was a bad idea.

When she would walk across the street, Lora was there to trip her, with her clique all laughing behind her. During school hours, they would put a bucket of water on top of the door when they knew she was coming, leading to her getting soaked. Sometimes, on a rainy day, Lora would be driving and notice Chrona on the sidewalk and drive over and splash water all over her with her car. They just continued laughing as Chrona's lips would quiver from the pain she felt.

Even in their senior year of high school, it never ended. They would pull her chair out from underneath her, causing her to fall to the ground, and causing everyone to laugh at her expense. And when they weren't directly hurting her, they would fire spitballs at her for what seemed like hours at a time. Her body would tremble from the constant belittlement and abuse.

"Just stop... please..."

Her voice was so weak and soft, but that only fueled their desire to make her suffer even more. Despite their "pranks" being done in many different ways, one thing was consistent, and it was that Chrona knew, every time Lora showed up, she would be drinking that damn yellow drink. How could someone drink something so often and never get bored of it?

When Chrona's anger would build up, there was only one thing that could cause her to smile again. She would walk up to her locker and open it to see a ball. The same ball that boy had given her all those years ago. It reminded her that kindness existed in the world. That, just because she was different, didn't mean everyone had to hate her. The ball gave her hope that maybe one day, all of this would stop. Every time she was harassed by Lora or anyone else, she would look at the ball. It never failed to put her at ease.

One day at school, on what seemed like a normal day, the teacher said something that made Chrona's heart sink.

"Today we will be doing a group project about the periodic table. It's simple. You'll just have to memorize them. Get into groups of two and begin."

It may have been a simple request, but she knew she would be left alone, as she always was. Every single time she had a group project, she was never picked, and only made fun of more. Even if the teacher would assign someone to be with her, that just made her feel worse. It was so embarrassing to be with someone just because the teacher assigned it. And what was worse was that the person was always just as mean to her as everyone else was.

Everyone started standing up and getting into pairs, just like every other year. This year, however, was a bit different. She didn't really pay attention to her class, but there was someone that looked familiar. It was a boy that walked up to her with his papers, ready to start the project.

"Hey, I heard your name is Chrona. I really like that name because I had a cat named Chrona years ago. Wanna work with me?"

Of course! This was the boy who had given her a name. She wasn't the type to react spontaneously, but she nodded quickly.

"Cool."

He pulled a seat out from a desk that was next to Chrona's. He turned over and noticed that she looked a bit familiar to him.

"Do I know you from somewhere?"

She nodded and began to speak in the same hoarse voice she had years ago.

"Y...Yes. You threw a ball, and it landed next to me. When you came to pick it up, you gave me a name."

The way she phrased that was a bit odd, so the boy didn't immediately know what she was talking about, but once it hit him, his eyes widened in realization.

"OH YEAH! THAT WAS YOU?"

She nodded shyly. She didn't know what else to say.

"I can't believe that. It was so long ago. I don't think I ever gave you my name though."

"...No you never did."

"Ah, well I'm sorry about that. My name is Kray."

He reached his hand out for a handshake. She looked over and was extremely hesitant, but shook his hand anyway. Her hands were trembling from fear, but she knew that he wasn't going to hurt her or anything.

Once the class ended, Chrona started heading over to lunch. She thought about the class, and how she might finally, after eighteen years of suffering, have an actual friend. That fact alone was good enough, but what made it better was that it was the person who gave her that ball, and more importantly, gave her a name.

She sat at her lunch table, all alone which was normal for her. She placed her lunch box down. The orphanage would always give her lunches, but they were halfhearted. Even the people at the orphanage never really cared for her. She pulled out a disgusting sandwich that looked half eaten. It consisted of a bunch of different condiments that made absolutely no sense together. It was for all intents and purposes, pure slop, but she ate it every day anyway.

Well, that was unless Lora swatted it out of her hand which she did sometimes, and today was one of those times. The sandwich splatted across the floor and Chrona looked up at her. Tears immediately started welling up in her eyes, and Lora taunted her like she did every time she did this.

"Oh the angel-winged freak is going to cry again. Go back to hell where you belong or whatever."

Chrona started to hyperventilate, so she stood up and attempted to run away, but Lora grabbed one of her wings. This caused her to gasp, and all of the other girls began laughing alongside Lora. Chrona looked over her shoulder to see that Lora was grabbing her with one hand, while her other hand was holding one of those damn drinks. She didn't really notice it before, but all of the other girls drank those stupid drinks as well. Was this their little quirk? Is this what they shared in common? A love for a stupid smoothie? Chrona hated the girls, and in turn, hated those drinks, whatever they were. She hated everyone who drunk them, even if they did her no wrong. Those drinks were what she associated with her life full of misery.

She pulled away from the girls and started running away from them, crying to herself.

"Aww, the monster is scared of humans. How pathetic."

"I think we go way to easy on that little brat."

"Agreed."

She couldn't take it. She felt as if she was about to explode. She quickly ran to her locker, hoping to see that ball again. She had once again met the person who gave it to her, so it would hold even more meaning to her than it did before. It was the only thing that could calm her at this moment.

She opened her locker, and it felt like time went still. All of the loud noises had ceased and there was an absolute silence. The ball had been deflated with a pen stuck in it.

Chrona's heart raced, the pain and years of torment began blending into a singularity of raw emotion. All of this was happening so fast. Why, right when she met someone who might be an actual friend, did they decide to do this? A few feathers fell to the ground as her black wings began to spread.

Lora and the other girls ran up to her and started laughing in her face.

"You actually thought we'd spare your stupid little ball? We aren't dumb you know. We knew you loved that thing. A creature like you doesn't deserve to live anyway. I bet someone like you would turn us all into mindless slaves if you could!"

"Yeah!"

"Just go away and never return!"

The ground beneath Chrona's feet trembled. Her face was emotionless at this point, and she couldn't control it anymore. They were right. She was a monster. She didn't belong in this world. She was truly alone.

Feeling the trembling of the ground, the girls started to back up.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know."

Lora looked at Chrona, her expression turning into a horrified stare as she realized that Chrona really was about to fight back.

“What…what are you…?”

Chrona did not respond. Lora didn't deserve a response. The world simply started shaking more and more. People all around the school started panicking and screaming.

"ANSWER ME YOU FREAK!"

With a single, fluid motion, Chrona flapped her wings.

Everything burned.

The school, the city, the entire planet, was set ablaze. Everyone began burning so badly that they were all horribly disfigured. Lora dropped the cup, letting the drink spill against the floor. She screamed in agony as her skin began melting off of her body. What Chrona didn't know was that her power was so great, her existence was separating the world from its timeline, causing them to become two separate worlds.

Once the separation completed, everything went gray. The world she was now in was a world above the timeline, and two worlds above the realm that held Earth, also known as the Mortal Realm. Due to the shattering of the world, there were also an endless hierarchy of worlds above this one, but it didn't matter. The Mortal Realm reset from the beginning of time. It was now 2035, so when the world reached the year 2035 again, it would be in a stasis, not being able to significantly grow. Technology would relatively stay the same, as would governmental structures.

Still though, the mortal realm did not matter here. All this was, was a completely paused world. Chrona looked around the destroyed school, seeing all of the dead bodies. Even though she had lost her sanity for a moment, she did have enough sense to remember the one person that had ever given her a sense of hope.

Amidst the devastation, there was one person who remained untouched by the flames. A body that laid on the ground as if it were just asleep. It was protected in a cage of frozen time. It was Kray. Chrona had paused him in that final moment, just before the world broke, just before everything fell apart.

Slowly, Chrona walked over to where Kray was. She reached out her hand, and touched his shoulder. Kray blinked, regaining consciousness. There was destruction and dead bodies everywhere, but all he could see was Chrona reaching out her hand to help him up, just like he did for for years ago. She was smiling for the first time. Kray barely knew her, only having had two conversations with her, but there was something about her smile that was familiar to him.

"Kray, I did not belong in that world, and you don't belong in this world. But you can decide if you want to stay in this world or not. I won't be mad if you don't want to."

He didn't really understand what she was saying, but it didn't matter. He could understand what happened well enough to make his decision.

Without hesitation, he took her hand, and wings of his own spread from out of his back.