No matter how hard she tries, Nightcloud doesn't understand.
She crouches amongst the heather, keeping her ears flat and her tail out of sight as she watches her prey. The rabbit is completely unaware, mindlessly nibbling at the grass, blind to the danger it is in.
Rabbit-brained, indeed.
Her claws slide out and blood rushes in her ears as she prepares to spring.
She bunches her muscles, and then the gorse bush a few fox-lengths ahead of her rustles. A dark shape rushes past her, blocking her sight for a moment. When her sight clears, the rabbit is lying limp on the ground, with Crowfeather standing over it.
She steps out of her hiding place, and sees the surprise—the startlement?—in his eyes as he stares back at her.
"Good catch", she purrs approvingly.
Crowfeather keeps staring, but his gaze seems to look straight through her.
"I'd rather have a plump mouse instead", he replies.
Nightcloud doesn't understand.
WindClan doesn't eat mice.
It is cold at night on the windswept moorland, and WindClan's nursery isn't like those of the other Clans. It's less sheltered, more exposed to the skies, to StarClan. But Nightcloud doesn't mind. When she gazes at her tiny son, sleeping quietly in their nest, she feels warmer than she ever has before. Everything is perfect.
Well, almost perfect.
She turns to Crowfeather, her tail twitching with excitement. "I've thought of a name for him. Breezekit. What do you think?"
Crowfeather lifts one paw and licks it slowly. He doesn't look at her.
"Call him whatever you want." He does not sound excited.
Nightcloud doesn't feel warm anymore, and she doesn't understand.
Everything is not perfect.
Nightcloud claws frantically at the soil. Breezepaw and the ThunderClan apprentice Lionpaw were hunting when a den collapsed, burying them. Her son, the most precious thing in her entire world, is buried beneath the earth, and if she does not free him fast enough then he will die. Crowfeather is beside her, also digging furiously, for once showing interest in his son, and she is glad he is there.
"I can feel him!" Jaypaw, Lionpaw's brother, calls out.
Crowfeather drags Breezepaw out, and Nightcloud's heart stops. He isn't breathing.
Leafpool pulls Breezepaw's jaws apart, and Jaypaw removes the soil stuck in his throat.
Breezepaw breathes, and so does Nightcloud.
"Thank you, Leafpool", Crowfeather murmurs, and something in his voice makes bile rise in Nightcloud's throat.
Jaypaw saved Breezepaw, not Leafpool. So why is Crowfeather thanking her?
Nightcloud doesn't understand.
Nightcloud listens as Squirrelflight speaks with Crowfeather. The Tribe of Rushing Water is in trouble and Squirrelflight is trying to gather the cats who helped them the first time to go back and help them again. Nightcloud twitches her whiskers uncertainly. She doesn't know what to think about this plan. But Onestar seems to agree with it, as he tells Crowfeather to go, and to take Breezepaw with him.
As the group is preparing to leave, Nightcloud presses herself against her mate. "Take care", she murmurs.
Crowfeather draws his tongue across her ear in response, but he does not look at her, and Nightcloud doesn't understand.
"Leafpool is our mother, and Crowfeather—yes, Crowfeather of WindClan—is our father."
These are the words of the ThunderClan warrior Hollyleaf, and Nightcloud is stunned speechless. She cannot think, cannot even begin to understand what is happening.
"It's not true!" Crowfeather yowls. "My loyalty is only to WindClan, and I have no kits other than Breezepelt."
He glances at her then, and his voice sounds so firm, so certain, that Nightcloud does not know what to believe.
She doesn't understand. She has never understood.
It is the middle of the night, and they are alone, just the two of them, in a hastily-built nest out in the open. StarClan watches over them, their light shining down upon them, leaving silver stripes across Nightcloud's fur.
Crowfeather crouches over her, holding her scruff between his teeth. His body feels warm against hers, his breath hot against her ear, and Nightcloud tries to enjoy this.
They have not spoken of the night of the Gathering. Some of their Clanmates asked questions, but Crowfeather insisted that the ThunderClan cats had been lying and Nightcloud is content to believe him. He is a WindClan warrior, her Clanmate, her mate, the father of her kit. She will believe his words over the words of cats from an enemy Clan.
He breathes deeply, biting her scruff harder, and Nightcloud gazes up at Silverpelt. The stars are so bright, so dazzling. The half-moon looks beautiful, with not a cloud in sight to disturb it, because this is so right. They were both born to WindClan. Their kit has pure blood. They belong together.
Nightcloud feels some relief. Somehow, they will work things out. Through faith in StarClan all things are possible, and StarClan approves of their family. He is with her now, after all. He chose her. They belong together. This is how things were meant to be.
"Crowfeather...", she sighs, closing her eyes.
He goes limp, his body draped across her back. His breath tickles her ear. She almost purrs.
"Leafpool...", he whispers.
Nightcloud's eyes fly open, and although she is facing away from him Crowfeather seems to realise, as he scrambles hastily off of her. Nightcloud jumps to her paws and faces him.
"Nightcloud, I—"
He starts to speak, but there is nothing left to say, and so he falls silent. His normally blank eyes are wide with horror as he looks at her—really looks at her—for the first time.
And finally, finally, Nightcloud understands.
AN: Nightcloud is treated appallingly in my opinion, both by other cats around her and by the Warrior Cats/Warriors fandom as a whole. Sure, she's grumpy and short-tempered, but look at what she has to put up with every day and see if you wouldn't be too. Her mate is neglectful and abusive to her and their son, forcing her to have to fill the role of both mother and father to Breezepelt. She gets constantly dragged into the Crowfeather/Leafpool drama, which she had no hand in causing and therefore should not constantly have to have haunting her life. Crowfeather dislikes her and Breezepelt and spends all his time longing for Leafpool and/or Feathertail instead, despite Leafpool being the one who destroyed his reputation and Nightcloud being the one who enabled him to regain some of it. For these reasons, I have a lot of sympathy for Nightcloud, and while I'm not particularly a fan of her, I do feel that she does not deserve the amount of hate she gets.
Please read and review. Constructive criticism is appreciated, but please do not criticise just because you dislike Nightcloud and/or ship Crowfeather + Leafpool.