The ThunderClan Warrior wasn't even sure what time it was. She'd been on Dawn Patrol and then argued with Pinestar. She had been so angry and distraught that she'd ended up where she was without realizing it.
When Nutwhisker had showed up, she'd barely been able to recognize him. That's when everything started going fuzzy and she was speaking without thinking, without it filtering through.
Nightfur remembered a little from before she woke next to Nutwhisker, but a lot of it felt like a bad dream. She couldn't remember what she'd said, but she did remember Nutwhisker's worried expression. She was sure he was terrified at one point.
She didn't have the strength to ask. She almost refused to open her eyes. She could hide from his questions all she wanted, but she'd still have to tell him something.
"I know you're awake." He said tenderly.
She let out a long sign. She should have known that she couldn't pretend to sleep. She opened her eyes and turned her head to face him. "I can't remember." She whispered. It was mostly true. She was trying to stay calm, trying to keep herself from being overwhelmed by her emotions.
She watched him study her, and wondered what he was thinking. She was suddenly nervous about what he'd say and what she'd said. What was he going to tell her?
"You said that you needed to go find your Mother and Father." He finally said "It made no sense, you mother is in StarClan"— she flinched at the reminder — "and your father is back in your camp."
She wanted her parents, the ones that had actually raised her. Without them, her human parents, she probably wouldn't be where she was. She hadn't longed for them since she was injured.
She knew he was looking for an answer to what she'd said yesterday. Her voice was weak when she replied, "Everything went fuzzy just before you arrived."
Nightfur knew he was looking for more than just the vague answer she'd given, but she couldn't give him the answers he wanted without seeming more crazy than she already did.
Nutwhisker sighed and she was positive he knew there was more than she was telling him. "You weren't yourself." He murdered, burying his head in her fur. "I didn't know if you were coming back."
She didn't understand what he meant. Her head tilted to the side, but she didn't ask the question. "I'll always come back." She mewed softly. "I'll always come back for you."
It was probably a dangerous thing to say, all things considered. It just felt… right. It felt like the best thing to say. She didn't know where their relationship was going, or if it was going anywhere at all, but she knew that she wasn't going to be able to survive without him.
Whether they were friends or something more.
"We should get back to our clans. I'm sure they miss us." She didn't want to move. As stiff as she was getting, she was comfortable. She didn't have to answer questions that she couldn't answer.
Nutwhisker looked distraught over the idea. "I don't want to let you out of my sight."
"The Gathering is in a few days." She reminded him gently. "We'll see eachother then."
"We both might not..."
Nightfur purred. "It'll my first Gathering as a Warrior. Pinestar has to take me." Her tone was light, though there was more to it than just her first Gathering as Nightfur.
"I'll be fine," she added, she sounded a lot sturdier than she felt.
He still looked at her worriedly, but didn't protest anymore as she scrambled out from the bush. She touched noses with him before turning and headed back to her camp.
XxXxXx
Nightfur wasn't looking forward to entering the camp. She could just runaway, she was sure they wouldn't miss her and she was sure Nutwhisker would come with her.
The new warrior couldn't ask that of the tom, though. It wouldn't be fair. She knew it couldn't've been that long, but it was probably long enough for her clanmates to start worrying.
The crippled she-cat pushed her way into the camp, realizing at that point that she hadn't made an effort to hide Nutwhisker's scent. At least most only knew ShadowClan's scent in general.
She was far to exhausted to care. She knew she physically exhausted. She kept her head high though. She wasn't going to be ashamed of her relationship. She might hide it, because they'd certainly judge her for it, and she couldn't handle that.
Pinestar narrowed his eyes at her. She ignored him. Kittypets shouldn't be leader. She blinked. Firestar didn't count. He'd left his twolegs to be a ThunderClan warrior. Pinestar was leaving ThunderClan for the life of a house-cat.
Nightfur forced herself to not flinch away as Bluefur and Snowfur touched noses with her before pulling away slightly.
Bluefur's eyes flashed when she recognized the scent on her. The black warrior didn't say anything about whose scent was on her. Neither did the blue or white warrior.
However, Bluefur's nose crincled. "Taking a nap by the ShadowClan border?" She mewed in a slightly accusing tone.
Nightfur almost started backing away from her two littermates. But the clan was just starting to go back to what they'd been doing before she entered. She knew some of them were watching the sisters from the corner of their eyes.
"I—" she started, before Snowfur cut her off. "I think there's a lot that we need to talk about."
The crippled cat swallowed, "There isn't anything to talk about." She lied weakly. Her sister didn't seem to appreciate that comment.
"We haven't talked like we used to since WindClan invaded." Bluefur said in matter-of-factly tone. "We miss talking with you."
Nightfur's pelt ruffled when her sister mentioned WindClan. "We talk all the time." She growled.
"Not like we used to!"
"Because I don't want to talk with you two!"
"That's a load of foxdoug and you know it!"
"We should go elsewhere for this argument." Snowfur chimed in.
Nightfur and Bluefur were heatedly glaring at each other, and she could hear some of their clanmates start whispering, wondering if the two sisters were going to attack each other.
The two finally gave a curt not to Snowfur and the three of them exited the camp.
They padded in a tense silence, making sure none of their clanmates were following. They were in the middle of the territory when Nightfur sat down. Her leg felt like it was pounding in beat with her heart.
"I don't have anything to say." She spat at her sisters.
"We do! And you're going to listen!" Bluefur spat back. "Though StarClan only knows why we even try!"
Nightfur made a point of ignoring her blue sister's words.
Bluefur snarled, and Nightfur knew she was about to say something that she'd probably regret later.
"We're just worried about you." Snowfur interjected softly. "We used to be so much more than just sisters. We were best friends." She sounded hurt.
"Is this an intervention? Because I'm fine, like I keep telling everyone of you mouse-brains!"
"You don't act fine. You don't look fine." Snowfur sighed, settling beside her black sister.
"Well, I am!" She got up and moved, ignoring the hurt in her white sister's eyes, and the anger in her blue sister's. "And we're done with this conversation!"
Why couldn't they just respect that she didn't want anything to do with her family? Because they're my family. She shook the thought off. They weren't family. Her real family was probably worried sick about her.
"Let Pinestar know I'm not returning to camp." She didn't turn to face them when she spoke, padding away.
"But this is your home!" Bluefur protested, running in front of her and stopping. "We're your family. We care about you."
"It isn't my home and you aren't my family."
She saw Bluefur and Snowfur flinch, sorrow in their eyes.
She felt her heart plummet as she walked around them.You didn't want to die for Bluefur she could feel her resolve start to crumble you have successfully broken any sisterly bond with the two of them. But is that what she wanted? It's too late, Nightfur. Was it? You've made your decision, stick with it.
She couldn't take back her words, but could she heal the gaping wound in her heart? It would be better if someone ripped out her heart with their claws. At least then she wouldn't have to feel the pain that her… that Bluefur and Snowfur were feeling.
They'd only wanted to help. And she'd pushed them away. If she tried to repair her damage now it'd probably only make thing worse. She'd give it a few moons, and when — if — she returned to her clan, then she'd try to repair her relationship with them.
She had to cross WindClan territory… but she wasn't a clan-cat anymore. She was terrified of the clan Heatherstar led, but she was more terrified of staying and saying things that would damage her relationship with Snowfur and Bluefur until is was unrepairable. If it wasn't already.
Nightfur had to do this alone. She needed to heal on her own. She needed to find out what had really happened to her as a human. She had to find out why she couldn't go back.
She glanced back at the clans, knowing the clan would worry about her, and she knew Nutwhisker would be furious with her when she returned. He'd be furious that she didn't bother asking if he wanted to go on a quest that would take them far from the clans.
But he'd call her crazy if she told him what she needed to do, what she needed to know.
*nervous sweating* that didn't end how I thought it would. Nightfur has a lot of pent up emotions — from the battle with WindClan to the fact that she's the only one who know what's going to happen — and I think she'd heal a lot better alone than surrounded by others.
As soon as I decide what to name the title of the series of one-shots that fill in the gap between time skips (and what happens in ThunderClan while Nightfur is away [AND PROBABLY LIKE, one or two of them will be set with Nutwhisker]) I'll be publishing them. Out of chronological order.
HELP ME NAME IT. TELL ME WHAT YOU WISH FOR ME TO WRITE/ PUBLISH FIRST.
I probably won't start with her being a kit, but I think there's a lot of information that needs to be shown that I couldn't find a place for. (Translation: I was too lazy to write it at the time)
At this point you can request an OC/known character for Nightfur to come across. Friendly or otherwise!
Next up: Nightfur returning to ThunderClan after a season and a half of being away (it's probably going to take me a little while to write/post because there's a lot of information I want to go over)
Sierra: If Nightfur didn't just destroy her blossoming relationship with Nutwhisker, I'll be sure to mention one of his littermates finding them together at some point.
Snowcrystal of ThunderClan: I'm always worried about posting something that goes pass 'T' and turns into 'M'.
Ran (Guest): I will keep that in mind! I really want her to have kits of her own, but she can't really open up to anyone until she's emotionally healed. Also, yes, Pinestar is a coward.
