A/N: Hello, hello! This is a sequel to Brewing Storm - Rainshade. As with my other Warriors fanfic series, you don't necessarily have to read Rainshade ahead of time (all fics planned for this series can be read as stand-alone stories), but if you're ever planning on reading it, you should do it before you read this! This will spoil almost everything that happens in Rainshade!

Rookstar could remember the day he first laid eyes on little Rainkit.

She was a helpless scrap of fur back then. Of course, all of the kits were, but Rainkit was the smallest kit in the litter, and if it weren't for Brightsplash's determination, she wouldn't have got any milk. Brightsplash was darling, taking care of Rainkit despite Rookstar's warnings.

"She's just a kit," Brightsplash said. "She's young and innocent. How could she ever do those things? They're just nightmares, Rookstar."

But a leader's dreams are rarely just nightmares, and Rookstar dreamed every night of the terrible things that Rainkit would grow up to do. Stormkit, to, a little, but mostly Rainkit.

"Why are you trying so hard to save her?" Rookstar asked one day. "Just leave her at the edge of the den, and she won't be strong enough to crawl over and get milk. It's not killing her, Brightsplash, it's not against the warrior code."

"Because she's my kit," Brightsplash said fiercely. "You're not a heartless monster, Rookstar. You know how it feels to have a cat's lives in your paws!"

Rookstar was the leader of the ThunderClan. All he had to do was order Brightsplash to abandon Rainkit. But looking into Brightsplash's eyes, watching her try her hardest to get Rainkit moving and drinking milk, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Rookstar hated that there was even one cat in the Clan who could do that to him, who could play on his feelings and convince him not to do something. It made him feel vulnerable.

The moons passed. The kits were all apprenticed. Rookstar's nightmares slowly receded. He was starting to believe Brightsplash, that they were just figments of his imagination.

But then, one night, Rookstar had another vicious nightmare. It was the same as the others - Rainpaw and Stormpaw illegally crossing borders, Rainpaw attacking Rookstar and running away, and Rainpaw throwing her sister Lightningpaw into the gorge, but there was a twist at the end. Brightsplash was surrounded by rival warriors. And it was all Rainpaw's fault.

Rookstar wasn't sure how he knew it, really, but something in his gut just told him that it was Rainpaw who put Brightsplash in danger in his dream. He woke up furious, and he stomped over to confront Rainpaw.

She was eating a mouse with her siblings, Stormpaw and Lightningpaw. Rookstar snarled at her.

"What's got you in a bad mood?" Stormpaw said, flicking his tail.

"Rainpaw, where's Brightsplash?" Rookstar hissed.

"She's-" Stormpaw started.

"I'm talking to Rainpaw!" Rookstar snapped at him.

"She went out hunting near the SkyClan border," Rainpaw said. She must have seen Rookstar's angry expression, because she added, "Honest. That's what she told us, Rookstar, I didn't do anything wrong!"

Near the SkyClan border.

Attacked by rival warriors.

Oh no.

Rookstar raced out of camp. He numbly heard Rainpaw shouting, "Am I in trouble?" but he shoved that far, far, far into the back of his mind, because the only important thing in his world now was Brightsplash.

In a matter of minutes, Rookstar picked up the sound of cats fighting. He pushed himself harder, finally bursting into a clearing.

It was like his nightmare.

Brightsplash was surrounded by SkyClan warriors.

The moment the warriors saw him, they scampered away. Rookstar slowly crumpled to the ground. Brightsplash's dark coat, almost as black as Rookstar's, ordinarily only had a single white splatter on her chest, a "bright splash". But now her neck was red with blood.

"Brightsplash, no," Rookstar gasped. He was aware of some mangled sound coming from his throat, a mixutre of a cry, shout, and roar, but for some reason he couldn't hear it.

"I'm," Brightsplash panted, "sorry... Rookstar."

"What happened?" Rookstar demanded.

"Chasing... a pheasant," Brightsplash managed to get out. "Rainpaw... wanted... pheasant meat... crossed b... border..."

Rookstar buried his head into Brightsplash's neck fur, partly for comfort and partly to stop the bleeding. Tears slid down his face, and he couldn't stop them, and suddenly he was sobbing right in front of Brightsplash.

Brightsplash made Rookstar forget forget that he was leader.

Brightsplash could convince Rookstar to do anything.

Only Brightsplash could make Rookstar break down and cry.

Rookstar waited and waited. The only thing more unbearable than the thought of watching Brightsplash die was the thought of not being there for her final moments, so even though it was long, and it was painful, and his heart felt like it was being clawed into two, he stayed by Brightsplash's side. Finally, when Brightsplash's fur turned ice cold, he tore himself away from her and made his way back to camp.

"Rookstar!" Whitetuft yelped when he walked into camp. "What's wrong? What happened to your face?"

"Brightsplash," Rookstar said. Deep breaths. Gotta stay strong for the Clan.

"What happened?" Redpaw, Whitetuft's apprentice, squeaked. "Is Brightsplash okay?"

Whitetuft and Redpaw were ThunderClan's medicine cats, and Redpaw adored Brightsplash. He had been born a little before Rainpaw and her siblings, and Brightsplash was like a second mother to him. Breaking the news was not going to be fun.

"She accidentally crossed the SkyClan border," Rookstar managed to get out. "There was a patrol there. They didn't... She didn't have a chance."

"Did you get hurt?" Whitetuft said.

"No," Rookstar said, slowly swishing his tail back and forth. "Just Brightsplash."

And it's all Rainpaw's fault.

My dream came true. All of my dreams are going to come true. Rainpaw's a menace, and she doesn't deserve to be a ThunderClan cat!

"Where's Rainpaw?" Rookstar asked.

"In the sandy hollow," Whitetuft said. "Why?"

Rookstar ignored him. He wheeled around and sprinted towards the hollow, not bothering to turn around when Whitetuft yelled "Wait!" Nothing was going to stop him from punishing Rainpaw.

"This is your fault!" Rookstar burst when he got to the hollow. "This is all your fault!"

Rainpaw was play-fighting with Lightningpaw, their mentors watching from the fray. The two apprentices looked up curiously.

"Brightsplash was chasing a pheasant for you," Rookstar said, spitting out the word like it was poison.

"Me?" Rainpaw questioned.

"Yes! You deserve to be banished from ThunderClan!" Rookstar said.

"Now, let's not be hasty," came a voice. Rookstar knew who it was even before he turned around.

"Whitetuft, I've had enough of Rainpaw," Rookstar exploded at the medicine cat. "She as good as killed Brightsplash! I don't want to ever see her face on ThunderClan territory again!"

Rookstar growled under his breath. Whitetuft wasn't Brightsplash; Rookstar wouldn't bend to him.

"The SkyClan warriors killed Brightsplash, not Rainpaw," Whitetutft pointed out.

"What?" exclaimed Rainpaw. "What happened to Mom? What aren't you telling me?"

"She crossed the SkyClan border because of you!" Rookstar said angrily. "She's dead, and it's all your fault!"

"Rookstar, perhaps a better way to channel your... energy... would be to take this up with the SkyClan leader," Whitetuft suggested. "To get vengeance for Brightsplash."

"I'm getting vengeance for Brightsplash right now," Rookstar said. "And I'm not waging war on SkyClan. They had every right to what they did, because Brightsplash crossed their border, because of Rainpaw."

"I don't know!" Rainpaw said. "I just wanted a pheasant, and Mom said she'd bring me one!" She was starting to cry now, big fat tears sliding down her face. Rookstar fonud it hard to feel even a shred of remorse for her.

"Rookstar, the kit's mother just died," Whitetuft reminded him.

"Her fault," Rookstar said.

Rainpaw gave Whitetuft a horrified look. "Is it my fault that she's dead? I didn't mean it! I just want Mom back!"

Lightningpaw was starting to cry now, too. She had always been Rookstar's favorite of the kits, probably because she was the only one who Rookstar hadn't had a nightmare about. Rookstar's heart twisted a little.

"I'm begging you, Rookstar, she's young," Whitetuft said. "She doesn't understand the warrior code yet. And she didn't mean to! You can see how torn up she is over this!"

He did, and he was trying to ignore it.

Come on, Rookstar. What would Brightsplash think?

"Fine, fine!" Rookstar said quickly. "I won't banish her. It's... it's not her fault."

But even as he was saying this, he didn't believe it. It was definitely Rainpaw's fault. Everything was her fault! And everything would be her fault! Rookstar remembered his nightmares, every last one, and every horrible thing Rainpaw would do in the future. He couldn't just forgive her for that!