Everything hurt. Everything that was going on around Grasstail was muted and blurry and tinted slightly with red. All he could perceive was the screaming pain in the lower half of his body and the water slowly rising around him as the rain continued to beat down.

Only half-conscious, thoughts drifted through his head like snowflakes falling from the sky, only lasting a moment before melting away as soon as they touched the ground. He struggled to hold onto a thought, to keep it in his head so he'd stay awake; each time he drifted briefly into unconsciousness he was terrified he wouldn't wake up. It wasn't even that his injuries were that bad- or at least he hoped they weren't. It was hard to tell, but he was sure Podtail would be able to patch him up once he was back home. He was just… tired. He wanted to sleep, but he couldn't afford to, because the flood was getting higher with every second and before long the water would be up over his muzzle. He couldn't afford to keep dozing off like this.

He wondered how Watersplash was holding out against Minnowleap. Knowing her, she was probably doing fine, but he hoped she'd finish her fight quickly. He had no idea why he'd asked Sprucekit to climb up what remained of Shale Hill. The rock formation was more than challenging enough for even a grown cat like him to climb; how was a four-moon-old kit expected to make it to the top? Not only that, Minnowleap has already tried to kill the kit once, and Grasstail doubted she'd hesitate to do so again.

However, at this point there was nothing he could do. Moving seemed out of the question. His body ached from just lying there, although the icy water slowly rising around him was beginning to numb the sensation. Blood matted his fur, holding it down in a sticky mess so it couldn't fluff up to protect him from the cold- not that it would have done much good anyway, since his fur was pretty short, but it might have made some difference, and any difference would have been good enough. Besides, it was so late… Grasstail should have been asleep by now. He should've been in his nest hours ago. Of course, there was the storm, so his Clanmates probably weren't exactly sleeping soundly in their nests either right now, but still… he just wanted to sleep.

No! he told himself forcefully. I can't afford to pass out again! If the water level keeps rising like this, I could drown in my sleep.

But as much as Grasstail tried to hold on to consciousness, he could already feel it slipping away. A wave of darkness crept up on him, washing over his red-tinted vision and filling it with random, nonsensical images of storms and precipices.

—

Screeching like cornered prey, Minnowleap ducked under Watersplash as she leapt at her. Watersplash's gaze followed her mother, and she realized just in time that Minnowleap was moving her paw up to drag her claws over Watersplash's exposed belly. Thinking fast, Watersplash swung her hind leg forward to kick her mother's claws out of the way and stomped down on her silver paw. Minnowleap yowled in outrage and twisted around, snapping at Watersplash's neck.

Watersplash drew back just as her mother thrust forward and let her mother fall forward, her jaw connecting with the rock. While Minnowleap was momentarily stunned, Watersplash dug her teeth into her mother's scruff and dragged her over to the edge of Shale Hill, where the lightning had caused the rock to split. Although everything was soaking wet from the downpour, she could still feel soot beneath her paws when standing at the jagged, still partially crumbling edge. If she put her paw in the wrong place, the rock would probably give out and crumble away.

Minnowleap was somewhat less heavy than Watersplash had expected, but maybe it was just the adrenalin pumping through her body that allowed her to carry her mother more easily. Trying to block out the voice in the back of her head screaming stop, what are you doing, this is your mother, Watersplash tightened her grip on Minnowleap's scruff and swung her over the edge, letting her dangle in the air over the swirling flood below.

She was fully prepared in that moment to let go and let Minnowleap fall to her death. StarClan knew she deserved it. But just as Watersplash was about to do so, Minnowleap suddenly jerked her head back, startling Watersplash and causing her to release her grip anyway. However, Minnowleap didn't seem to be as concerned with not falling to her death as she was with taking Watersplash with her. She dug her claws into the sides of Watersplash's head; Watersplash opened her muzzle to shriek, but she was abruptly cut off when her muzzle connected with the edge of Shale Hill and she tasted damp soot on her tongue.

Just as she was about to be dragged over the edge by Minnowleap, Watersplash hooked a claw into a tiny chip in the rock. She screeched in agony as the claw tore and Minnowleap's claws scraped down the sides of her face simultaneously, and she slid back a few more mouse-lengths, but a moment later her front paws were still resting on top of Shale Hill, and Minnowleap was gone. And in that moment, though her cheeks felt like they were on fire and her torn claw was throbbing, along with all the other miscellaneous injuries she'd sustained in the fight against her mother, Watersplash knew she had won.

That victorious feeling was short-lived, however, as Watersplash felt something sharp dig into her heel and looked down to see Minnowleap clinging to a ledge with her claws embedded in Watersplash's hind paw.

"You didn't really think you could get out of fulfilling this prophecy that easily, did you, dear?" Minnowleap said, steely eyes flashing in the dark. "You can't fight fate, Watersplash! This is all meant to be happening!"

"You're crazy," Watersplash spat. She jerked her hind leg up, but Minnowleap clung on with both paws. Her weight tugged Watersplash down when she tried to scramble up over the edge, and it left them both precariously close to falling.

Minnowleap's tail lashed as she spoke. "Why do you always have to be so stubborn?" she hissed. "I do my best to be a good mother, and this is how you repay me?! Do you have any idea how much work it is to raise kits? Oh, that right," she added, narrowing her eyes. "You don't have any idea, because you're too afraid to raise your own kits!"

"Go away," said Watersplash, voice trembling. She bit her lip, thinking with shame how pathetic she sounded. How was Minnowleap supposed to take her seriously if this was how she tried to stand up for herself? "Go away," she repeated, more forcefully this time. "I hate you! You're a terrible mother, and I hate you!"

"Oh, is that so?" Minnowleap scoffed. "Well, when it comes to being a bad family member, you aren't really one to talk, are you, dear?"

Too furious with her mother to understand what she was referring to, Watersplash pulled her lips back in a snarl. She swung her hind leg back and then brought it forward again, crashing Minnowleap into the rock. Screeching, Minnowleap loosened her grip; Watersplash jerked her leg away and hauled herself back up over the edge. Minnowleap skidded further down Shale Hill, but she scrabbled back up to the top with a vengeance. Watersplash stomped on her paw as she was about to pull herself up onto the top, but Minnowleap smacked her paw away and hopped over the edge to face her down once more.

"You may not like to hear this, Watersplash, and I hate to say it, but you are a bad cat," Minnowleap went on as though nothing had happened. "You have done nothing but made your poor family suffer. It's your fault your littermates are dead! If you hadn't been such a selfish furball, I would have had other kits to pin my hopes and dreams on! But you killed them, and now you're the only one I've got."

Watersplash bit back a cry of outrage. At this point, she knew arguing would get her nowhere. No matter what Minnowleap accused her of, she knew she shouldn't blame herself for what had happened so long ago. There was no reasoning with Minnowleap. She was too far gone to ever be redeemed. She had to be stopped, and Watersplash was the only cat who could stop her.

Taking a step forward, Watersplash hissed, "I may not look it to you, but I'm more loyal to my Clanmates than most of them deserve. And I've tried to be that way with you, too, but now I see that keeping up like that would just kill me eventually. You'd just kill me," she added, pelt bristling. "How many more scratches do you think I could have stood from you? How many more could you have stood to give?"

"Watersplash, you are changing the subject!" Minnowleap snapped, hackles raised. Then, regaining her calm composure, she meowed, "I know it's difficult to accept, but for this prophecy to be fulfilled- for you to be as special as we both know you're meant to be- somebody had to die! And if you're right, and your little family is still alive somehow, then somebody still has to die tonight!"

Stepping forward so her and Minnowleap were barely a whisker-length apart, Watersplash bared her fangs. "In that case, why can't it be you?"

To her surprise, Minnowleap's face brightened just before Watersplash stood up on her hind legs and thrust her front legs forward. "Why, that's a great idea!" she purred just before Watersplash's paws connected with her chest, sending her toppling back over the edge. "Why didn't I think of that?"

By then, it was too late to stop Minnowleap from falling even if Watersplash had wanted to- which she most certainly didn't. The propulsion from Watersplash's shove threw Minnowleap into the air, too far away to grab onto a ledge like she had before. However, although it was too dark to really tell, Watersplash thought as she watched with satisfaction as her mother fell toward the flooded camp, Minnowleap didn't look scared of dying, or even angry at Watersplash. Instead, she seemed almost excited- proud, even.

However, peering over the edge once more, it wasn't her mother that really caught Watersplash's attention. It was the small, dark shape slowly making its way up the structure.

Cautiously, Watersplash placed a front paw on the ledge Minnowleap had been clinging to and, keeping her hind legs stable on the surface behind her, leaned forward and felt around with her other front paw for a place to put it. She found a small shelf on the rock, and lowered her paws bit by bit in this manner down the rock formation until she met the cat climbing up it in the middle. As near-impossible as it was to see anything, she instantly recognized the kit, and joy clogged her senses as she took in the kit she'd thought she'd lost.

"Sprucekit," she purred, having to physically restrain herself from reaching out for him so she wouldn't lose her balance and fall. "I knew you'd survived! Tell me," she added, suddenly concerned again when she realized he was alone, "are your father and sister okay?"

To her dismay, Sprucekit hesitated a moment before shaking his head. "They're alive," he said. "But Ripplekit's hurt really bad, and Grasstail told me to let you know so you can go get help."

"Show me," Watersplash said.

Nodding, Sprucekit began to pick his way slowly back down the rock, with Watersplash following after him.

—

"Grasstail?"

The meow was quiet, frightened, but still unmistakably hers. Struggling to make his eyes stay open, Grasstail blinked up at Watersplash as she leaned over him. Wanting to ease her anxiety, he opened his mouth to tell her he was fine, although it would have been a lie. He still hurt, although the pain was numbed considerably now, and he was still freezing cold.

However, he couldn't get a word out; Watersplash placed her tail over his muzzle and shook her head. "Just lie there and relax," she told him. "StarClan needs the rest- we both do," she added, wincing as she spoke. Grasstail's vision was fuzzy, but he realized with a pang of horror that there were gashes running down the sides of her face.

Not having much of a choice, Grasstail did as Watersplash said and closed his eyes once more. He didn't know how long he slept for, but he did wake up a few times only to drift back asleep soon after. Eventually, he was woken by the heat of the sun, which was high overhead. The light was shining in his eyes, so he groaned and rolled over, pleased to find that the movement wasn't too painful.

He was lying on top of a hill in a shallow hole beneath a scraggy bush. Around him, his Clanmates were milling around like usual. This clearly wasn't the WindClan camp. Confused and disoriented, Grasstail sat up, blinking sleep out of his eyes.

Nearby, Podtail was tending to Ripplekit. Sprucekit was hovering anxiously nearby; as Grasstail watched, Barkstripe padded up and gently picked him up and carried him away from where Podtail was working. Grasstail was relieved to see that both his kits had survived, and a quick scan of the area revealed that Appleshine was also up and walking around with only a bit of missing fur to show that she'd received a blow to the head the previous night- or had it been the previous night? Grasstail had no idea how long he'd been out for, and for all he knew, it could have been days since the storm. He doubted that, though, as his wounds still ached like they were fresh, and the smell of rain still hung heavy in the air. In addition, the grass was wet. Grasstail guessed that the reason they weren't in the camp was because the flooding had displaced them just like it had displaced RiverClan.

That reminded him- where was Watersplash? She had been there earlier. Had she gone back to her own camp? Suddenly driven with impulse to let his love know that he and the kits were alright, Grasstail rose to his paws and began limping determinedly toward where he could see the lake glittering in the distance.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dropping the herb mixture he'd been applying to Ripplekit, Podtail rushed over to him and guided him back into his makeshift den. "You aren't supposed to be walking around just yet, I'm afraid," the medicine cat added in a more sympathetic tone. "You need to get some more rest and give your injuries a chance to heal."

"That's what Watersplash said," Grasstail grumbled.

"Ah, yes; I suppose you were planning on marching on down to RiverClan territory to see your friend?" said Podtail.

Grasstail nodded; it was better that Watersplash be known as a close friend of his by the general public than what she really was.

Podtail shook his head and sighed. "I'd leave her alone if I were you," he said. "The poor cat just lost her mother."

"She did?" Grasstail sat up, ears pricked. If Watersplash had lost her mother, that meant Minnowleap was dead… and if Minnowleap was dead, that meant they were safe! Then, not wanting to give anything away, he flattened his ears back against his head and let his tail droop. "Oh, I mean… she did?"

"According to Miststar, Minnowleap went missing the night of the storm," Podtail explained. "They found her body at the base of Shale Hill this morning- or what was left of Shale Hill, at least. The whole formation got split in half by a lightning strike. Funny thing is, though," he went on, "Minnowleap's body was lying on top of the fallen rock, and by the looks of things she died from falling."

"R-really?" Grasstail meowed, hoping Podtail didn't suspect what had really gone down. "How odd…"

Podtail nodded thoughtfully, narrowing his eyes. After looking around to ensure no cat was listening in, he leaned in closer and whispered, "Grasstail, I'm no rabbit-brain. I know this has something to do with you running off last night after that intruder. Tell mw, how did you get your injuries, exactly?"

Grasstail gulped. He debated lying to Podtail, but the medicine cat was too smart for that. He'd know, most likely, even if Grasstail didn't tell him.

"I fell," he meowed, staring down at his paws, "…Off of Shale Hill. And then the part of the rock that fell to the ground landed on my back legs. I guess… I guess Sprucekit must have pulled me free."

Podtail didn't speak for a while. His fur lay flat, but his nostrils flared slightly as he breathed, and the tip of his tail twitched. It was obvious that he wasn't happy about what he'd probably already suspected to be true.

"…You're lucky, then," he said at last. "A few whisker-lengths off, and that rock could have landed on your spine. Be grateful you can still walk."

"I guess so," Grasstail mumbled, turning to look at his battered hind legs. They must have both been broken in a couple places, and they were wrapped in poultices that looked absolutely ridiculous, but Grasstail was hardly one to complain.

"And be grateful to your son, too," Podtail went on. "If it wasn't for Sprucekit's quick actions, you may well have died- and Ripplekit certainly would have if I hadn't stopped her bleeding when I did. He's a true saviour, if you ask me."

"Saviour?" Grasstail echoed. Tilting his head, Podtail nodded. Mind racing, Grasstail recalled the prophecy once more. "'From rain the saviour will rise… and into the waves the other will fall'! Sprucekit's the saviour," he realized with a pang of amazement. "And I'm the one who fell into the waves- or maybe that was Minnowleap! Either way, the prophecy's been fulfilled!"

Excited, he scrambled to his paws, ignoring both how much it hurt to do so and Podtail's protests. The prophecy that had been confounding them their whole lives had finally been fulfilled. They no longer had to worry about which one of them was meant to be the saviour- because neither of them was! It was about Sprucekit, whose fur with shades of both blue and green truly was the colour of the deepest waters. Maybe by now Watersplash had already figured it out, but he didn't care. He wanted to see her anyway just so he could share his excitement with her.

"Grasstail, just where do you think you're going?" Podtail demanded. "I told you to stay put!"

"I'm going to see Watersplash," he told him, quickening his pace as the medicine cat ran after him. "I've got to tell her everything!"