Sorry for how long this chapter took to write, have had a lot of studying to do, but will try and get the next ones out faster. It's a lil longer than some other chapters but we really wanted to do a gathering setting for one of these...

Cloudeater quietly listened to the discussions going on around him, padding up to each cat in the clearing and asking for their vote. After everyone had voted, he nodded to himself, counting the votes and briefly glancing toward Sunnystar's den as he thought about the result.

'I shouldn't disturb him right now anyway...'

He looked back at the crowd, gathering their attention before meowing, "Cypressberry has been voted innocent. She will be allowed to stay in SolarClan, but please continue to stay with at least one cat when you leave camp, it is clearly still dangerous to leave alone."

Cypressberry leaned into Adderspark's side in relief, and she quickly walked away with him from the centre of the Clan, not wanting to be stared at for a moment longer.

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It had only been a few days since the last vote, but the Clan were already preparing themselves for another meeting. It was the night of the gathering, and the apprentices had finished training for the day, sitting side-by-side as they talked about what was to come.

"I'm so excited for the gathering! I really hope I get to go, I think it would be amazing to see all the different Clans together," Eveningpaw purred, her mind filled with the stories that Cloudeater had told her about the gathering area and what cats did there. Peachpaw nodded in agreement, remembering the last gathering he had been to.

Oakpaw groaned, shaking her head. "Why would you even want to go? What's the point of listening to a bunch of leaders sit around and argue about things while we just sit there? Sounds awful to me," the she-cat muttered.

"We shouldn't be going anyway!" Chestnutpaw snapped, making Eveningpaw jump as she'd forgotten the she-cat was sat beside her. "Dawnshadow is dead, Maplefeather is dead, and my stupid father is barely speaking. We should be trying to find the cat who killed them, not wasting time socialising with other Clans!"

Eveningpaw sighed, her excitement dimming as she thought about the murders of her clanmates.

'Not to mention I could've lost my mother...'

She was about to speak again, but Sunnystar had already called the Clan to a meeting, and the group made their way to the meeting place together. The ginger tom was sat beside his deputy, and he seemed irritated as always, seemingly impatient to get the meeting done as soon as possible. The leader began speaking in a bored tone.

"As you are all aware, there is a gathering tonight. The cats who will be attending the gathering are as follows: Myself, Cloudeater, Nectardust, Adderspark, Pinerunner, Eveningpaw and Oakpaw," he meowed.

"Is that it?" Ivyvine asked, looking disappointed as the cats around her were chosen.

Cloudeater nodded. "Sorry, but we don't think it's wise to take too many cats. We need warriors to stay here in camp and look after those who are left, especially when we still don't know who the killer is."

"Thank StarClan. The night should be for sleeping, and nothing else," Eclipselight meowed happily, ignoring the irritated glare Ivyvine sent his way.

"Well, that won't be happening for you. You'll be on guard with me, Eclipselight," Ivyvine replied, and the tom groaned, looking back at her with pained eyes.

"Great. A night of boredom," Oakpaw spat, as Eveningpaw tried to reassure her. "Maybe it'll be fun, especially if we get to go together! I love spending extra time with you."

Oakpaw felt her fur heat up in response, and she looked away awkwardly.

"M-Maybe."

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Eveningpaw's eyes widened as the gathering place finally came into view, feeling overwhelmed by the scents of so many cats in one place. Her paws were aching from the long walk, but she still managed to retain her excitement, and beamed at Oakpaw as they stepped into the clearing. Oakpaw looked at the other Clans with narrowed eyes, and started to make her way to a spot as far away from everyone else as possible.

Eveningpaw sighed, but followed her friend anyway, walking past some HailClan cats who were staring and whispering as they sat down. Sunnystar and Cloudeater quickly made their way to the somewhat frozen boulders in the centre of the crowd, joining the other leaders and deputies. The cats around them were either sitting in the grass or on smaller piles of rocks that surrounded the main boulders in the middle.

Despite being so far back from the others, two JaggedClan apprentices caught sight of them, a tom and a she-cat. The tom grinned, and bounded over to them, the she-cat following him with exasperated eyes.

"Wow! SolarClan apprentices! It is so nice to meet cats from other Clans! It's such a long walk from our Clans isn't it? I'm Snakepaw, and this is Softpaw. What's your Clan like? What do you hunt?!" The tom was meowing faster than Eveningpaw could follow, and she could feel Oakpaw tense beside her.

"I'm Eveningpaw, nice to meet you..." the apprentice murmured, her anxiety growing at the tom's enthusiastic presence.

"Who we are and what we hunt is none of your business. Now if you could kindly go away-" Oakpaw began, prepared to snap, but the sound of the leaders' calls cut her off.

"It's starting, I'm so excited!" Snakepaw grinned, and sat down right between Eveningpaw and Oakpaw, separating the two and causing the latter to groan in annoyance. Softpaw shot an apologetic look at the she-cats, but sat down behind them.

A long furred ginger she-cat was the first to start, stepping forward. Sunnystar refused to make eye contact with her, turning his head away as he glared at the ground.

"TundraClan is doing well, despite some recent... difficulties." Rootstar began, grief in her gaze as she continued. "We have unfortunately lost a few warriors to StarClan, including our leader Glacierstar. However, we now welcome two new warriors, Sleetshadow and Gullsong."

Oakpaw hissed in annoyance as Snakepaw kept fidgeting and shuffling his paws next to her. It was going to be a long night...

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"All I'm asking is for you to be respectful and actually listen to other cats for once, perhaps then you wouldn't feel the need to attack an innocent Clan," Rootstar growled, glaring at Sunnystar as the tom avoided her gaze, instead glaring down at the crowd. Then, taking a breath, he turned to face the orange she-cat.

"Oh, like how our mother was so respectful and left me behind to be with her mate?" He hissed back. Rootstar visibly recoiled, rolling her eyes and hissing at the tom. Beaverstar and Amberstar shared a frustrated look, with the two arguing cats dominating the discussion.

"This is useless," Oakpaw muttered. "All they do is fight." She wanted to turn to Eveningpaw, but found Snakepaw sitting between them. She hissed in annoyance, getting up and moving to Eveningpaw's other side. "Look," she murmured, "I don't like it here, it's boring. I'm going exploring, are you coming?"

Eveningpaw turned around, looking at her with big eyes. "Please don't go, Oakpaw! You'll get in trouble when you get back... and you can't just run through another Clan's territory!"

Oakpaw hesitated. She had known this herself, and yet was willing to take the risk. But she didn't want Eveningpaw to get into trouble because she'd known where she was going to go. "Just act like you don't know where I've gone, TundraClan's territory isn't far from here. I'll be back at camp before the night is over."

Eveningpaw sighed, knowing she couldn't stop her friend from going. "Fine then. But please be careful, I can't lose you too..."

Oakpaw gave her best friend a lick. "Don't worry."

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Setting down her paws as lightly as she could, Oakpaw prowled through the bushes on the edge of TundraClan territory, wary of getting caught. These cats actually like living in these woods? She got up from her crouching position as she scented the border markers. She had reached the end of Clan territories and, throwing caution to the wind as she rushed through the forest, she relished the sense of freedom.

She stopped as she hurled herself down a hill, seeing water in front of her. A couple of leaves came rushing past, blown towards her by a night-time breeze. She hesitated, not recognising the river. Where am I? She wondered.

She studied the area carefully, before recognition flickered in her mind, remembering the journey her father had taken her on, sneaking her out of camp in the middle of the night.

'Of course, This is where my mother's group used to live...'

Oakpaw sighed as she thought back to her own territory, wistfully staring at the wide open spaces that accompanied the river down its path.

"Why couldn't we have just gone to live with my mother...? No useless rules, no boring gatherings, and I could live life without Sunnystar snapping at me all the time," Oakpaw complained, shaking her head as she tried to imagine what life could've been.

"Just what I thought. You truly do hate your Clan," a voice growled, sounding slightly out of breath as they walked towards the she-cat.

Oakpaw immediately unsheathed her claws, prepared to swipe as she turned to her left, noticing a figure padding up to her side with their eyes narrowed.

"What- How in StarClan's name did you find me here? Leave me alone!" the tabby snarled, lashing her tail in frustration. "Can't I go anywhere without some cat following me around?"

"Don't sound so surprised. Every cat in this Clan knows you aren't trustworthy, and here I find you breaking Clan rules," they snapped. "All cats should at least make an effort to respect our code and traditions, otherwise they have no place in our Clan. Even an outsider should know that!"

Oakpaw blinked, prepared to snap back, but she was caught by surprise when the cat leapt forward, unsheathing their claws and landing an attack on her, raking their claws down the she-cat's side.

"You're the one who killed our clanmates? And you're telling me I'm the one disrespecting my Clan?! You're nothing but another hypocrite," Oakpaw yowled, trying to ignore the pain as she desperately avoided the claws swiping at her.

Her attacker seemed to have nothing more to say, fixing their angry gaze upon the she-cat as they suddenly stopped and watched the apprentice's movements. Oakpaw scowled, confused as to why the cat wasn't moving, but she ran towards them anyway, pushing against them and trying to land her claws against their face.

The cat rolled their eyes, and used the she-cat's close proximity to trap her, using their strength to throw her to the ground with a shove, pinning Oakpaw down with her vulnerable side exposed. Without hesitation, the killer swiped their unsheathed claws across her soft fur, continuing until the apprentice was covered in blood, unable to defend herself.

"Such a foolish apprentice. Perhaps if you actually tried to go to your training sessions, you would've learned how to fight a real warrior."

Oakpaw continued to glare up at her attacker, but her sight was fading, and within a few moments, the she-cat fell still.

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The SolarClan cats had all returned from the gathering, with Sunnystar being back to his usual mood, his grief seemingly forgotten as he lost himself in anger, seething from his arguments with his half-sister. As the Clan prepared to settle into their dens for the night, the leader noticed an unfamiliar scent, and growled at the sight of Eclipselight leading a TundraClan patrol into their camp.

The orange tom stormed over to them, glaring at his warrior and the cats behind him.

"Eclipselight, what are these cats doing on SolarClan territory?" Sunnystar snapped, as Eclipselight stared at him blankly.

"I don't know. I was on guard when they asked to see you, so I let them in," the tom mumbled, seemingly half asleep.

"Look, we're not here to attack. We're here because we found one of your apprentice's bodies near our territory, just as we were returning from the gathering," Icewatcher meowed, and the patrol of cats gently placed Oakpaw's body on the ground.

Sunnystar stared at the body for a moment, before narrowing his eyes at the TundraClan cats.

"You just found her? On your territory? How are we supposed to know that you yourselves didn't kill her?"

Owlstride groaned, the brown tabby shaking his head at the response.

"I said near our territory, not on it, we followed the scent of her blood to the edge. If she was on our territory, this would be a very different discussion. Believe what you want, but we didn't kill her. There were two SolarClan scents where her body was, one was hers, and the other must've belonged to someone else. I pray she is at peace in StarClan, but whatever happened is your problem now. Come on TundraClan, we must return to camp."

Before the leader could reply, the patrol made their exit, leaving Oakpaw's body in the grass. A cry rang out from across camp seconds later, and Birchmask sprinted over, horror in his eyes as he spotted his daughter's limp form. Cats who were already in their dens stirred from his cry, and slowly the Clan began to make their way towards him.

"Oakpaw, please... This can't be happening," Birchmask whispered, his body shaking as he sat beside his kit, desperately watching her with the hope that she might wake up. Eveningpaw quietly padded towards him, struggling to look at the body in front of them.

"I-I'm sorry," Eveningpaw stammered. "It's m-my fault. She got bored at the gathering and wanted to explore, and I knew that there was n-no point telling her not to, but I didn't want to leave." Birchmask looked away from his daughter for a moment, shaking his head at the she-cat's words and giving her a gentle reassurance.

"This isn't your fault. The killer must've targeted her..." the tom murmured.

"If it was the killer, then we need to make another accusation. It is true that she shouldn't have left the gathering, but it isn't her fault she was attacked." Cloudeater meowed.

Cloudeater couldn't tell if it was guilt or anger that he saw within Sunnystar's expression, but as he turned to the tom, the leader gave him a slight nod of permission. The deputy studied the she-cat's wounds carefully.

"There is no way an apprentice could've done this to her, these attacks are far too aggressive for an apprentice to have inflicted," the deputy muttered, thinking for a moment more before he made his decision.

"I accuse...!"

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Clue 1 - The killer has green eyes

Clue 2 - The killer is not an apprentice

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Attacked: Oakpaw

Healed: Adderspark (Incorrect)

Accused: ...?