After Eveningmist revealed her reasoning, the vote was close, keeping Mangrovepaw on her toes the entire time. During the whole ordeal, the young apprentice looked crestfallen, occasionally yowling things such as, "Eveningmist is insane because her daughter's gone! And now she's trying to make my father feel the same way!" and "I would never kill Hibiscusblaze, she's Palmpaw's mother, and Palmpaw is my best friend!" Though, as the last cat cast their vote, sealing her fate as guilty, a strange expression crossed Mangrovepaw's face.

"Mangrovepaw?" Grassfall asked his daughter worriedly, tilting his head slightly as he attempted to make sense of his daughter. "Was Eveningmist wrong?" His voice cracked, as the tom was swept over with grief. Had he really been so caught up in sorrow about Flamingo that he had just condemned his own daughter?

Mangrovepaw burst out into tears, the young she-cat standing to her paws and backing away, sobbing, "It's all your faults!"

"I'm so sorry, Mangrovepaw, please don't cry." Grassfall pleaded with his daughter, padding closer to her, "It'll be okay, you'll just have to stay with Hazelpaw for a few days-"

"NO!" Mangrovepaw screeched, still backing up, "It's their fault Grassfall!" She yowled, "And yours too, for voting guilty for me! Your own daughter! I never would have done it if everyone wasn't so mean to Flamingo!" And with that, the young apprentice collapsed to the ground, shaking. "Marshgaze, Eveningmist, Swampbrook, and Pantherheart, you better watch out! You'll die next!" Mangrovepaw yowled, her eyes darting nervously about the crowd.

Pantherheart was no fool. The moment the apprentice admitted to being a murderer, he leaped to his paws. "You killed my daughter!" The black tom yowled in anger, before pouncing at Mangrovepaw. Grassfall tried to stop him, pleading with the angry father to just let Mangrovepaw be exiled, to not kill her, but Pantherheart slammed his paw into Grassfall's shoulder, knocking the lighter tom away.

Seeing Pantherheart come upon her, Mangrovepaw took a deep, gulping breath of air, before yowling out for everyone to hear, "The other murderer is-!"

But all it took was a snap, and Mangrovepaw was no more.

"Pantherheart!" Grassfall yowled in anger, his short pelt fluffing up, "What is wrong with you?! She wasn't going to hurt you! She was going to help us!"

The black tom stared down at the apprentice, his chest heaving as Pantherheart tried to regain calm. His eyes stared blankly down at Mangrovepaw, as if he wasn't registering the sight beneath him.

Ibissong, who had tied votes, breathed heavily. Thank StarClan that the tom would be able to stay here with the last remnants of his family, even if he may still be a suspect. But now, the impending doom of his exile would have to wait. The black cat shoved by Grassfall in order to bound to his brother, whispering comforting words into his ear. Pantherheart nodded once, before being led away from Mangrovepaw's body. His paws dragged along the dirt, his gaze seemed to be as dull as stone.

As Ibissong led Pantherheart away, Shadowwhisper and Rootwatcher closed ranks behind them. Mother and son did not look back.

Eveningmist stepped forward, pointedly avoiding to look at Mangrovepaw's body, and the odd angle her neck was turned out. "We must bury her, and the other victims from today." The light brown tabby murmured, "And we must be sure to not fall into the same trap again. Mangrovepaw's actions were caused by all of us." The remaining cats nodded in tandem, unusually silent. The fact that they had partly been to blame for Cypressbreeze's, Wildstrike's, and Hibiscusblaze's deaths was distressing, and on top of everything that had plagued the Clan most were not coping well.

Palmpaw huddled at Mangrovepaw's body, the third time in two days she was in mourning. Grassfall stood protectively on one side, his head bowed as he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened, and that his daughter and mate were both doomed to rot below the earth. Almost tentatively, Palmpaw leaned against the tom, pressing her bright ginger pelt to Grassfall's flank. Wordlessly, the tom wrapped his tail around the young she-cat, pulling her closer to him.

Coonfoot watched Palmpaw longingly, the harsh young tom wishing he could go over and comfort her about the death of so many cats she was close to, but deciding against it. Heronfeather had wanted to go look for flowers, so the two brothers slipped out of camp.

Swampbrook and Marshgaze stood awkwardly off to one side, discussing what had just happened. Being one of the cats named, he kept going back to reasons why Mangrovepaw would possibly want him dead, but every time he mentioned it Swampbrook told him to shut up. She was snappy, tired, and constantly glancing over to Vinepaw to see if he was okay.

Alligatorpelt and Eveningmist had an awkward air around them. The two cats were fighting in the aftermath of their daughter being exiled, with Eveningmist's ideas about who the murderer was clashing with Alligatorpelt's. Though, Eveningmist suggested they take a stroll together to clear their heads, and clear the air between them. Especially if she was going to die soon, she didn't want to while still arguing with the cat she loved, though she didn't say this to her mate. Alligatorpelt immediately accepted, and they too headed out of camp.

Vinepaw and Spottedpaw had made their way to the apprentice branch-den. The two brothers didn't really talk, they just lounged in their nests. For once, Spottedpaw wasn't making fun of Vinepaw. They were just grateful that in that moment, they had each other.

And on the far side of camp, Pantherheart finally broke down, sobbing into his mate's chest fur as Rootwatcher tried to soothe him. But suddenly, the black cat froze. "One of you is the murderer." The cat muttered under his breath, causing Rootwatcher to frown. "Pantherheart?" She meowed softly, not wanting to rile him up again.

"One of you killed Flamingo, or maybe Coonfoot," The black cat meowed frenetically, skidding away from Rootwatcher. "I don't care if it was for Cypressbreeze-"

But you just killed for Cypressbreeze.

Was the collective thought running through all three of their heads as Pantherheart ran off, his paws slipping on the leaves as he dashed into the forest, to do who knows what.

The three cats exchanged glances, then padded off in separate directions. They had no desire to fraternize with each other, not even for comfort after Cypressbreeze's death.

As night fell, most cats were scattered about the branches, in small groups of two at most. The four marked to die forced the others to let them sleep alone, so the murderer would take them quickly and without harming their families.

"Makes it easier for me." The murderer purred, their voice echoing through the branches. With easy grace, they rose from the other suspects, who had been forced to sleep together in the hopes that the innocents would catch the murderer if they moved at all during the night. That wasn't going too well for them.

The murderer moved gracefully through the banyan tree, paws occasionally scuffing on some bark, but nothing too major. They made their way to their first target, as Mangrovepaw had wished, and snapped their neck in the way that Mangrovepaw had died. Duty done, the murderer returned to the other suspects, and fell asleep.

Heronfeather was the first to wake up. He had slept fairly close to his uncle, Marshgaze, because he didn't know where else to go. He couldn't stay with Coonfoot. However, Heronfeather mused, Marshgaze wasn't looking too well, from at least his vantage point. Frowning, he rose to his paws, to go prod Marshgaze's pelt inquisitively. He wondered if the medicine cat had swallowed something funny in the night, and that was why his head was tilted so awkwardly. "I'll go get Coonfoot, he'll know what to do." Heronfeather meowed out loud to himself.

Coonfoot immediately knew what had happened, and soon roused the Clan. They all gathered on the branches of the banyan tree, looking down at their medicine cat's body with sorrow. While he was there, they had some chance of gaining a clue, if he could revive one of the victims. Now that option was lost to the entire group.

"I think that Coonfoot did it." Eveningmist meowed, and everyone joined in to vote.

Murdered: Marshgaze
Healed: No one
Accused: Coonfoot
Revealed: Marshgaze, Mangrovepaw
Revived: No one
Murderers Left: 1