Shellpaw led Lionfrost and Reedsplash down to the cave, where all of the others were waiting. Thankfully, they didn't ask questions. They numbly followed all of her directions, and only showed emotion when they entered the cave.

"Sootpetal?" Lionfrost asked, seeing his mate in the cave. She turned around, and they happily went to meet each other. Reedsplash saw Emberstrike and immediately went over to talk to her. The two cat went to a corner of the cave, and talked quietly so no one could hear.

"Shellpaw, can you stay? Please?" Gullpaw pleaded, as she went to leave. He looked desperate, and lonely. "There are two murderers up there, Shellpaw. They're probably killing the other two remaining cats as we speak". Shellpaw's eyes widened, and she let out a cry.

"Paleflight! She's up there!" the she-cat told him frantically. Shellpaw dashed through the tunnel and up the cliffside. With a curse, Gullpaw followed her.

Shellpaw didn't bother to push aside the bush concealing the exit, and instead leapt over it. She sprinted to camp, and skidded to a stop when she reached the exit and saw something horrifying. Paleflight lay dead on the ground, as Redfoot and Dawnshine held Beetlestream still to seal the final blow.

"You murderers!" she growled, and ran into the camp. She tackled the two elders, and with the element of surprise, was able to get them off of Beetlestream. The injured tom weakly stood up. Shellpaw flicked her tail towards the exit. "Go, Beetlestream! Gullpaw, take him home!" Beetlestream looked hesitant, but Gullpaw grabbed the tom and dragged him out of the camp.

"Shellpaw, come on!" Gullpaw shouted, after directing Beetlestream towards the cliffside. Shellpaw turned towards him, and was about to run off, but was stopped by Redfoot's claws going through her throat. Gullpaw let out a wail of despair, as the red tom dropped Shellpaw's body to the ground. Then the two murderers advanced towards him, and he ran as fast as he could towards the cliffs.

"Gullpaw, where's -" Beetlestream asked, but was cut off by Gullpaw frantically ordering him to follow. The two cats leapt over the bush, and disappeared just as Redfoot and Dawnshine exited the trees.

"Where are those two?" Dawnshine asked, angrily whipping her tail back and forth. Redfoot shrugged, and turned towards the BluffClan border.

"It doesn't matter. Let's go see if BluffClan and RockClan will give us some cats to revive OceanClan," he replied. Gullpaw and Beetlestream looked at each other, then slunk back down the cliff and into the cave.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Many moons later, Beetlestream overheard the news that Redfoot and Dawnshine had died. The new OceanClan had believed every word the two elders had said, and treated them like heroes. Well, the old OceanClan was now CaveClan, and they would have something to say at the next Gathering.

Nightrunner was now Nightstar, leader of CaveClan. Lionfrost was her deputy. Lionfrost and Sootpetal had had three more kits, two grey toms, Galepaw and Goosepaw, and a tortoiseshell she-cat, Morningpaw. Reedsplash and Emberstrike had had two kits together, one black tom named Thornkit and one brown tabby she-cat named Stripekit. The group had also rescued one of the new OceanClan cats, who was about the same age as Gullpaw, now Gullflight. Gullflight and Sandfire had become close after Sandfire had fallen from the cliffs, and he had rescued her. She had been told all about Redfoot and Dawnshine's actions, which made her angry at the new OceanClan. She had even renounced her former name, Firepaw, in favor of Sandfire, to honor the first cat that was murdered.

Beetlestream, however, had been the most affected by the deaths of Dawnshine and Redfoot. When they had attacked him, one of them had scratched his left eye. Before, he had already had bad eyesight, but the scratch had made him completely blind in that eye. It had even given him a scar crossing over it. Because of this, he had been forced to become the medicine cat for his own safety. He didn't mind, and he was a pretty good medicine cat, but sometimes he wondered about what could've been. So when he had heard about the deaths of his attackers, he had sobbed with relief.

Now, the cats of CaveClan were ready to reveal their presence at the Gathering. Emberstrike had to stay back with Thornkit and Stripekit, much to her chagrin. To make her feel better, Reedsplash had wanted to stay as well, but he had to take Galepaw to the Gathering. Sootpetal would be staying instead, in case Emberstrike needed anything. But the rest of the cats were going.

Nightstar led the way up the cliff, followed by the rest of the clan. They silently passed by the OceanClan camp, undetected by the cats who remained there. Sandfire scowled at her old clan, but remained with Gullflight. They reached the Gathering Point at the same time as BluffClan. Murmurs spread throughout the gathered cats, wondering who the new group was.

"We're going down there, right, Nightstar?" her apprentice, Goosepaw, asked. Nightstar met the gaze of the leader of BluffClan, and laughed.

"You bet we are, Goosepaw," she replied. The she-cat continued through the crowd of gathered cats, pushing her way through until she reached the towering pine on the edge of the rock. Waves crashed against the rocks below, coating all of the cats with mist. Nightstar leapt up into the tree, and was met with looks of annoyance and outrage.

"Who do you think you are?" Wavestar of RockClan demanded. Lionfrost sat down at the base of the tree with the other deputies, who tried to push him out of the way. Beetlestream joined the medicine cats, who looked uncomfortable, but did nothing.

"Why, Wavestar, you don't remember me? Or my clan? Has the betrayal of Redfoot and Dawnshine really been forgotten?" Nightstar replied tauntingly. The grey she-cat in the tree bristled, obviously the leader of OceanClan.

"The betrayal of Redfoot and Dawnshine? They were two of the most loyal cats that you would ever meet!" the leader spat. Driftstar of BluffClan stepped forward, a thoughtful look on his face.

"Wait a minute, Miststar. I think I know this she-cat," the light brown tom told her. Then a look of realization dawned on his face. "Nightrunner? Of OceanClan?"

"This cat is not a member of my clan!" Miststar hissed. Driftstar flicked his tail dismissively, leaving Miststar and Wavestar outraged. It was obvious that Miststar had previously come from RockClan, based on her clear allegiance with Wavestar.

"It's Nightstar of CaveClan now, Driftstar," Nightstar replied. Wavestar let out a sound of disbelief, and Miststar shook her head.

Driftstar turned to look at the rest of CaveClan, and after a minute of examining them, stood up taller. He looked to all of the gathered cats, ignoring the protests from Wavestar and Miststar.

"These cats are the remnants of the old OceanClan!" Driftstar announced. He glanced assuredly at Nightstar, then continued. "They appear to have formed a new clan, called CaveClan. I shall accept them as a fourth clan. Will you?" The cats of BluffClan yowled their approval, trusting their leader's judgement.

"I will not accept them as a fourth clan! If they want to be a part of a clan, they are welcome to rejoin OceanClan, where they belong!" Miststar declared. Sandfire forced her way forward, bristling.

"I am Sandfire of CaveClan, formerly Firepaw of OceanClan! When I fell off of one of the cliffs, I laid there for hours! No one came to my aid, except for Gullflight of CaveClan. I was not a part of their clan, but he and Beetlestream healed me anyway. We are a true clan!" the ginger she-cat announced. OceanClan cats looked guiltily at the ground, and mumbled their agreement.

"And you, Wavestar? What do you think?" Driftstar asked pointedly. The blue-grey tom knew that no matter what he said, it would happen. Driftstar knew it too, and was giving Wavestar a chance to make the transition peaceful.

"Very well, I suppose," Wavestar grumbled. He turned to Nightstar, tail flicking. "So, I suppose you'll have some demands to get your clan off of your feet?"

"Not many, we have been doing pretty well by ourselves, but we do have some," Nightstar admitted. "As you can tell, we are substantially smaller than the other clans. If any loners or kittypets ask to join your clan, you bring them to us. Same with any abandoned kits". The leaders voiced their agreement. It wasn't much to ask for, and besides, they didn't really need more cats anyways.

"Anything else, Nightstar?" Driftstar asked. Nightstar looked down at Lionfrost, who nodded and mouthed something to her. She turned back to Driftstar, and smiled.

"OceanClan only uses a small portion of their shoreline. We know, because we used to be OceanClan. We want the rest of it. It's just rocky shores, cliffsides, caves, and hard to reach places," Nightstar announced. Miststar opened her mouth to object, but Nightstar cut her off. "Unless you want us to stake our claim on our rightful territory?" That shut Miststar up, and she nodded in agreement.

"Well, now that that's settled, we welcome CaveClan to the Gathering!" Driftstar declared. The cats cheered, and everything was right again.