Hey there. As promised the next chapter is out sooner, and is happier. I would like all of ya to know that Toffee will make one last final appearance because I still love her and I'm doing this in memory of her.

Chapter 3

Hushed meows filled the clearing at Four Rocks as the leaders spoke with each other. All had been badly shaken by the earthquake that had occurred earlier that day. Even the leaders seemed edgy. At last, Aquastar jumped up onto Four Rocks and yowled for silence. "I know we have all been frightened by recent events, but my deputy has something to tell all of you," she said once everyone had quieted down. "Emberflame?"

Emberflame leapt up onto the rock next to her leader. "Cats of all Clans, the earthquake that happened today was bad, but it is only the beginning. During the quake today, I received a vision from StarClan. They warned me that an even bigger one is on its way, one strong to destroy our home."

Fearful meows filled the clearing. "What are we supposed to do?" one voice rose above the others.

Riverstar stepped forward. "Aquastar, Lionstar, Falconstar, and I have discussed this, and we have decided that…," she sighed heavily, "we must leave our home."

Cries filled the air. Suddenly, Bearclaw stepped forward through the crowd. "What about the elders?" Everyone turned to look at the burly MoonClan cat. He shifted nervously but continued on. "They may not be able to keep up with us, especially since we don't even know where we are going to go. They…they may have to remain behind."

"He has a point," meowed Falconstar.

Lionstar thought for a moment before nodding, satisfied with his own decision. "We cannot make their choices for them. The elders must decide what they wish to do themselves. Tonight, we must return to our Clans and tell them of the impending danger. We will meet here again tomorrow with the elders so they can speak together and choose if they wish to join us on the journey or remain behind." He suddenly became aware the other leaders were staring at him.

"Care to discuss that with any of us?" Falconstar meowed.

"Sorry. What do you think?"

"Lionstar is right. The elders must choose themselves. Is it agreed?" Riverstar mewed.

Falconstar nodded.

"Then we will all meet here tomorrow. Bring all members of you Clans. If the next earthquake is close we may have to leave immediately," Aquastar meowed. The other leaders nodded. "Then I will see all of you tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Aquastar lead her entire Clan to Four Rocks. They were the first to arrive at the clearing. Only Wolfheart was missing as she had gone to speak with the wolves to warn them.

"She's so concerned with the wolves, where's her loyalty to the Clans?" grumbled Mossear.

Mistmoon placed her tail on the grouchy elder's shoulders. "You know as well as I do that she might have lost her life, twice I might add, if they hadn't saved her." Mossear huffed in response.

Just then NightClan entered the clearing. Immediately, Falconstar and Aquastar moved off to speak.

"This place is gonna get real full real fast," Sunpaw meowed to Twilightpaw. NightClan steadily streamed into the clearing with the elders bringing up the rear. Scarshoulder and Longfur joined the MysticClan elders.

At last, MoonClan and SunClan entered, almost at the same time. The clearing was practically overflowing with cats. Once again, the elders of the two Clans joined the others. Riverstar and Lionstar padded over to Aquastar and Falconstar.

"Mama, why are we out here?" mewed Patchkit.

"I'm tired," added Stonekit.

Rabbittail licked each of them on top of the head. "Hush little ones," the SunClan queen meowed. "Everything will be okay."

The tension practically made the fur of the gathers cats stand on end. Finally, the elders approached the leaders of the Clans. "We have come to a decision," Scarshoulder rasped.

Falconstar nodded towards Four Rocks. "Then tells us."

Scarshoulder attempted to leap up but failed. Mountainside touched his shoulder with his tail, asking permission to be allowed to speak in the oldest of the elders' place. Scarshoulder nodded, and the SunClan elder jumped up. The other elders gathered at the base of the rocks. "Many of us elders are willing to attempt the journey, but there are those of us who are certain that they cannot make it. Scarshoulder, Oceantide, Poppypelt, Tortoiseshell, and Mossear have chosen to stay."

Meows of surprise and sadness sprung up all around them, but before Mountainside could continue, barking rose above the clamor. Suddenly, Wolfheart burst into the clearing. "We have to go now!" she yowled. "The next earthquake is happening now!"

"Warriors! Help the elders and the queens!" yowled Lionstar.

"Follow us!" Falconstar cried as he, Riverstar, and Aquastar raced out of the clearing. The warriors followed, one on either side of the elders or the queens. The only ones who stayed put were the elders who had chosen.

"What are you doing?" cried Ivyvine as the first trembles started.

"Staying behind, just as we said we would," Mossear answered.

"But this is crazy! You can't stay here!" Twilightpaw cried as she pushed the grumpy elder out of the way of a falling branch.

"There you are!" Twilightpaw turned to see her mother run back into the clearing. "We have to go NOW!"

"Not without making sure they are safe," the apprentice snarled.

"Fine," Wolfheart said in exasperation. "Elders, come on! We aren't going to let you die like this!"

Immediately, Wolfheart, Ivyvine, and Twilightpaw began to herd the elders away from Four Rocks just as the stones began to crumble. The warriors and the elders tried to make their way to safety, but now the trees were toppling down all around them, blocking their escape.

Suddenly, Tortoiseshell's legs buckled beneath him from running so fast. He yowled in surprise as he went down. The ominous shadow of a tree fell over him. It seemed to be falling in slow motion towards him. Before Wolfheart could reach the elder, a silvery cat grabbed him by the scruff and pulled him out of the way just in time. "Silvercloud!" meowed Ivyvine.

The MoonClan warrior nodded. "Darkriver and Sootfur stayed behind to help as well," she added.

"Let's move," the dark grey tom meowed.

Now with more cats to help the elders, the small party made their way to the edge of the forest, dodging falling debris. Finally, they burst out of the forest and into a clearing near a Thunderpath. They cats huddled together under wooden structures until the quakes finally subsided. The cats crept out from under the structure to examine their surroundings. The forest was destroyed. The area they had sheltered in was one of the places that Twolegs came to during the summer and ate outside.

Darkriver climbed up on top of one of the wooden structures the Twolegs ate at and looked around. In between the fallen trees he could see a stream of cats making their way up the hill and away from the forest. Some distance away from them he made out the sleek forms of the wolves following suit.

"Well, you got us out," Mossear said, just as grumpy as usual. She twitched her tail irritably. "Shouldn't you be getting back to your Clans?"

"No way," Twilightpaw meowed. "We won't, can't leave you guys alone."

"Do not worry about us, apprentice," Poppypelt rasped. "Besides, if you go now, you'll be able to catch up to the others."

"Have no fear about that. I'm the best tracker in my Clan," Sootfur meowed, sounding a little boastful. "I can pick up their trail easy."

"Look, there really isn't any point in sticking around," Scarshoulder growled. "You might as well go on. There is no reason for you to stay here and watch us come to the end of our lives."

Ivyvine's ear pricked forward. "You know, it's not right for you to just stay here and wait to die."

"No, it's not right to lie," Tortoiseshell meowed, his failing hearing once more causing problems.

Mossear rolled her eyes. "And what do you propose, young'un?"

"Well," Ivyvine hesitated, "you may not like it, but it's better than sitting around here…"

-----

"Windy, maybe we should take a break…" Hedge said, sitting in front of his friend, his paws curled against his chest in nervousness.

"No," Windwalker meowed sharply, limping up over the hill. "I have to make it home."

She had managed to cross the Thunderpath without incident and had continued on without rest. She absolutely refused to stop for fear of the ThunderClan cats catching her and bringing her back. She had long since stopped walking on her broken leg and was now dragging it along the ground, too tired to even hold it up.

Hedge came up on her good side, staring into her single blue eye. "Please stop for a rest. I don't like seeing you like this, Windy."

She looked at him sadly. "I understand, but I have to find my way home, before my Clan leaves." Suddenly, her good ear pricked and she turned her head. "I hear voices. Come on." She seemed to regain some of her energy. As much as she loved traveling with Hedge, being with ThunderClan had reminded her of her mother and her brother and sister. She missed life around cats and she hoped that the voices she heard were friendly. Maybe they'd want to travel with her, even just for a little while. Windwalker limped towards some bushes.

"What will we do now, Soul?"

"Amethyst, relax. I'll take care of you. Nothing will happen to any of you as long as I'm around."

"Soul, behind you!"

Windwalker pushed through the bushes to see a young cat and four kits huddling behind her. The fear of the kits increased ten times as she emerged. The red cat who was defending them gasped in horror. Windwalker turned her head aside in shame. She then remembered how ugly she was.

"G-g-go away!" the red cat snarled. She flicked her tail, trying to shoo the kits away.

"Please," Windwalker whispered. "please don't go."

The cat stopped snarling. "What?"

"I won't hurt you or the kits, I promise," Windwalker meowed. She looked up again. The cat's fur was starting to lie flat, although she was still standing protectively in front of the kits.

"What…What happened to you? Just who are you?" the cat meowed.

"My name is Windwalker. As to what happened, let's say I argued with a Twoleg monster and lost."

"Sooo, you're not going to hurt us?" the yellow kit asked.

Windwalker smiled as she shook her head. "No, no. Why would I want to hurt a kit?"

"Cause a rogue like you killed our mother!" snarled the black kit, puffing up to about twice her size.

"No!" the Wanderer gasped. "That's horrible! I would never do something like that!"

Just then, one of the kits, her white pelt sporting brindle patches, walked right up to Windwalker.

"Amethyst!" the red cat cried.

"Don't worry so much, Soul. I think she's okay. She certainly speaks better than any rogue we've ever met," Amethyst mewed.

"That's because I'm not a rogue," Windwalker said, looking down at the little kit. She bent her head to touch the kit's nose with her own. Amethyst flinched back, the forming scars on her face scaring. But she recovered quickly and reached up to Windwalker.

"Hey, look what I caught!"

"What d'ya think you're doing?!" Windwalker's head shot up to a very surprised grey kit holding down the tail of a very angry chipmunk.

"Hey, let him go! That's my friend, Hedge. Hedge, this is…um…"

"Geez, I'm sorry," the grey mewed. "I'm Granite." He lifted up his paw, and Hedge, who had been pulling on his tail, tumbled forward.

"Jet," the black meowed gruffly. "And the crazy hyper one is Amber," she added, pointing at the yellow.

"My name's Amethyst," the brindle and white mewed.

"And I'm Soul," the red finished. She raised her head, and for the first time Windwalker noticed that she had a strange silver vine around her neck. Hanging from it was what looked like a perfectly round silver leaf with strange black marking on it. "So, if you aren't a rogue, what are you?"

"Windy here is a Wanderer, but she was a cat from…uh…where were you from?" Hedge asked. "Short term memory, remember?"

"I was born into MysticClan. But I left them a long time ago for a special reason, and now I'm just trying to find my way back. What about you?"

"I was born in a Twoleg place, but I didn't like living alone. Then I met these four and their mother. We became a family. But a few days ago, our mother was attacked by a rogue and he killed her. I'm now trying to find a safe place where these guys can grow up," Soul meowed.

"Well, if you don't mind traveling, you can come with me and Hedge. Like I said, I'm trying to find my Clan again. I'm sure they'd welcome you. Aquastar is a very fair leader. What do you say?" Windwalker asked, hope in her good eye.

"Well…" Soul paused. The four kits looked up at her, their eyes clearly begging her to say yes. "I don't know what a Clan is, but you certainly sound as though it is not a bad thing, especially since you want to go back so badly. Tell you what, if you teach us about this Clan, we'll come with you."

"It's a deal!" Windwalker mewed.

"But, do you think we can rest for tonight before we go? We've been traveling for a while, and we're kind of tired," Soul asked.

"Oh, absolutely," Windwalker replied, lying down.

"Sure, when I say take a break, she fights. When they ask, 'absolutely' she says," Hedge muttered, but nevertheless curled up on Windwalker's back.

"Goodnight, Hedge. See you in the morning, Windwalker," Amethyst mewed, cuddling up against Windwalker's side. Amber, Jet, Granite, and Soul curled up nearby.

"Goodnight, all," Windwalker purred, laying her head down and finally fell asleep.