Dark Forest Resident: Cricketclaw
Aliases / Nicknames: Cricket, Uncle Cricket, Ripperclaw, The Mauler, Protector of The Forgotten
Family: unnamed mother, Whitestar (father), Embercloud, Nightwhisker, Thrushleap (brothers)
Other Relations: unnamed mentor, Specklepelt (best friend, crush), Eelpaw (apprentice)
Characteristics: kills to avenge apprentice and best friend, kills to send a message to other cats, methodical and orderly
Murder Method: flaying throats open, breaking spines, gouging eyes, ripping out tongues, ripping ears out of heads, tearing off legs
Known Victims: Brackenstar, Darkeyes, Poppyshade, Frogflight, Icestep, Spiderstrike, Owltuft, Minnowbreeze
Victim Profile: leader and medicine cat of his Clan, cats who treated others with disabilities poorly, cats who treated their apprentices/children poorly
Cause of Death: spine ripped out of body, killed by Embercloud, Nightwhisker, and Thrushleap
Cautionary Tale: don't treat disabled cats poorly, lest The Mauler catch you doing so
It was unfair. So, so, so unfair. Cruel, even.
Eelpaw, Cricketclaw's beloved apprentice, who he had loved like his own child, was dead, forced to have his own lungs fill with worms as Brackenstar and Darkeyes laughed at them for wanting treatment. So what if Eelpaw had killed the rest of the apprentices? Those brats deserved it for what they had done to them.
Besides, Cricketclaw knew that even if Eelpaw hadn't done anything, Brackenstar and Darkeyes would have still refused to heal them. Because they were different. Because they were a freak. Eelpaw's gills didn't change anything about them--they were still sweet and caring and selfless regardless! Why could nobody see that?
To add insult to injury, poor, poor Specklepelt took the death of his only kit even harder. The once boisterous and happy-go-lucky tom broke for good when his kit died, and he refused to eat at all, slowly starving himself to death, all while Brackenstar and Darkeyes sneered at their own brother as he grew thinner and thinner.
The worst part of it all was that Cricketclaw never got to tell Specklepelt he loved him before he died. Seeing his best friend since kithood--his one true love--lying dead in a corner of the warrior's den, skinnier than a shrew in leaf-bare, all while Brackenstar and Darkeyes pranced about, caused Cricketclaw's heart to burn with fury.
He killed them both that very same night.
Eelpaw and Specklepelt's deaths had been drawn out and painful, so Cricketclaw wanted to make sure the same was true for Brackenstar and Darkeyes, using only his left front paw to rip open their throats muscle fiber by muscle fiber, blood vessel by blood vessel. For once in his life, he was thankful he couldn't retract the claws on that paw.
When the deed was done, he fled from the Clan that had caused him so much heartache. He knew that the deputy and his father, Whiteleg, would find both of their bodies, and Cricketclaw at least wanted to spare him and the rest of his family from that anguish of the realization.
Cricketclaw intended to spend the rest of his days roaming the forest alone, mourning his lost loved ones. But a few moons later, he ended up stumbling into Bushclan territory, and came across the warrior Poppyshade verbally abusing her apprentice Robinpaw, who had been born with a twisted spine.
Poppyshade was calling Robinpaw worthless and questioning why she had been apprenticed to her, and it made Cricketclaw seethe. It was Eelpaw all over again! Why couldn't they see that apprentices with disabilities were just as capable of being warriors as so-called "normal" ones?
Without even thinking, Cricketclaw sprung out of his hiding spot, bowling over Poppyshade and pressing on her spine, breaking it over and over and over again, only stopping when Poppyshade's body looked like a crushed twig. He then looked up at Robinpaw, calmly instructing her to go back to camp and tell her leader that Poppyshade had been killed by a tree branch. Robinpaw looked up at him with gratitude before nodding and turning back to camp.
That look of gratitude caused a warm, fuzzy feeling to bloom in Cricketclaw's cold heart--a feeling he hadn't felt since Eelpaw and Specklepelt had died. He vowed to spend the last days of his life killing cats who dared to treat younger, disabled cats with such awfulness. It was the least he could do to honour Eelpaw's memory.
In his murders, Cricketclaw made sure to dole out what he believed was the proper karma to the abusers. Frogflight of Treeclan had been mocking his apprentice, Moonpaw, for being blind, so Cricketclaw gouged out Frogflight's eyes. Icestep of Oceanclan had purposefully not been training his deaf apprentice, Quietpaw, claiming that they were worthless, so Cricketclaw tore off Icestep's ears and left him to bleed out. Spiderstrike of Cliffclan had outright been striking his apprentice, Stonepaw, for tripping over his own twisted front leg during training, so Cricketclaw tore off all of Spiderstrike's legs.
But in Cricketclaw's wanderings, he had seen way too many cats mistreat not only their own apprentices, but their own kits, even those of fit condition. It made his heart hurt, and he decided to change his goal to freeing all young cats in need from their pain and suffering.
His first targets in this new endeavor were fellow Clan cats-turned-rogues, Owltuft, formerly of Treeclan, and Minnowbreeze, formerly of Oceanclan. They had left their Clans to raise a family together, though frankly, Cricketclaw suspected that they left so the Clans couldn't see how poorly they mistreated their own kits in broad daylight.
The poor things were barely two moons old and already quivering in fear at their parents' treatment of them. Unlike Owltuft and Minnowbreeze, Cricketclaw at least had decency, so he lured them both out of their den before slowly flaying away at their throats with just his left front paw, exactly like he had killed Brackenstar and Darkeyes all those moons ago.
It almost made him feel nostalgic. As he stood back to admire his handiwork, another nostalgic scent wafted into his nose. But why would his brothers be here of all places, so far away from all of the territories?
He never got to answer that question, as soon, three heavy masses launched themselves out of the bushes, toppling him over. Cricketclaw couldn't even bring himself to look them in the eye, as the shame took over him. He could feel their claws digging into his back, then a popping sound, and it was all over.
--Submission by @starfalcon555
--Cricketclaw was never ratted out because the apprentices were all immensely grateful to him for saving them, so they kept his secret with them. Whiteleg/star wasn't really on good terms with Brackenstar and Darkeyes after seeing how Eelpaw was treated, so he didn't go after his son because he kind of believed he had a point
--Embercloud, Nightwhisker, and Thrushleap mainly went after Cricketclaw because they feared him going mad with bloodlust, and they regretted having to be the ones to kill him until their dying days.
--Cricketclaw is unable to retract the claws on his left front paw because of a snake bite he sustained to that paw when he was an apprentice! It's also the reason why he has the -claw suffix.
--Owltuft and Minnowbreeze's kits were brought back to Prairieclan by Embercloud, Nightwhisker, and Thrushleap, and raised there, with all three brothers acting as uncle figures.
