Dark Forest Resident: Batflight
Aliases / Nicknames: Batfright
Gender: tom
Sexuality: asexual, biromantic
Family: Petalecho (mother)
Other relations: Sandybark (mentor)
Clan: Skyclan
Rank: warrior
Characteristics: kills for vengeance
Number of Victims: 3
Number of Murders: 3
Murder Method: snapping necks
Known Victims: Cloudfrost, Spiketail, Brittlewhisker
Cause of Death: partially flayed by a motorcycle
Cautionary Tale: a warning to all mentors and apprentices to be aware of their actions in training, to hold back their strength and power, especially when against a much younger and weaker opponent.
Story:
He had always been very shy. He was born as the only kit in his litter, and he quickly grew used to the soothing calmness of his mother’s presence, leading him to rarely ever leave her side, even when the other kit, Cloudkit, tried to coax him into playing, only managing to play one game of hide-and-seek, the entirety of which Batkit was too anxious. All he could think about was the warriors watching them, surely thinking they were silly, or feather-headed for not choosing a better hiding spot.
Cloudkit wanted to play more, but Batkit was sure it was only because Batkit was the only other kit around, or maybe his mother made him because she felt bad for Batkit.
Batkit didn’t want to move around much. Being the youngest, he was sure the other warriors would watch what he was doing, even if from mild curiosity. He knew that logically, they didn’t care what he did, or if they did they wouldn’t hold it against a little kit, but still he couldn’t shake the feeling of their stares.
He could tell Petalecho was growing tired of comforting him. She loved him dearly, but she was worried he spent too much time with her. She tried to bring him to the elders, chatting happily with them. Batkit was fine because they were paying attention to each other.
Then Petalecho left, apparently expecting Batkit to stay. But the moment the elders’ eyes laid on him, even gently, Batkit ran back to hide beneath his mother’s tail.
And then she came along.
Sheepkit, born to Willowfeather. The queen had grown incredibly sick shortly after Sheepkit was born, and Petalecho suggested Batkit to help look after her kit, who was born in a single litter, just like him.
Batkit didn’t mind. He still had a couple moons to his apprenticeship, but he was old enough to care for a kit’s needs on his own. If things got too rough, he could find his mother.
But most importantly, Sheepkit was a baby. She couldn’t judge him, she wasn’t even capable of the thought. Batkit became really comfortable around her, and would begin repeating the stories he heard to her. She preferred to hear them from him more than anyone else.
Willowfeather became better. She expressed gratitude to Batkit, who Sheepkit introduced to her as her ‘bestest friend.’
The moment struck Batkit. Other than his mother, he had never thought someone would care about him so much.
In spite of her much younger age, Sheepkit was incredibly more confident. She was the leader of everything they did, prancing sanguinely while the much bigger Batkit followed more nervously behind.
She didn’t overdo anything, either. Sheepkit was well aware of Batkit’s shyness, and would test it in the most compassionate and patient ways. She would stop what they were doing if she noticed Batkit struggling too much, and would pull attention away from him if she noticed that he was crumbling beneath it. She would also try to gently push him, getting him to speak to the warriors and elders, and tell the medicine cat himself how he got a thorn in his paw.
Their friendship and support continued even when Batpaw became an apprentice. In fact, he felt like he needed her support more than ever. Since the moons they were brief playmates, Cloudpaw had become rather aggressive and short-tempered, as was Batpaw’s own mentor, Sandybark. Every day Batpaw looked most forward to venting to Sheepkit.
Once, he told her how Cloudpaw stole his prey during a hunting assignment and took all the credit, and Sheepkit, less than half Cloudpaw’s size, marched over to him and chewed him out as though she were ten times his height. Cloudpaw was too bewildered by it to properly respond.
Batpaw was over the moon when Sheeppaw was granted her apprentice name. In spite of his still strong anxiety and fear of attention, his fear for her safety was stronger, and he would try to take over for her when he noticed that Cloudpaw was getting too rough.
But the sessions most critical in protecting her was the one in which he had to stay back in camp. Petalecho had gotten injured on a patrol, and Sandybark allowed Batpaw the day off to be with her. Sheeppaw had tried to convince her mentor to let her stay behind as well, presumably so that she could comfort him, but he refused.
The ground fell from Batpaw’s feet when they brought her limp form into the camp. Spiketail, Cloudpaw’s mentor, announced that it had been a horrible accident while training, but it wasn’t hard to figure out what he really meant. Cloudpaw was too rough, as always, and it killed Sheeppaw.
Sheeppaw was dead.
How many times had Batpaw and Sandybark warned Spiketail and Brittlewhisker not to let Cloudpaw be so rough? How many times did Batpaw expressed worry of the two training together in spite of their different sizes and experiences?
Did they even care? Batpaw recalled all the times Spiketail would snort when Batpaw expressed concern, how Brittlewhisker was willing to turn the other cheek when Cloudpaw shoved Sheeppaw to the ground more painfully then he should have.
It was their reckless behaviour that got Batpaw’s only friend killed! Sheeppaw deserved so much better than a passing death that could have been avoided if everyone weren’t so stupid!
Batpaw struggled greatly. He outright refused to train with Cloudpaw or his mentor, let alone acknowledge their existence.
He tried his best to move on, or at least accept that the death was real. It was Petalecho’s death, the only one he had left, that truly threw him over the edge.
Batflight had no one left, and nothing, nothing but enacting justice.
He confronted Cloudfrost while they were assigned to a three-cat border patrol, the third party wandering away after a rabbit. He wasn’t sure what exactly he wanted, perhaps to hear regret. But Cloudfrost got defensive. He told Batflight that Sheeppaw would still be alive if she knew how to fight.
Batflight shoved him to the ground so quickly, he hardly heard the snap.
He expected shock, or sorrow. But there was only dark satisfaction, and the feeling of raw grief digging further into his chest. He thought it would feel better, or at least that the missing part in his heart would be filled, even by a little.
But maybe he wasn’t done.
After passing off Cloudfrost’s death as an ‘accident,’ Batflight did shove him down a steep hill, after all, so it wouldn’t be hard to believe, he went after Brittlewhisker and Spiketail, the mentors of Cloudfrost and Sheeppaw. The ones who’s ignorance caused Sheeppaw’s death.
He snapped their necks. It was quick, bloodless, and the same way Sheeppaw died.
With his final victim, Brittlewhisker, he wasn’t as careful. While burrying them, a warrior noticed Batflight’s fur caught beneath his claws. Sniffing the hairs confirmed Batflight’s scent, and he was chased from the territory and onto a Thunderpath.
Batflight had no time to run. The moment he stepped onto the odd ground, he was struck by a small monster, hitting him perfectly to partially flay his skin.
Additional Information:
--Cloudfrost and all other parties involved in Sheeppaw’s death WERE incredibly sorry and regretful. It was due to Cloudfrost’s feelings of guilt that caused him to lash out when Batflight confronted him.
--Batflight always had a bit of vision problems, but it wasn’t until he was nearing the end that he became more blind. He has lost roughly half of his vision, if not more.
--The skin does not completely pull off. Think of when you try to lift a carpet off the floor, but it’s nailed down along the middle.
--He’s flat-faced!
--Yeah I forgot his pad colours on the first ref.
--I have a headcanon for my DF characters that the more cats you kill, the redder your pupil is. If you only killed a few, it’s just pink (also the rest of your eye is more dull).
--Takes place during Skyclan’s exile while they were a solitary Clan, before they broke up (which, logically, probably took a few generations at least).
--Bonus Sheeppaw design concept:
-- Picrews:
https://picrew.me/image_maker/254030
https://picrew.me/image_maker/266114
--Reference sheet by Turukhan on DeviantArt!
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