A/N: Okaaaaaay. So, this one-shot is loosely based off the story my cousins and I were told as little kids, that supposedly happened in my grandparents' old neighborhood. Do I believe it? Eh, not sure, maybe. Is it an interesting tale? Sure, but not as interesting as all the other shit I've been through. Anyhow! If you're interested in what actually happened, I'd add this at the very end, now, without further ado, enjoy.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing, unfortunately. If I did, Robin would've still been alive, yes, I'm bitter.
A/N2: Also, please excuse my mistakes (and kindly point them out), I wrote this entirely in a single day and I'm not good enough to pull shit like that.
Black Cat
Black cats were an omen of everything terrible awaiting to happen. They were considered bad luck, many cultures lived by that belief for centuries, others linked them to witchcraft and everything evil, satanic. Everything diabolical in the world. The furry creatures suffered through the exact torture methods their owners had before them; they were hanged, burned, and drowned. Every woman during the Middle Ages with a black cat by her side was considered a witch, a worshiper of the devil, further proof was never needed.
To Robin Locksley, however, it was utter bullshit. He didn't believe in certain things being linked to good or bad luck, he didn't believe in the terrible number thirteen, or that broken mirrors meant misfortune. He walked under dozens of ladders before and nothing went wrong, nothing he connected to that, at least. It was life. Good things happened at times, bad things did, too. He paid no attention to spilt salt or cared about opening umbrellas inside — what was he supposed to do? Step out in the rain and then open it? It was a stupid ideology. He didn't knock on wood, either. What would a slab of wood do? Absolutely nothing. Or a four-leaf clover, a rabbit foot, horseshoes; it was all nonsense. But if others found comfort in such gibberish, who was he to judge?
"What're you doing this Halloween?" Rose, his little sister, asked, balancing on the chair she dragged to one corner of her front porch to hang the faux spiderwebs up.
She did this every year and he never understood why. Where was the pleasure in spending hundreds on useless decorations that weren't even scary? The skeletons were old-school, if anything, they were hilarious, and the spiderwebs were barely noticeable, they weren't creative, nor were the tombstones she dug into her front yard with fake, bloodied body parts emerging out of the ground around them. It was too much effort to put into for a single night, he couldn't even bother buying candies to hand out to the little rascals — not that they deserved any. Children often trashed his house, be it on that dreadful night or a regular night, from paper rolls over the roof of his house to smashing eggs into the walls. Admittedly, he wasn't the most joyous person around the neighborhood, he was in his early-thirties with the temper of an old, grumpy man.
"Order in pizza, watch some horror movies…" Robin trailed off with a shrug. "I'm still debating on whether I should get the candies now or wait until after Halloween for the discount though."
"Or…" Rose began, stepping down the chair and turning around to face him, "maybe, just maybe you should actually celebrate it for once. Decorate your house some, get candies for the kids. Dress up like a normal human being would."
He snorted and shook his head. "No, that— what you just described is the exact opposite of what a normal human being would do, Tink. A normal human being would not waste around a thousand dollars on…all this," he gestured at her front yard. "A normal human being, like me for example, would sit home, ignore the little bastards, then head out the day after and grab twice as much candies for a lesser amount. That is what a normal human being would do, and a wise one, that is."
"You're impossible," she acknowledged the obvious with a sigh. "Anyways, you coming in? I was thinking of ordering Chinese for dinner, been craving Kung Pao chicken for a while now."
"Your treat?" he flashed her a cheeky grin, and she rolled her eyes.
"Isn't it always?"
"Which makes you the best sister in the whole world," he quipped, stepping inside after her and closing the door behind him.
After dinner, they watched a few movies of his choice. Robin opted for horror films over the boring selection of the classic Halloween ones his sister suggested. Hocus Pocus was a brilliant movie…for a child, that is. Halloweentown and The Nightmare Before Christmas weren't any better. He had nothing against them, he would've fully enjoyed them had he been a five-year-old, but there was nothing like the good ole, bone-chilling ones such as The Exorcist or The Exorcism of Emily Rose — those were his favorite, and seeing the frightened look on his sister's face made it ten times better.
"Do you have to go?" Rose groused, her bottom lip sticking out. "It's long past midnight, Robin—"
"And the worst thing that could happen in this neighborhood is that I could be chased by a stray dog," he interrupted.
"What about those killer clowns?" she argued.
"They were literally last year's news."
She puffed out a huff and nodded, wrapping her arms around him in a quick hug. "Fine, just…just be careful on the way home. Just because it's a small neighborhood it doesn't mean it is completely safe for you to wander around at this time of the night."
"Yes, mother," he teased with a snigger, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. He appreciated how concerned she was over him, whether she would call him nonstop just to make sure he's alright, or randomly show up at his doorstep with home-cooked food, a nice change from all the frozen junk he was used to. "Part of me thinks you don't want to go because you're too scared of being alone, not really worried over me." Rose swatted his bicep, and he laughed, "Night, Tink."
"Night, asshole. Call me when you're back home!"
"Will do," he promised.
Robin didn't live far from his sister, mainly because it was her that found him his current house, and he was in desperate need of a place to live in that he didn't care. He used to live in the city, alone in a two-bedroom apartment, surrounded by a swarm of people everyday on his way to work. He enjoyed that. As awful as it was to be squeezed in-between sick and sweaty people, or tossing and turning every night because of the police sirens going off every three minutes, or having the drunk fight behind his building at two in the morning, it was almost…comforting in a way, whereas the quiet neighborhood intimidated him in a sense. Not quite scared of what could lurk in the shadows, but it was eerie, it made him anxious for whatever reason.
He alternated between taking small and large steps as he walked down the road to his place, both hands tucked into the pockets of his pants for warmth. It was a cold night, not that he expected any less from the sweater weather, but it was unusually colder, he could see his breath every time he exhaled. Nevertheless, he shrugged it off and continued on his way, the faster he gets there, the better it would be. Though, halfway through he was startled by the sound of rustling in the bushes, followed by a mewl.
"Jesus Christ," he breathed out, landing a hand over his pounding heart and patting it to tame it. On cue, there was the rustling again and another mewl, slightly louder, a little closer. And another, and another before it stopped and small, bony cat appeared, glowing eyes staring up at him. "Oh, that's just great," he scoffed. "A black cat is exactly what I needed right before Halloween."
In return, the cat meowed again, prowling around him.
"Listen, it's late. I've got to head back home." Robin bent over and stroked the cat's head, then awkwardly shifted around it, but it followed him, almost tripping him as it pressed itself against his legs and purred. "Fuck," he huffed, straightening himself upward. "Go away," he shooed the cat, lightly nudging it away with his foot, but it stuck itself to him and refused to leave. "Great. That's just fucking great!"
The cat trudged by Robin's side the entire walk back to his home, and the second he unlocked the door and opened it, the cat walked inside, as though it owned the place, and began mewling and exploring its surroundings.
"Yeah, whatever. Just make yourself comfortable, I suppose," he mumbled sarcastically, rolling his eyes as he locked the door twice, kicked off his shoes to the side, then removed his coat and hanged it. "I know you've followed me all the way here for food, but the only food I have for you is a can of tuna and some milk, but I guess you can't really be picky about it since, well, you're a cat…and I've clearly lost my mind because I'm talking to a cat."
How ironic was it, though, that a black cat would come to a man of no beliefs a day before Halloween? If he wasn't tired, he would've laughed about it. Ah, this damn universe and the way it worked.
He left the cat in the kitchen with the last can of tuna he owned and some warm milk poured into a disposable bowl. Neither were too good for cats, but that's all he had in hand, and he was too exhausted to care, anyways. It wasn't his responsibility, it was a stray and he was doing something good for once by feeding it.
Robin shed off his clothes and changed into a pair of sweat pants and a t-shirt when his bedroom door creaked and opened, and the most obnoxious mewl came. He ignored it. He did his best to pretend the cat didn't even exist, but the moment he lowered himself down onto the bed, it jumped and cuddled up next to his feet, and as the evening dragged by, the cat moved and plopped down onto his chest, purring the night away.
By daytime, the cat was gone. The only evidence it ever existed was the half-eaten can of tuna on the kitchen's floor and the empty milk bowl. Robin didn't stress over it, though, as odd as it was that it managed to slip out of his house when the doors were locked, and the windows were closed shut.
The rest of the day was slow and uneventful. He did as he did every other Halloween and stayed home, ordered in, ignored the trick-or-treaters and watched movies. To some, it was unexciting and boring, to him, however, it was the perfect way to spend the revolting holiday. Still, he couldn't escape the gleeful voices of the children knocking on his door every couple of minutes, asking for a trick or a treat — maybe he should've bought some Halloween decorations, something that would send the little ones crying, that would've done him good.
"Go away!" he shouted, tilting his beer bottle upward and taking a swig. God. With the constant knocking, he needed something stronger. "I don't have any candies, go away!" he repeated, but the knocking continued, intensifying after a couple of tries. He stood with huff and marched over to the door, pressing the handle downward in anger and pulling it open with a scowl, but the sight that greeted him knocked the air right out of his chest.
It wasn't a group of children dressed as their favorite characters, carrying bucketfuls of candies, but a woman dressed in a simple, crisp white gown. Her long, raven hair cascading over her shoulders in loose curls, and her full lips were as red as a honeycrisp, her whiskey brown eyes bore into his, captivating him, making him forget every word he prepared to unleash over the youngsters.
"Can I come in?" she asked. Voice so sweet and velvety, he bobbed his head without a second thought. "Thank you."
The woman stepped inside, her fingertips gracefully dancing along the surface of the walls as she made her way into his living-room, uninvitingly taking a seat on his couch. The room was a mess, there were beer bottles laying around, a couple were empty, some were yet to be drank, and there was the mostly eaten pizza on the coffee table, too. In his defense, however, he wasn't expecting anyone, most certainly not a woman as breathtaking as this stranger was.
"I—I'm sorry, I didn't get your name," Robin stuttered.
"It's because I never gave it away," she retorted, staring up at him beneath her thick lashes, her lips tugging upward into a smile. "I know who you are, though," she purred.
"Oh?" His brows knitted in confusion and he folded his arms over his chest, and she hummed, nodding in confirmation.
"Robin Locksley," she began. "You're a very kind man, you know. You pretend to be this big, heartless guy who hates everyone and everything…but that's not who you are."
"And I assume you know who I am?" he asked, adding, "Aside from my name, that is. Everyone here knows it. Robin Locksley, the most hateful man in the neighborhood."
She nodded again, got up and walked straight to him. "I do," she whispered after a moment, her head slightly tilted to the side, and her hand reaching up, the back of it brushing over his cheek. "You took in a beaten and a mistreated cat under your care, if just for a night, and you fed her, kept her warm. And of all cats, it was a black cat, an omen of everything bad and terrible, but you didn't care." His eyes widened, but she continued, "Did you know that before you, she followed six other people, four ignored her, one kicked her to the side, and the other abused her and left her for death?" she emphasized the word, her arm dropping to her side again, and she smiled. "You didn't, though. Yes, you pushed her away but even then you were gentle with her. She tested your boundaries and…you ignored it."
"I— but— how—"
"So many unfinished questions all in one go," she chuckled. "So many and yet, I'm afraid I can't answer them all for you. I will, however, tell you a little secret." She stepped closer, her lips ghosting over his ear, and she whispered, "You should listen to the old wives' tales, but not all black cats are terrible, I promise you this, but all black cats are mystical. Thank you for taking care of me."
And she left.
He was too dumbfounded by everything that he was frozen in place, blue eyes bulging at everything she said. None of it made sense, she couldn't have possibly been the cat, but she knew things no one else would've known. Perhaps she was right, perhaps not all myths were just that…myths.
A/N: Okay, it was weird, I know, but that's how the story went as we were told, minus the whole Regina caressing Robin's cheek and all that. And, if I recall correctly, I think the man was looked over or protected or something, which makes me think that cat (if it was real) was probably a demon or some shit. Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed it, if not, I'm sorry! I'll probably base a lot of them over stories I heard growing up or things that have happened to me or people I know.