Don't Forget Me - Ectober Week 2016 Day 1: Black Cat


Kitty never truly understood why Johnny loved his shadow so much. The way she saw it, he should've hated him - it - more than she did.

It was almost insulting how much he liked, and sometimes relied on that thing.

After all, he - it - had been the literal bane of their existence. She figured Johnny would have hated that it had taken away his girlfriend's life, not to mention his own. But no, despite all that, Shadow had become - in more ways than one - Johnny's wingman.

To Kitty, he was nothing but trouble.

She'd been having such a great time the night of the accident, too.

Johnny took her on a ride through town on his bike, testing the limits of speed and making her squeal joyfully every time he took an extra-sharp turn. She playfully swatted at his shoulder, warning him to be careful once she'd calmed down. He told her he was just "livin' life."

It turned out he was also planning life as well that night.

He took them to a drive-in theater to see some old '50s flick Kitty couldn't recall the name of. Not that it mattered, since they weren't watching half the time. They parked his motorcycle on a hill overlooking the cars and snuggled up together against it to watch the movie and take in the stars shining above.

Kisses and promises were shared in surplus throughout the evening. Kitty felt an overwhelming surge of love coursing through her heart with each passing second, and when Johnny pulled out a ring and slid it onto her finger with a vow that they would always end up together, she knew he was the one.

After the movie and a shared milkshake at the diner, they finally climbed back onto Johnny's bike to make their way home, Kitty's arms wrapped extra tight around his waist.

Johnny took the longer, more scenic route back, trying to make the night last as long as possible. Kitty switched between watching the trees and suburban lights pass by, and resting her chin on his shoulder to place sweet, simple kisses along his jaw.

It was during one of these kisses that everything went up in dark flames.

Just as Kitty was resting her chin back on his shoulder, Johnny brought his right hand up to caress her cheek, turning his head ever-so-slightly to flash her his crooked smile. Their helmets clanked in harmony.

Her eyes didn't need to meet his to see the pure joy in them. Instead, they caught sight of a dark figure - a black cat - running across the street up ahead.

She barely had time to point. "Johnny!" she shouted against the wind, directing his gaze.

He snapped his neck forward and just caught sight of the cat in time to attempt to swerve around it. But the cat seemed to have moved in the same direction as them to dodge, and with the sudden jerk on the heavy bike, the two parties collided.

The cat seemed to have gotten off the easiest, relatively speaking. It got pinned underneath Johnny's pedal and dragged along the cement as the bike fell and skidded sideways. A quick, non-suffering death.

Kitty was thrown from the back of the bike once it caught on the edge of the sidewalk. It had already tumbled with them on it several times, breaking her leg and a few of her ribs in the process. Once she thudded into the street, two of the ribs punctured her lung. The sheer pain of it all brought her to her end within just a few minutes.

Johnny got the worst luck out of the three. He literally flew off his bike once it tripped the sidewalk, his un-strapped helmet gliding cleanly off his head. The speed he'd been riding at carried over in momentum, and his body smashed into the side of a nearby brick building with incredible force. His skull shattered on impact, and he died in the few seconds it took to fall to the ground.

When Kitty rose up out of her body later on, she had no idea how long she'd been dead for, but she inherently knew it to be so. The crash scene lay before her, but in a dreamy haze. She gasped when she saw her boyfriend's bashed-in head.

Not a minute later, Johnny left his body, his eyes immediately checking over his new ghostly hands in wonder before they locked with hers. They seemed to recognize her, but not fully.

Faint sirens droned in the background. They'd be useless at this point, though they gave Kitty a better idea of how much time had passed.

"Johnny?" she tested. Both of them stood rooted to their spots, unsure about how to proceed in this new dimension.

Johnny stared at her, mouth opening and closing as he tried to think of what to say, before his lips set into a confused frown. "I…I know you're my girlfriend…" He gazed down at his dead body at his feet. "But I can't remember your name."

Kitty's mind began to race as worry flooded over her. The thought of being dead was enough to send her into a panic, but all she wanted right then was for him to remember her name. Just as reassurance, that no matter what, they were in this together. Someone familiar in a new world.

Judging by his corpse on the ground, however, it seemed like he had suffered some serious head trauma right before his death, so much so that it had carried over into his afterlife.

Just as she was about to question him, a dark, strangled mewling cut her off, and they both whipped their heads toward the noise. The spirit of the black cat was rising now.

A dark wisp of smoke wafted from the animal, swirling and stretching into a tall, slender figure, a patch of black blocking out the lights of foggy oncoming cars. It opened its toxic eyes with a flash and growled as a signal of its self-awareness.

Kitty glared and scowled at it, which it only deviously smiled back at. This spirit, this creature had just killed them all, but the fact that her life was over hadn't sunk in just yet. She was too angry at the cat for causing that fact in the first place.

And more importantly, she was too worried about her boyfriend's loss of memory. She needed that recognition.

She watched in distaste as the shadowy spirit easily floated over to Johnny, hovering around him as if gauging his character. Once satisfied, it took position behind him, waiting.

Neither of them knew what to make of the action right then. Johnny seemed confused and a bit wary, but Kitty didn't give him a chance to question it as she begged, "Johnny, please. Please remember."

He focused on her, brow furrowed. "W-what letter does it start with?"

Her hope dropped a little, but she answered, "A 'K,' baby." He couldn't forget now.

It seemed like hours passed as Johnny racked his brain for her name. His eyes shifted between hers and the dead cat's body for help, before finally turning to his new shadow behind him, giving it a nod. The already-close connection didn't go unnoticed, but it would have to wait.

So sure of himself, Johnny finally guessed, "Kitty?" Her heart crumbled into bits.

That wasn't her name.


Happy Ectober Week, everyone! I'm super excited for Halloween this year, and even more excited that I'm already ahead of schedule! This fic is based on a theory I had about Johnny 13 and Kitty's deaths, and Shadow's origins. It's pretty cool!