Okay so I felt like doing another Cars story because of all the Cars 3 hype that's been happening lately (and will continue up until the movie is released) so I decided to make a story slightly based on the plot of Cars 3, but mainly focused on Lightning and Sally's future together.

It's set after Cars 2 but no ties with Cars 3, basically it didn't happen. Lightning is involved in a life threatening crash, it causes Sally to start thinking about their future if he were to survive or not.

For me it's kinda hard to make stories different from each other because I love writing a lot of the same stuff but I know that can get repetitive after awhile, I will try to make this story different from my previous Cars story but I do apologise if they begin to sound similar... ^^;

Well, enjoy the first Chapter! ^^

Chapter 1 – Traumatic Start

Cars (C) Disney Pixar

It was his first race of the season, Lightning didn't want to hold back, he was determined to win this season just like he had won four times before, and he wasn't prepared to let his winning streak slide past him. He thought back to when his only thoughts were fame and glory, putting everything on the line just so he could win. Although he was still very determined to win, he wasn't going to risk everything to cross that finish line first.

After losing his back tyres that last race before the tiebreaker was announced, he felt really embarrassed and regretful whenever he was taken back to that memory. His old self was far too stubborn and full of himself to just stop for a moment and get his tyres replaced.

Ever since a few short days in a rundown town changed his life, he never wanted to act like he did ever again. It was not who he was supposed to be, deep down he always felt like something wasn't right with his life, but he always ignored it. But that rundown town made him see what he was missing from his life, now he knew everything was right about his life. He saved a rundown town and restored it to its former glory, he won four Piston Cups, took part in the World Grand Prix, and he had close friends and even a girlfriend. Lightning felt like the luckiest car in the world.

Almost too lucky in fact, but he didn't let that take over his mind. The sound of Guido screwing another bolt onto one of his tyres drew him back to reality. He was having his final tyre check before he would head on over to the starting line.

"Am I all set Guido?" The race car asked his fellow forklift

The forklift nodded with a smile before driving off, in that moment the loudspeaker announced for all racers to head to the starting line. Lightning started to drive off before a very familiar voice called out for him, using the nickname that only that car had given him since she first met him.

"Hey stickers," Sally called, smiling as she approached Lightning.

Lightning turned with a brightened smile, seeing her right before a race gave him a boost of confidence. He only wished she would come to his races more often, but he understood that she would usually have a lot of work to do at Wheel Well and the Cozy Cone back in Radiator Springs. He was fortunate to have her at his first race of the racing season.

"Good luck on your race today." She said with a heartfelt smile.

"Thanks Sally, if only Mater was here too to cheer me on, but I know he's got other important things to do."

He only wished his best friend was here too, but he had important secret agent stuff to do with Holley, that was at least how Mater described it to him before he left. It was confusing to understand but he took Mater's word for it and hoped he wouldn't run into more trouble after the events at the World Grand Prix.

"I'm sure Mater would wish you luck too." Sally assured.

There was another callout to the racers to head to the starting line, Lightning turned slightly before looking back to Sally, who gestured him to get going. Lightning lightly chuckled before he sped off; looking forward to seeing everyone after the race was over.

All the racers were now slowly moving across the racetrack behind a safety car, they all waited for the all clear so they could begin the race, and once that happened all the racers sped up high into the 3-digit mark. Number ninety-five sped past a majority of the cars in no time. He kept a strong face of determination as the laps continued to increase with every left turn he took.

Every number of laps or so he would go for a pit stop to get his tyres changed and fill up on gas, eventually he was reaching towards another tyre change and gas top up, he had been in first this entire time when he started to suddenly slow down, to Lightning's surprise he noticed that his gas was starting to drain out quicker than before.

Noticing that he had just missed the turnoff, it would be another lap before he could make his way for another pit stop. He began to grow worried, but he didn't let it consume his thoughts, he stayed at his current speed of 195 miles per hour.

Halfway around the bend, he noticed his speed decreasing dramatically, the pit crew called through his radio said he was running extremely low on fuel. Lightning was about to ask why when suddenly he felt his rear bumper connect with a racer right behind him at full speed. The force made Lightning surge forward and stop horizontally, blocking the other racers from going through, before they could react they all began to pile up in one heap of a crash.

Everyone was watching from the pits, they could see everything on the giant screen, tears swelled up in Sally's eyes as she watched Lightning disappear beneath all the other crashed racers, everyone else was in pure shock as well. Then, the speakers began to sound with a slightly panicked voice.

"Everyone calm down; we are sending emergency vehicles right away."

Some racers were lucky enough to react in time and stopped just before the heap of cars crashed into each other.

All that Lightning could see was darkness, all he could feel was pain, and all he could hear were the sounds of sirens approaching; everything began to fade away as his body weakened him into an unconscious state. Nothing but black and silence was all he heard and see from that moment onwards.

Meanwhile the pit crews from the race cars involved in the crashed rushed to the scene; emergency vehicles held them off as some cars were more seriously injured than others. All of Lightning's pit crew zoomed head on, Sally sped ahead, calling out Lightning's name as tears streamed from her eyes and down the sides of her body.

"Sorry miss, but he's the most injured from this crash, I'm afraid we will have to take care of it from here." An emergency vehicle informed her.

Sally didn't want to interfere with the professional's job, but at the same time she was deeply worried and hurt about what just happened. She didn't dare think about if he wasn't alive underneath all the other cars. She closed her eyes soundly as she let the tears fall, hearing nothing but sirens blaring and injured cars being towed away.

By this point the others had caught up to Sally, but knew that they couldn't go any further, they all looked at her with deep concern, knowing how much he meant to her. Then, out of the heap of injured cars emerged an unconscious Lightning McQueen, before his friends could get a detailed look at the damage on him, emergency vehicles surrounded him and within moments later he was gone.

For the longest time imaginable, none of Lightning's friends heard anything about his condition; they didn't even know which hospital they took him to, but they assumed it was the closest one to the raceway. It was late into the night when they received word of where he was and what had happened to him.

"Lightning suffered the most damage from that crash, his entire left frame is deformed, some of his engine parts have been fractured and we're still investigating what caused him to run out of gas so suddenly. However, we do suspect that it was a fuel leak. He's staying in the closest hospital to our immediate surroundings in the intensive care unit."

The unknown but trustworthy car lead them there, nothing but faces of worry and anxiousness, especially for Sally as they all followed the informer.

It wasn't long later that they were in the hospital looking to see Lightning, however they were all informed that he was still under surgery due to the severity of his injuries. Everyone was stuck waiting for the longest time imaginable, as hours passed, the more worried everyone grew.

They all watched the clock slowly tick by, but it was agonising with every moment they received no word on Lightning's current condition. There was hope with every passing hospital car, but they just drove on past them all. It was unbearable for them all not knowing if Lightning was okay or not. They hadn't got a good enough look at him to see just how damaged he was, but assuming by how fast emergency vehicles rushed in front of him they knew it had to be severe enough so that they couldn't see.

Hours passed before they heard any word from anyone, it was almost midday of the next day before they heard anything from the hospital staff. Barely any of them got any sleep, their worry of how Lightning would be prevented them from resting their eyes for more than five minutes.

"We've done everything we can, however he is on life support as his vitals are very weak, he suffered a tremendous amount of damage to his frame, some of his engine components had to be immediately replaced. Otherwise you're allowed to see him now. However, we can't support enough space for all of you unfortunately, who would like to see him first?"

Everyone looked at Sally, knowing that she would be the most distraught of all of them and that she wanted to see him more than anyone else, even though they wanted to see Lightning too they all knew how close the two of them were. They all backed away and insisted on letting Sally go first; she turned to them, her expression showing how thankful she was that they let her see him first.

"Well miss, come with me then." The nurse said, gesturing to Sally with her tyre.

She followed the nurse down the hallway until they got down to room fifty-seven, the door slowly opened, the suspense was killing Sally from the inside, as she drove on in alongside the nurse, Sally saw him, eyes closed, wires hooked up to the inside of his hood, cords hooking up underneath him also, his frame had seen better days, the entire left side looked deformed, but she noticed that they had mended it slightly.

Before Sally could open her mouth, the nurse read her mind and told her what she wanted to hear. "He's in a coma, we're not sure how long it'll be until he wakes up, until then we are doing everything we can to keep everything in check."

Sally didn't say anything in response, all she responded with was a gentle nod as she looked at Lightning with a grimace. Before she knew it, the nurse had left her alone with Lightning. She didn't know why she was fighting her tears, maybe it was to show that she had hope for him, that everything was going to be okay, and he'll recover.

But what if he didn't recover?

The tears swelled in her eyes at the thought of him never waking up, she shook in denial, forever holding onto hope that everything would be okay, but at the same time her mind couldn't help but think that way. Losing the one that changed her life, turned it around, and made her dreams become a reality. Although she hadn't known him the longest, it was the fact that he was such an important car in her life that she didn't want to lose.

She stayed there for what seemed a millennium, minutes lead to hours and hours lead to days. She never left his side, the others had wanted to see Lightning as much as she did but they understood how much he meant to her. The nurses brought in food for her, and insisted that she rest her eyes or at least let someone else see him, but she couldn't help but stay by his side, not being rude at all to the others, she knew they would understand.

Then a week after the initial crash, Sally began to hear Lightning's voice, he moved slowly, groaning weakly. His eyes staggered open, his movements subtle but enough for Sally to react. She examined his reactions to waking up the first time after the crash, he sounded groggy, she could feel the pain he was feeling simply by how intense his expression grew.

Those blue eyes on that red race car saw nothing but a blur, but out the corner of his eye he made out a blue figure, that familiar shape, that familiar colour made him think nothing more than that once car he cared about more than anyone else.

"Sally…?" He mumbled underneath his painful breath.

"Stickers…I'm so glad to see you awake." She cried with happiness and relief.

Lightning felt Sally's warm touch on his side, relaxing him, making him feel like all the pain had washed away for just a moment, until it returned with a painful shockwave through his body, he shrieked in pain, it was excruciatingly painful. To his surprise Sally backed away slightly, but then saw a nurse rush in only to have a shocked look on their face.

"Thank goodness you're finally awake."

Not long later, several medical staff surrounded Lightning, ultimately forcing Sally to leave the room. Lightning wanted nothing more than to have her back at his side; it seemed to be the only thing that temporarily healed his pain. He tried to call for her, nothing but mumbles came from his mouth.

"Lightning please try to restrain from speaking, we need you to be as mobile as possible."

While in the midst of pain and medical staff surrounding him, Lightning thought back to what the nurse said to him the moment she drove into the room. Finally awake? How long was he out? He asked himself. But no one could answer him, he couldn't even speak his energy was thinning by the second. It was taking almost all his energy just to stay conscious.

But before he knew it, with all the commotion of the cords and wires hooked up to him seemingly being messed around with by the medical staff around him, his eyes gave up on staying open, his mind falling back into that unconscious state. The monitor is beeping intensified, the doctors and nurses began to panic, the only thing Sally could see from outside the room was scrambling nurses and doctors surrounding her beloved red figure.

She only hoped that everything was going to be alright, but by the sound of the quickened beeps that defined his pulse and how the medical staff seemed to look like a blur from where she was, she felt like things had taken a turn for the worse.

Well, that's Chapter 1 for you! Also I should add that I'm not keeping a general length with each chapter I make, otherwise I feel like I'm forcing myself to write more, because in the past I was restricting myself to writing a minimum of 3,000 to 4,000 words, but I'm trying to look at quality more than quantity, and I think there was plenty of both in this chapter.

So when will I update next? Well I am hoping to do these chapters on a weekly basis but that could change as some things might come up in real life that I'll have to deal with first. Otherwise I'll try my best to update this story on a weekly basis. ;)