LAST CHAPTER! YESSS!

I'd really like to start with Miraculous Ladybug/BATMM/SWR PADU AU fanfic, but I need some of my other sketches and it's cover before I can, so lemme think of other BATMM fanfics to write from my list! XD

Enjoy!

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Crusher groaned as he felt the feeling of numbness all over his body while he floated in absolute darkness.

He felt weak, cramped, while his mind was blurry and in pain. He could barely remember much that had happened before he lost it. He still remembered... the flames. The flames... The same flames that nearly killed him and Prider years ago... from the same psychopathic truck that he used to call his sister. The one whom he used to idolize.

Why had he been so deperate to have her love him as a sibling should? He should have seen the signs.

No, he SAW the signs. They weren't subtle. It was perfectly clear, clear as crystal, that she downright hated him and wanted to get rid of him.

So why didn't he pay attention?

He didn't want to. He hoped, stupid, STUPID childish hope, that his sister would warm up him. That she would love him in return. That she would care for him like he had once cared for her.

It was foolish, it was stupid, but he was desperate.

No one truly wanted him. His parents saw him as a second option, as the heir image of their company, the 'perfect' son to represent the money of their company. Lifeless, numb, emotionless, stiff, cold...

Only his grandmother, oh bless her soul, has ever loved him any family would love him. She released his feelings into the world, held him at his toughest moments and spoiled him in things that his parents never did.

Prider loved him like a brother, always there for him when he needed him. They had been old childhood friends. They raced together, the ultimate racing team, the creater of the PC Dasher! One argument, however, had driven them apart.

He turned cold, numb, careless of his own emotions. His Grammy tried to help him, but he drowned himself in his own rage, his own coldness, his own selfishness.

And by some miracle, Pickle had shown up in his life. He was the one to put up with him, even at his most unbearableness. He doesn't know why the green truck was able to bear it. He remembered being so confused as the other stayed by his side, no matter what trouble got himself into, he would always greet him after as if nothing happened.

Luck and realization fell upon him at their first kiss, that first kiss that led to unblossoming and confused feelings in himself. The feelings that filled with so much happiness that he could barely explain it. He and Pickle were deep in love, he knew they were. They both beared each other, beared the best and the worse of one another.

No one but his Grammy had beared him for that long. It was surprising, but he was too happy to question it.

Their love grew, even after the shame that his parents brought them. Their love stregthen even as they moved to Axle City, acting as only best friends to hide out. Their love stayed true, with spending every night cuddling, snuggling and giving each other all of the affection that they could never show or reveal out in the public because of fear.

He had left the past behind, yet they seemed to come back, no matter how eager he was to get rid of them. He hid from his parents, tried his hardest to forget his psycho sister, but they came back anyway. They came back to haunt him, to KILL him, to hurt him and all that he loves.

And he paid the price.

Death, in his opinion, was a way to be released from the pain the world was forcing you to take, yet he never wanted to die. Even with all the pain and failure the world had given him, the thought of death scared him. Every cheat he did, every bad decision he made, the thought of death, on himself and anyone else, made his stomach drop and churn all over.

Yet here he was, dying in the depths of darkness. He was still in pain, weak from all the smoke he had taken in his lungs, but it wasn't as strong as it had been before he collapsed in the middle of the flames.

It was a strange irony that he would be laughing at if it wasn't for the fact that he was losing his life with every second.

Suddenly, the pain doubled, and he found himself hissing as he felt his whole body tremble. He wanted to let out a scream, but his voice seemed to have flown away. His screams were silent as he felt himself being lifted into the air, little by little, into the light...

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"He'll be up in a while," the doctor spoke with a smile. "It's good that you brought him here after fixing him up, or he would never have made it,"

"Thank you, doctor," Grammy nodded.

"How long will he need to recover?" Pickle asked worriedly.

"If he wakes today then he may recover in a few weeks," the doctor replied, glancing over at her clipboard before driving out. "I must be off. I'll be back to check on him later. Call me if he wakes up,"

Everyone watched as she left. Once the door shut, they turned back to Crusher, who was laying on the hospital bed, pale and almost still. He was breathing, but it was shallow, and his eyes were closed, not even flickering to signify that he wasn't waking up anytime sooner.

Pickle was taking his condition at the worst. He had been crying for hours, all the way to the ride to the hospital. At the garage, Gabby had hooked up something to check Crusher's heartbeat and pulse to make sure he was still living. By the end of the repairs, the dark blue truck's pulse slowed and his heartbeat almost stopped.

This made everyone panic, especially Pickle, who couldn't stop screaming and driving around in tears. Blaze, who came with AJ a few minutes after Officer Anna took Dynama back to prison, immediately turned into a huge truck carrier and set Crusher onto his carrier before using his blazing speed to speed all the way to the hospital.

They brought him in time, and his pulse sped up, even if it was only a bit.

"Don't worry, Pickle," Prider was the first to speak up, after a long, moment of tense silence as he patted a tire on the green truck. "Crush is strong, even when he doesn't act like it. He'll pull through,"

"That fire was intense," Stripes shuddered. "How do you know that he'll make it, cuz?"

Prider took in the question for a moment before sighing. "The fire from the race had been intense too. Crush and I were both trapped in a ring of flames since Dynama spread the oil. We had to do the PC Dasher, but the fire had gotten closer to me than him, so he was the one that flung me off the race track to save me. I couldn't leave him, even when the fire got stronger. He tried to build an extinguisher, big enough to put out all the fire in the race track, but he fainted in the middle of the inventing, and the metal scraps scattered. He nearly burned,"

"You never told me that..." Grammy frowned. "Neither of you did,"

"We didn't want to worry you," Prider told her. "And we didn't want Calvin and Krisha to think that they almost succeeded,"

"What happened?" Darington asked. "How did you get him out,"

"I managed to grab him out with my own grappling hook," Prider replied. "When I did, he landed towards the water. It woke him up instantly, and the parts of him that got were caught on fire were put out. He was still weak, though, so I had to help him to drive towards safety,"

"It's like what happened tonight!" Starla cried out.

"Yes, but there was no water to wake him up before his condition got worse," Pride let out a shaky breath. "Grammy and I managed to get him some help before he fainted for the second time, and he was in a worse condition now because he was hit by Dynama and had crashed before getting engulfed into the fire,"

"But he'll make it," Blaze assured everyone. "Crusher's gone through so much. I'm sure that he'll fight. Fight for his life,"

"Yeah," AJ agreed with a nod. "He'll be alright. He'll be up and moving before we know it,"

The others didn't look so convinced but managed to murmur an 'okay' or an 'alright' before driving out to get some air. Blaze and AJ exchanged a sigh then they drove out to join the others. Prider, Pickle, and Grammy were the only ones to stay in the room, with the elder truck holding the sleeping twins in her tires while the white tiger truck and the green truck stared down at the dark blue truck a little longer.

Pickle was crying, even when he tried to ignore the tears. His front tires were on the bed, with his face slumped up against them to stare over at his husband, internally pleading that the other would wake up.

Prider turned to the other but turned away immediately. He really wanted to comfort him again, but he knew that he couldn't say what Pickle needed to hear. He wasn't sure that he would believe his own words, anyway. Crusher... the truck that he had considered his best friends even after their argument... was fighting for his life here. He wished that there was more he could do to help him, but he knew he couldn't do anything but wait.

Wait and hope that Crusher was actually coming back.

A comfortable yet tense silence came between them. Neither of them knew what to say, or even if they should say anything. They barely knew each other, yet here they were, in front of the one they cared about, who was DYING.

Pickle, however, knew Prider more than the white tiger gave him credit for. There wasn't another day where Crusher wouldn't talk about him, his former best friend, and how he wished he could seal back the friendship that they lost. Pickle was never jealous of it. He was always feeling sympathetic for his lover, knowing that the dark blue truck was hurting but barely showing his real thoughts and emotions, always hiding for the sake of his own pride, the pride that he had forced himself to make to forget the pride he had earned and lost years ago.

After a while, the green truck decided to speak up.

"He never forgot you, you know?"

Prider was caught off-guard, blinking as he turned back to the other. "W-What?"

"Crusher. He never forgot about you," Pickle turned to him with a small smile. "He regrets it, you know? Everything you argued about. He doubts himself, pulling himself down every time we're alone. Wishing that he didn't argue with you. Wishing you never left,"

"I..." Prider gulped and turned away. "I didn't know. I... I've always felt guilty for our argument. I... I wanted to go to apologize, but I could never tell if he wanted to see me or not,"

"Man, you two really are best friends," Pickle chuckled. "He also kept murmuring whether you wanted to see him or not. He was really convinced that you were still mad at him and that you never wanted to see him ever again,"

"Really?" Prider blinked before chuckling. "Wow. I feel like a fool,"

Pickle chuckled too but didn't say anything else. The white tiger looked like he was debating if he should say anything before taking a deep breath and turning away.

"How long have you known each other?"

"About a year or two after you left," Pickle smiled fondly at the memory. "He went to a public college, and we met there,"

"How... How did your relationship start out?" Prider turned back. "I mean, I know that his attitude... changed when I left, so..."

Pickle grinned. "I wanted to be his friend at first. I had lots of friends, but I stuck by him all the time, even after he gets into so much trouble. Our bond practically strengthened because of that. He tried pushing me away at first, but I was just as stubborn as he was, so I kept persisting and insisting, and we ended up becoming the best of friends,"

"Then how did you two end up together?"

"Well... I told him first," Pickle blushed as he answered. "He was shocked and thought I was lying, so I kissed him. I... I guess that's how things started. Not the most romantic, but every smile and laugh I get from him is amazing enough,"

Prider watched as the green truck's expression turned daze and lovingly while he stared into the ceiling. This made him smile.

At least there were was good in his late arrival in his best friend's life, after all...

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[6 years later]

"Yes!" the child truck squealed as she successfully swiped what her brother was holding. "I got it!"

"No fair, Terra!" the other child truck growled at his sister. "Mommy said that I could use his wand!"

"And I ask Daddy, and he said I can too," Terra huffed. "Don't be so unfair, Aquario!"

"NO!" Aquario hissed and tried to snatch back the wand. "Gimme!"

"IT'S MY TURN!"

"NO! GIVE IT BACK!"

"Woah, woah, take it easy, kiddos," Prider chuckled as he suddenly grabbed the wand from their tires. "What's going on?"

"Terra's taking my turn on the wand, Uncle Prider!" Aquario yelled out.

"Aquario's taking ALL turns!" Terra argued. "It's MY turn now!"

"It's not!"

"It's too!"

"It's NOT!"

"It's TOO!"

"Woah, woah, okay," Prider shook his head. "How about I ask your mother? Would you like them to decide who gets the next turn?"

"NO!" Both kids cried out before driving off into the playground.

Prider sighed. "Oh god, they're father's kids, alright,"

"Hey, hey!" he turned to find the dark blue truck pouting as he drove over to him. "I wasn't THAT bad now, was I?"

"Oh, NO!" Prider grinned. "You were much, MUCH worse, Crush. Like, sneaking out of your own mansion worse,"

"That is... oddly specific," Pickle raised an eyebrow as he joined the two. "Should I be worried?"

"Nah, they'll be fine," Crusher smiled and held his husband close to him. "I only snuck out to race with Pry. And if I can CLEARLY remember..." He turned to his best friend again. "Every escape plan was YOUR plan,"

"But YOU agreed to it, Crush!" Prider defended, raising his front tires up. "I just wanted to help!"

"Still your plan!"

"Hey!"

"Oh NO, now I'm REALLY worried for the kids," Pickle slapped a tire to his head, shaking his head as he watched the two argue.

"Hey, Pickle!" the green truck turned to see Blaze and Darington arrive with a purple young truck with fiery red hair.

"Hi, Blaze! Hi, Darington!" Pickle greeted them with a smile before looking down at the 5-year old. "Aw, and hello little Inferna,"

"Hello, Uncle Pickle," Inferna waved. "Are Ter and Quario here?"

"They're at the playground," Pickle told her. "Wanna join them?"

Inferna nodded and turned to the daredevil truck. "May I, Mommy?"

"Sure!" Darington ruffled her hair. "Just stay with them until we pick you up, okay?"

"Okay!" Inferna beamed and drove off to join her friends.

"What's going on with them?" Blaze pointed a tire to the arguing duo.

"The stress of my life, apparently," Pickle sighed. "Now I'm worried how influential either of them are to the kids,"

"Same with Inferna to Darington," Blaze gave a nod in understanding.

"Hey!" Darington glared at him.

"Sorry, Darry-Berry, but it's true," the red truck offered a smile, slightly wincing as the daredevil truck's glare deepened. "It is!"

"Yeah, and you're any better," Darington rolled his eyes.

Pickle shook his head and turned to watch the two best friends stop arguing and begin a better, calmer conversation. He chuckled and sighed.

Life had been a struggle, with the pain, the near-loss and the struggle. The pain of hiding their secrets from the friends they grew to trust, the near-loss of one another in life, and the struggle Crusher had to go through to fight his way back to life 6 years ago.

But in the end, he and Crusher were still together, and that's all they've ever wanted.

The End