This is the final oneshot in this collection. I wrote it ages ago, but it felt appropriate to save it till the end.

Quick note: I made it so the Interstate wiped the town off the map in 1968 because it hadn't in Mater's story, set in 1967, but it had in Red's, which is set in 1969. When Sally says forty years ago, I'm assuming that's give or take.

For the last time, enjoy! :)

Shine

1968

Lizzie had lived in Radiator Springs for a very long time. When she first rolled into town, it had been love at first sight with both the town itself and its founder, Stanley.

To nobody's surprise, other than Stanley's, Lizzie decided to make Radiator Springs her permanent home. The two of them settled down and got married. Nothing could be better than living together in Radiator Springs.

The town was Lizzie's second love and had seen many ups and downs during her time there. The worst one was when Stanley had been tragically killed by a boulder while exploring the mountains. Then, unfortunately, wild coyotes had pretty much finished him off. For a long time, the Model T felt like her life was over too, but she had such wonderful friends in Radiator Springs that she managed to get through the tragedy. Not that she forgot about Stanley; quite the opposite, in fact. She thought about him a lot, but she was able to cope with his death much easier.

Anyway, Lizzie had witnessed many a tragic death, birthdays, anniversaries and graduations from the town's school over the years. However, never had she experienced anything like this.


It had just happened overnight. The previous day had been as bustling as any other day. She remembered that just the day before, she'd been busy serving customers, all eager to get their hands or tyres on a souvenir to remember their wonderful time in Radiator Springs. When she didn't have any customers, she would just smile and watch as cars made their way down the road. Everyone, human and vehicle alike, were greeting each other merrily. Children played tag on street corners, shrieking with delight. The golden sunlight washed over the town, making it shine more than ever.

Today, however, Radiator Springs had become a ghost town. In the morning, they had all gathered under the banner, welcoming Interstate travellers, eager and excited for the rush of customers. By nightfall, everyone's spirits had decreased as rapidly as the number of tourists.

"You don't think they've just forgotten about us, have they?" Ramone wondered.

"Of course they have!" Sarge muttered bitterly. "Look around you!" He waved a tyre towards the empty town.

"They can't have just forgotten about us that quickly", Flo pointed out logically.

"Then where are the customers?" Luigi wondered.

"I don't know", Flo answered honestly.

"Flo's right", Alice spoke up. "Everything will go back to normal soon."

Lizzie had nodded in agreement. "This town can survive anything."

The others wished they had their confidence.

Flo sighed. "Come on. Let's have dinner. I got so much food, it would be a shame to waste it. And I think we should all be together tonight."

So, the town got together, but nobody felt much like eating or talking. The most important thing was that they were together. They would always be together no matter what.


Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Not a soul came into town. Everyone was beginning to get discouraged, but the women tried to remain positive.

"This town can survive anything", Lizzie repeated on several occasions.

"Maybe we should put up some signs, so people know we're here", Flo suggested.

So, they did. It still made no difference. Nothing they tried made any difference. Switching on the neon lights every night, hoping it would stand out like a beacon in the night sky failed to attract customers. Unfortunately, in a matter of works, half of the neon lights had broken. Nobody bothered to fix them, partly out of depression and partly because they had no money. Without any tourists, they had no source of income. Things were just beginning to look hopelessly bleak.

That was why a lot of the people living in Radiator Springs were in a hurry to pack up and split town.

"I think I'd better search for business opportunities elsewhere", they'd explain.

"Where are you going to go?"

"Not sure. Just somewhere I can find work."

It was devastating for the remaining residents to see, but they understood. The last straw, however, was when the doctors left. They made the announcements on the exact same day.

"I have... been offered a job at a hospital in Chicago", Francis Donovan announced. "I'm going to take it."

"What?!" all of his kids exclaimed immediately. "No! Dad, we wanna stay!"

"That is out of the question", Francis insisted. "I'm not getting any work here and I'm trying to raise six kids! I need to take this job!"

"I suppose your family is what you need to think about right now", Lizzie admitted with a sigh. "We'll be sorry to see you go, but we wish you luck."

At that moment, the vehicle doctor, George McIntyre, pulled up to Flo's.

"Everyone?" he began. "I have an announcement to make."

Sarge mumbled an inappropriate word everyone hoped the children didn't hear. "What now?"

"I have just accepted a job offer in Philadelphia at a larger garage."

There was a long silence.

"You're serious about this?" Sarge asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Why?"

"Well, it's just that Francis is leavin' too!" Ramone informed him, sounding more than a little annoyed.

George stared at his fellow doctor in disbelief. "You are?"

"Yep", he confirmed. "Got offered a job in Chicago."

"Congratulations!"

"You too!"

"Wait a second here!" Sheriff intervened. "If both of our doctors are leavin', what are we s'posed to do?"

There was an awkward pause. Clearly, neither doctor had considered that.

"Come on, Sheriff", George answered finally. "The town ain't gonna survive like this. If y'all were smart, y'all would leave too."

Heartbroken by what they were saying, Lizzie drove off. There was only one place she wanted to be.


"Oh, Stanley", she murmured softly. "What would you think of all this?"

She was gazing up at the statue. It had been placed at the end of town in front of the fire station, where Stanley could always watch the activity going on in town. Now, he just stared at empty streets and watched as the citizens of his beloved town grew more and more depressed.

Lizzie knew that her late husband was very proud of the town. After all, he was the one who created it. She knew it would break his heart too to see the town suffering like this. Would he have known what to do? The Model T was convinced that if anybody would, it would be Stanley.

"You really miss him, don't you?"

Lizzie looked away from the statue to find William approaching her.

"Every single day", she confirmed mournfully.

There was a sad silence. Lizzie had been Stanley's wife and William had been his best friend.

"What would he think of all this?" William wondered, as if he could read Lizzie's mind.

"He wouldn't have let this town die", she remarked.

"Of course not", the human man agreed softly. "He would've done anything for this town."

"I feel like we're failing him", Lizzie blurted out. "He would've done anything for this town. But I fear we're not doing enough."

"I know what you mean." William nodded. "Stanley trusted us to take care of the town when he was gone." He sighed. "I just don't know what else we can do."

"Neither do I."

William sighed again. "I suppose all we can do is keep faith in the town and each other. And just hope that this is a temporary thing."

Lizzie thought about that. She wished there was a better solution. Unfortunately, she was beginning to see that there really wasn't. "I suppose you're right."

William smiled at her reassuringly. "We will get through this."


1993

"We gather here today to celebrate the lives of William Thomas Donovan and Alice Vivian Donovan", Sheriff began the ceremony.

Lizzie glanced up at the large photo of the happy couple. It was clear that they were so in love. Ultimately, that had been the result of Alice's demise. She had been by his side since their first day of kindergarten. Then just two days without her husband after he'd died of a stroke was too much for the woman and she had died as well. It wasn't a suicide. There was no evidence of that. Doc Hudson- the new doctor, who had come to town in the seventies- hadn't been able to determine her official cause of death. All they knew was that it was natural causes and everyone in town suspected that it was grief over the death of her husband.

The Model T thought back to her conversation with William just three days before his death...


"Thirty-five years to the day and not one customer!" Lizzie announced dejectedly.

"What about Doc?" William wondered.

"I suppose", Lizzie admitted, "but he chose to stay here. We're still not back on the map... Do you think we ever will be?"

William was silent for a long time.

"Lizzie", he began quietly, "I don't think I can go on much longer." Lizzie doubted that too; he was ninety-six years old; he was a lot slower when he moved (and he'd always been pretty slow; he'd only had one leg for over seventy-five years); lately, his mind didn't seem to be what it used to be and he just seemed to be weaker. "So, promise me one thing: You will never give up hope. No matter how bleak things look. Stanley wouldn't want you to and I certainly don't either. No matter how long it takes, I truly believe that this town will shine again. And when it does, you know Stanley and I will be there."

"I hope you're right", Lizzie informed him with a heavy sigh.


Three days later, his wife, Alice, had found him on the floor in their home and Doc was called in a hurry. Unfortunately, there wasn't an awful lot the doctor could do by then.

"I suppose it's for the best", Doc had admitted ruefully. "He told me a few days ago he didn't wanna keep on livin'. He knew his time had come."

Then Alice had followed suit just two days later.

The day after Alice had passed away, the town buried the two in the graveyard outside of town where Stanley and several other departed residents lay. Long ago, the two had requested that they share a grave next to Stanley's. The townsfolk honoured that requested and put a stone up for them. Then they gathered at Flo's for a private little memorial service, not exactly a funeral, but the residents knew that this would be what they wanted.

As Lizzie looked around, while Sheriff was reading his speech on how much Radiator Springs meant to the Donovans, a horrible realisation dawned on her. There were no humans left! Not a one! Not in Radiator Springs, anyway. They'd all either fled when the town died or passed away. Miriam had a heart attack. Ethel had been hit by a cab. Now, William and Alice, two of her oldest friends, who were there to see the birth of Radiator Springs, were gone. Now, only eleven remained, all of whom were vehicles. Maybe this really was the beginning of the end for Radiator Springs. Maybe everyone would be dropping like flies, like Sarge always said and pretty soon, there would be no residents left. It would become nothing but an old, rundown, abandoned ghost town.

That's ridiculous! Lizzie told herself. Preposterous! The town will shine again. I can feel it.

Funny thing was, right then, in what could've been viewed as one of the bleakest moments in town after the construction of the Interstate, Lizzie really could feel it!


2000

Lizzie thought it would be just a typical day in town when she woke up that morning and arrived at Flo's. However, when Luigi and Guido returned from Ashgrove late that afternoon, they proved the day to be anything but.

"Is that what I think it is?" Flo asked.

"Customers?!" everyone exclaimed, cautiously optimistic.

"Not just customers!" Ramone observed. "Look what she's holdin'!"

This prompted gasps from all of the patrons of the café.

"A baby?!" Flo squealed.

Lizzie was amazed. She couldn't believe it. Was it possible that they had a customer? A customer, who had just had a baby?! And humans? This seemed too good to be true. It was almost as if William, Alice and Stanley had all heard her concerns and decided to give her some more humans to join the town.

Sure enough, Guido was holding a tiny, bright pink human baby. She was beautiful, having just been born not even half an hour earlier. Lizzie came over and smiled at the little baby, who gazed up at her curiously with big blue eyes.

"What a little princess!" the Model T couldn't help exclaiming.


When the mother of this little baby split town, leaving her child behind, the initial reaction of the townsfolk was one of horror, disbelief and sadness that a mother could do such a thing to her own flesh and blood. Gradually, however, it became one of sheer joy because little Fudge stayed in Radiator Springs. Still, none of them were happier than Guido and Luigi, who were just over the moon to have a child of their very own at last. From the very start, it was clear that Fudge meant the world to them.

A few days after the official adoption certificate had arrived, Lizzie found herself staring at this baby. By that point, she was five months old and was already growing at an alarmingly rapid rate.

"Looks like Radiator Springs is your home, little one."

All Fudge could do in response was drool.

For a brief moment, Lizzie couldn't help worrying if this little girl would be as happy in Radiator Springs as they all were to have her there. Of course, to the Model T, Radiator Springs was better than the big cities, but she wished there were still other children around for Fudge to play with. Mater and the other kids had grown up together and became very close friends. Of course, Fudge didn't have that... Would she be okay?

Of course she would, Lizzie decided finally. She'll be in Radiator Springs. With all of us. And she'll make the town shine even brighter.


2004

Once again, Lizzie thought that it was just a typical day. At first, it had been. It was only when she exited her store at the end of the day that she realised something was different. Little Fudge, who was now three, going on four, was being carried home, freshly bathed and in her pyjamas. The strange thing was that she was being carried by someone unfamiliar: a baby blue Porsche.

"Hi, Lizzie!" Fudge shouted, waving.

"Hi!" this Porsche greeted Lizzie warmly. "I'm Sally. What's your name?"

"I'm Lizzie. So... What brings you to Radiator Springs?"

"I was just passing through", Sally explained. "This town is just beautiful."

"Thank you", Lizzie replied, glad to hear that someone said that. "We think so."


Lizzie was also glad that Sally eventually decided to stay. She had big ideas for the town: weekly rehearsals and reopening the Cozy Cone Motel. Unfortunately, despite her efforts and her optimism, she still couldn't make the town shine the way it used to. Maybe, just maybe, nobody wanted to visit Radiator Springs anymore.


2006

Lizzie parked by her late husband's statue where he had a perfect view of the town. It was almost as if he was amazed as the residents themselves by the rainbow that had lit up the town. The song "Sh-Boom" was playing over the loudspeakers as all of the town's residents cruised up and down Main Street, happier than they'd ever been. Bubbles floated all around them and five-year-old Fudge chased after them, laughing delightedly. Her smile shone brighter than all of the neon lights.

And it was all thanks to one hot rod who didn't want anything to do with this town.

"Oh, Stanley", Lizzie sighed to herself. "I wish you could see this."

Just at that moment, Lizzie could've sworn that she could see Stanley, William, Alice and all of the other residents who had left town were all up there somewhere, smiling proudly as they watched the town shine.

Even though it wasn't very significant, I kind of imagine Stanley died young and since he was an adventurer, I made it some kind of horrific accident.

There will be a very short epilogue coming soon, but other than that, this story's finished.

For the most part, I liked how it turned out. Some I liked more than others (I liked Meant to Be and Merry Christmas Fudge! I did not like Sheriff and the Ghostlight.) Let me know which one was your favourite and let me know what you think of this one, of course.