Hello! I'm back :) And if you've asked for more Mater, then this is you chapter!
Ok, I have some things that I want to discuss regarding reviews. I have read every single review on the Crash chapter, and the most recent chapter so there's no need for you guys to send the same review around five times per chapter. Another thing is, I would greatly appreciate if you guys wouldn't constantly send what you want to happen later in this story. I may or may not include them, but most likely the latter. Like no joke, these months have been chaos! I'm gonna try to get at least one more chapter out before my birthday, so that's the goal. But with that out of the way, back to the reviews! :D
Alia: Thanks for your kind words
Same Fraser: You're probably right ;) and I'm most likely not going to make Doc's crash a silent film.
Barrydennen12: Welp, you're in luck then! This chapter is going to focus on other characters.
Connor: Ehhh, I probably won't do that but thanks anyway for the suggestion!
creolejoy: In all honesty, I don't see that happening in the scenario but I can see why you say that.
Vulcain 1911: Like I've said before, he most definitely will have a lot of lasting damage. Even canonically he has lasting damage such as problems with breathing.
Knight Rider: I like the idea of that however I don't know where I would put it in this story because what I'm doing has no relation to that flashback. If I were to include a flashback like that it would be in a different story.
Says Chaly: That sounds like a pretty good idea! I might include something like that later on.
Lisa kim: Hahaha don't worry I'm not stopping this story any time soon. And thanks for the support!
Guest (1): Yea, I remember reading that story. And I don't know 100% if I'm going to do something like that.
CarsGeek24: It's so good to hear from you! I completely understand how Latin can burn you out; the same is happening to me with Japanese. But anyway I'm so glad you liked this chapter and regarding Ryan. I looked back and he did feel a little out of character. My excuse was that the crash messed him up a little. XD
Cristalstarmochi: Thanks for that! And it doesn't really matter if you comment on the crash chapter or not cause I have the reviews sorted by date rather than chapter.
Netbug009: I'm glad you're liking this so far.
TheJayster49: Don't worry, I can see your comments. In fact, most of the reviews I get are from people who don't have accounts.
Ways: Man, thanks for that, it means a lot.
MarnetteD: You have nothing to worry about regarding me making this my own story. There's going to be a giant twist coming up that will keep it my own ;)
FYI: This is the backup document so I did my best in recovering all of the reviews but I feel like some are missing so I'm so sorry if I didn't answer your review.
"No….no….no!" Sally woke up gasping, almost in tears. Her vision was still blurry but she could make out the basic shape of the waiting room. How'd I get here? It appeared no one was in the room, it was cold, quiet, still, it was peaceful. Wait, no, there was a slight shaking sensation to her right and she was tucked into their side, however, she could barely feel them. Why can't I feel anything? Why am I numb? Sally looked up next to her to find Mater with several thick tear streaks down his fenders. She could tell he had been crying for a while and that worried her greatly.
"Mater, what's wrong?" Sally internally kicked herself for asking such a dumb question. What kind of question was that?! 'What's wrong' of course she knew why he was crying; he had just been emotionally traumatized and there's a high chance that everything could go down hill. Mater looked at her in surprise and arched his eyelid.
"Whatcha doin' up? That medication shoulda knocked ya out fer a lot longer!" Mater rapidly blinked away his tears.
"Wha-? What are you talking about? Where is everyone? Mater, what happened?" Sally responded in a more panicked but serious tone. She was so confused and her pounding headache only made it worse. She was becoming nauseous as more of her thoughts raced by.
"Well," Mater smacked his lips together, "The doctors hadda do somethin' with Lightnin's engine so they done asked me to help move ya out. You woke up and started panickin' so ya had somethin' given to ya that made you sleep or somethin' like that. And everyone except for me went to go wait fer Flo at the airport." Mater's lip quivered while his voice started breaking as he finished talking. He tried to hide his voice break but it was no use. Sally collected her thoughts and sat in silence for a couple seconds.
"That's not all, is it….Come on, just let it all out no one's gonna judge you Mater." Sally saw that something had to have happened while she was passed out. Mater stared at her for a second before bursting into tears. He struggled as his mind scrambled to form his thoughts into words.
"We….We almost lost him! H-he...early this morning! And y-you! I r-really thought that he..!" Mater balled, choking on his sobs. Sally did her best to comfort him and embraced him in a hug. She felt his tears slide across his rusted fenders and onto her hood. Even though it bothered her, she knew better than to say anything.
"Go on, let all of it out. It's good to cry every once in a while. But you have to put your sentences together and explain coherently what happened." Sally backed away from Mater's side and gave a soft smile at him. Mater nodded and took a deep breath.
"S-shortly into McQueen's e-engine transplant…..T-they said that they lost him for a sec! A-all of the doctors 'n stuff went in his room. I think ya heard maybe cause ya started cryin' and mumblin'. B-but I...I really t-though he was gone forever! S-somethin' disconnected while they were workin' on him." Mater continued crying harder this time. Sally let Mater cry until there was nothing left to cry out. She was kinda glad that she wasn't awake for any of that commotion, even though she had somewhat of her own 'adventure' already.
"Do you feel slightly better now?" Sally put her tire on Mater's side and smiled softly at him. He gave a faint smile and nodded. To be honest with herself she didn't know if any of this was helping or not. She felt emotionally drained, tired, and sick. Speaking of sick, her tank felt like it was going to jump out body. She needed to leave, she really didn't want to leave Mater by himself but it was either she left or she made a mess. "Uh..Mater?" Mater looked back up at her and saw the desperation in her eyes. "W-where's the n-nearest restroom?" Sally covered her mouth as she gagged. Mater's eyes went wide as he pointed down the hall. Sally mouthed 'thanks' as she took off. Mater slumped back down in his spot. He did somehow feel slightly better but the thoughts of Lightning kept on returning. Mater really hated being left alone in these situations, he felt lonely and helpless. He glanced at the clock, hoping that the rest of the gang would come back soon with Flo. This day already felt like it was lasting forever and it was barely 10:00 AM.
"Ok, you can do this. Be strong." Sally rinsed out her mouth while mumbling to herself. She had to stay strong. She couldn't wallow in pity at this time. She needed to be the strong one, and after seeing Mater break down, she couldn't imagine how any of the others were taking it. Sally left the restroom still feeling nauseous and tired. She turned the corner and saw a glisten of purple paint on the other side of the hallway. Sally didn't know why but she was so relieved to find Ramone followed by Flo, Luigi, and Guido.
"Flo! You're here! Guys! I'm so glad you made it." Sally rushed to the front of the pack causing Ramone to chuckle a little. Even though Sally wasn't normally like this, he embraced her in a hug anyway.
"What do you mean you're glad we made it? We only went to the airport, Azul lírio. Well, with the exception of Flo." Ramone smiled and kissed Flo on her fender.
"I don't know, it was just a little lonely with just me and….Mater. Oh my gosh I completely forgot Mater was in the waiting room! I can't believe I just left him there!" Sally felt guilty enough that she lowered her body and drove back to the waiting room while everyone followed. She entered the room and began profusely apologizing to Mater. "I'm so sorry I was gone so long! I lost track of time and then I saw Ra-" Mater cut her off mid sentence by putting his tire up.
"What do ya mean? It's only been ten minutes since ya left. Why the freak out Miss Sally?" Mater watched as Luigi and Guido rolled in as well. Sally grimaced and sighed in distress.
"I don't know Mater, I just feel like crap right now. And now we're just sitting sheep waiting for Lightning to either finish surgery, or...you know... I mean, last I saw him he looked like he went through hell and then got spit back up." Sally didn't realize how heartless and casual she was sounding until Guido made a squeak and spoke something in Italian before quivering his lip.
"Guido says he doesn't like how you talk…..along with some other words that I shall not say" Luigi's heavy and snappy accent filled the room. Sally bit her lip and stayed silent before thinking out loud.
"Wait a second, where's Fillmore, Sarge and Mack? I haven't seen them since last night." Sally tried to look out the window that was on the opposite side of the room.
"We got caught up with the press. Also, it turns out Mack wasn't informed at all about Lightning's crash so by the time you went into the waiting room, we got a phone call from Mack asking us a bunch of questions and how Lightning was doing. We felt so bad that he wasn't able to come to this section of the hospital. So Mack is hanging around the area with I think Gale is her name, I'm not 100% sure though. Mack, her, Fillmore, and Sarge offered to be on paparazzi duty for the time being." Ramone explained. A doctor came through the door with a tired smile on his face. He was a nicely polished white 1985 Chevy Caprice.
"Well, I am happy to say that the engine transplant went very well for the most part with the exception of that hiccup at the beginning of the procedure of course. But we have now got everything under control and later today we'll work on getting his windshield repaired. We're hoping that his vision will be fully restored. We're now taking guests at this moment but you better hurry because we're only allowing one hour in order to get to Mr. McQueen's next surgery on time." His bright attitude and light tone allowed the townies to breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone looked at Sally expecting her to go back into the room but were somewhat shocked to see that she didn't go in. Instead, she looked at Mater.
"Mater, I want you to go in instead. You need it now more than I do, so go on and see him." Sally felt that someone else needed to see Lightning other than her, it would bring Mater comfort in a way.
"Y-you sure Miss Sally? I mean ah...well...he means a lot to ya." Mater's voice softened and his tow hook sagged down. Sally couldn't believe that he would have second thoughts about seeing Lightning.
"Yes," Even in a time like this, she couldn't help but giggle slightly, "I'm sure. I know how much you want to see him." Sally smiled widely.
"Holy shoot! Thanks Miss Sally!" Mater went to leave the waiting room and took one last glance at everyone. As soon as he entered the room, all happy feelings disintegrated. It was almost as if all the sunlight was being sucked away by an invisible vacuum somewhere. Lightning looked absolutely awful however, Mater was sure he looked a lot better than the first night he was taken into the hospital. He slowly drove in and placed himself out of the way of any machines. He made sure his tow hook was out of the way of anything that could get caught on it. Mater did not need another lantern and fire incident that set his rear on fire. Lightning still had bandages around his eyes and now had primer plastered on his fenders. Mater tried his best to put a smile on his face but found he couldn't move a muscle. He wanted to say something but didn't know what to say.
"Hi pal…...I'm guessing them pranks are gonna have tuh wait 'till later huh?" Mater attempted to lighten the mood that was in place. He hated seeing anyone like this, he wanted to cry again but felt too dull to wail. A few small tears left his windshield. He laughed awkwardly before continuing. "I don't even know what to say bud….fer once in my life heh." Mater sat in silence, staring at the body and accepting things as it is at the moment. "I'm really countin' on you to wake up. Cause I'd go and done become a goner if it weren't for ya. Ahhh shucks, now ya went and got me all sappy." Mater smiled as he finished. "Let me tell ya though, you better wake up fer Chryslermas cause it's like uhhh like four weeks away or somethin' and you can't miss Chryslermas, it's like the most important holiday. You know what, I'mma draw a picture for yea. My cousins always did say that pictures help 'n stuff."
Mater went to the opposite side of the room and grabbed some folder paper and a spare crayon he always carried around with him which of course was red. He clipped it onto his rim and started drawing, he didn't know what he was drawing but the crayon was already drawing lines on the paper. It ended up being a picture of himself and Lightning in front of Willy's Butte. Mater placed it on the little desk that was next to Lightning and smiled. He only had a couple minutes left before the doctors came back to take Lightning away so Mater decided to leave a little early. He felt like a weight had been lifted off his fenders. He took one last look at Lightning with his new white bandages and smiled softly, "I know you'll get better bud, just hang in there."
Yay! Another chapter done! and for those who don't know Spanish, Azul Lirio means blue lily. I recommend looking up some blue lilys cause they are extremely pretty! Hopefully I can get back into the groove of writting and get chapters out sooner.