Edit: Okay, now I feel like an idiot. Why didn't someone point out that Arial's name was CLOUD through the ENTIRE FIRST CHAPTER?! Not only that, it's the wrong version!!! dies Grr. I'm never letting my brother near my stories again... He switched everything on me!

Well, I didn't expect this... jeeze, a Pixar movie... but, whatever, Cars is a kick $$ movie! but, I've made one discovery: I CAN'T write Cars... I just can't, not in this lifetime. I'm always putting way too much emphasis on hands and stuff like that. It just sounds awkward when I try to write them as cars, so they're gonna be human in this story. Sorry. Blame my lack of adaptability.

As for Lightning being dead... well, I'm in a slightly angsty mood at the moment (my dad's in the hospital with phneumonia again,) and I needed a good plot device. The logic behind what's happening in the story will be sorted out in the next chapter or two, especially what happened with Sally after Lightning died. And yes, Lightning's accident is gonna play a really big part later.

Fast Cars and Freedom
Then You Stand
Part 1: Her Father's Daughter

'She looks at me with those big blue eyes:
She's got me in the palm of her hands,
And I swear sometimes it's just like you're here again.
She smiles that little crooked smile:
There's no denying she's your child.
Without her I don't know what I'd do:
She gets that from you:
Oh, she gets that from you.'

"RIIIISE 'N' SHIIIINE!!!!"

Sally McQueen groaned and rolled out of bed, trudging over to her window, "Mater! It's way too early to-" "Hi, Mom!" a blur of red and black shot by the window, "Bye, Mom!" Sally sighed in exasperation and shook her head, "Stay out of trouble you two!" A dual chorus of "Yes Mom!" came from the retreating duo, "And I want her home before dark, Mater!" Her only answer was the familiar sputtering starter on Mater's precious tow truck. Sally smiled despite herself and turned to the picture sitting near the window, "She's your daughter alright... Oh, Lightning, if you could see her now..."

Lightning McQueen had been dead for thirteen years, killed in one of the worst wrecks in racing history in the final stretch of what would have been his fourth Piston Cup. The whole world had rang with rumors of sabotage and foul play for months, but nothing was ever proven. Sally had sworn, after that, that their daughter would never have anything to do with racing.

It had taken her five years to remarry, and she had chosen to do so only for the sake of her daughter. The decision had left much of the town scratching their heads, after all, why would she need anyone to help raise her and Lightning's daughter when the whole town already treated the child as their own. But they did not question it. It wasn't long after that Arial took to haunting the V8 and Doc Hudson's office, more than ready to get away from home as long as humanly possible. Sally was glad she could.

Sally opted to get a few more hours of sleep (at least until the sun was more than a sliver of slightly lighter black above the mountain) before dragging herself awake and down to Flo's. She was immediately assaulted by a livid, mud-splattered Sarge, "That little terror of yours nearly killed me!" Fillmore was trying to calm him down through fits of laughter.

And so began another day in Radiator Springs...

"Hard to believe yer almost thirteen, Lil' Lightnin',"

"Hard to believe ya lived that long,"

"Ha, ha, real funny, Angel, real funny. Angel! Damn, Angel, stop laughing!"

"Sorry, Ari, you know I love ya, right? I don't mean anythin' by it! Ow! Hey!"

Doc Hudson smiled as he heard the trio coming up the road. Arial McQueen was almost thirteen years old and the spitting image of Lightning, bright red hair that stuck up in every conceivable direction, splatter freckles across 75 of her body, and gorgeous blue eyes to make the sky jealous. She'd been racing since she was ten, without her mother's knowledge or consent, naturally. Sally and her husband were probably the only ones who were oblivious to what she was up to.

"Hey, race you guys up to the Wheel Well!"

Acted just like him, too, right down to proudly being claimed by Mater as his mini best friend despite her protests of him driving a "rusty ol' POS that I wouldn't drive if my life depended on it." Though, Doc did not doubt he would spend the rest of his life wondering how Lightning McQueen's daughter had chosen Flo and Ramone's four years older son as her other partner in crime (and partner in racing.) Doc had given her a rebuilt classic Mustang to drive to and from her work at the Wheel Well motel (and for racing, but her mom did not need to know that.) Sheriff had happily turned a blind eye to the fact that she was underage.

"Seems kinda unfair that she's not allowed to know that her dad was a racer,"

Doc shrugged, affording Arial a smile as she raced past the window to where her precious Mustang was waiting, "It's her mom's choice, Sheriff. Sally thinks it's for the best, and it's not our place to say she's wrong." He sighed, glancing sideways at the pictures on his work table, "Even if we all know she is. All we can do is pretend we don't see Lightning in her as much as we all do.

Sheriff growled angrily, "It's that husband of hers-"

"Drop it, Sheriff. We can't do anything." 'At least, not for now.' A crack of thunder rattled the office windows, making both men jump. Doc gazed in surprise out the window, "When'd it get so dark?"

Sheriff followed his gaze, a dark frown crossing his face, "I'm not normally the superstitious type, Doc, but storms like this usually roll around when something bad happens to the girls..."

To out of towners, the sight of an old, rusted tow truck, a tricked out '69 Cadillac, and a bright green classic Mustang racing up the road towards the Wheel Well Hotel was always a stunning sight, especially when it was threatening to storm at any moment. To the locals, it was a source of amusement and joy, because they knew exactly who drove those cars, and what it meant to see that Mustang flying around curves at breakneck speeds. Even Sarge, for all his grumping about how much trouble the trio caused, particularly early in the morning, found himself smiling just a little as he spotted them racing up the road.

Arial McQueen stared dejectedly at the computer screen in front of her. If it weren't for what was waiting for her at home she wouldn't have been working at the Wheel Well in the first place. Stupid guilty conscience and stupid town. She should have been out racing. Angel wasn't even there to keep her company. He was working the body shop with Ramone, and Mater was out on a call, and Doc never had time to leave his office anymore. If only the town wasn't so busy.

There were times when it was really all Arial could do not to just jump in Christine (as Angel and Ramone had christened her after the old Mustang had nearly killed both of them in several random accidents while they were repainting it) and drive off into neverwhere. Those few times she had attempted this, someone would inevitably head her off (usually Doc) and remind her that, anywhere outside of town, she was underage and would only get dragged back anyway, probably a lot less politely than Sheriff could, or Sarge for that matter. That had been an adventure, and a chase no one in town would soon forget.

"I should be workin' the V8 with Flo," she grumbled, "or, better yet, the body shop with Ramone or hangin' out with Doc or Sarge and Fillmore, not sitting here in this stupid hotel waiting for-"

"Um... hi,"

Arial jumped, nearly spilling her tea on the keyboard, "Oh! Sorry!" She leapt to her feet and smoothed out her, she shuddered internally, skirt, "Welcome to the Wheel Well. How can I help you?" It was only then that she actually looked at the boy standing in front of her. "Holy cow, is that a racing jacket?"

He looked down then gave her a wolfish smile, "Yeah, my dad's. He used to be a Piston Cup racer, and I'm starting this year."

"Wow," Arial sighed, pulling at a loose bit of red hair, "you're sooo lucky. I'll be lucky if my parents even let me start driving." Not that I listen to them anyway. "I'd kill to be able to race in the Piston Cup."

"I heard a couple pretty famous racers actually lived 'round here,"

"You're kiddin', right?" Arial laughed, "Racers? Here? Like who?"

It was at that moment that Angel backed in through the double doors, arms laden with the lunch the duo usually shared, just in time to hear their visitor say, in no uncertain terms, "Like the Hudson Hornet and Lightning McQueen."

"Oh, shit..."

Arial's blue eyes glazed over, making hundreds of warning bells in Angel's head go off all at once. She went into an almost robotic trance, setting up the reservation the boy wanted to make without question. Angel wondered if she even registered the name Strip Weathers as she put it in the computer. Disaster was about to strike Radiator Springs. Hard. And Lightning McQueen's daughter was in the center of it all.

Luke Weathers gave Arial a wink and brushed past Angel, spilling one of Fillmore's organic smoothies all over Angel's jacket.

"Ari? You okay, chika?"

"I... I need to go talk to Doc... I don't feel so hot..."

And then, all hell broke loose.

End: Part 1

Please R&R