Title: "Mater and the Ghost Light 2"
Author: Pirate Turner
Dedicated To: This is the fourth story in my annual 13 days of Halloween series dededicated with endless love to my wonderful, beloved Jack and our darling children.
Rating: PG
Summary: Lightning finds himself in a fix and must make a confession to his beloved Mater before Halloween.
Warnings: Slash, Established Pairing
Word Count: 3,846
Date Written: 20 September, 2011
Disclaimer: Lightning, Mater, Cars, and all other recognizable characters mentioned within are ﾩ & TM Disney, not the author. Everything else is ﾩ & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.

"The Ghost Light isn't going to get me this year!" Mater declared.

Lightning looked at him in surprise. "Oh, no?" he asked.

"Nope." Mater shook his cab. "I'm gonna make sure he doesn't! I'm gonna stay home!"

Lightning stared at him; his wipers swiped across his windshield. "You're what?"

"I'm gonna stay home." Mater grinned and wagged his tow.

"You're going to stay home on Halloween?"

"Yup!"

"But, Mater, you can't miss Halloween!"

"I sure can! It's better'n gettin' that Ghost Light up my tow again!"

"But, Mater!" Lightning cried. Thinking swiftly of a way to change his love's mind, he offered up the argument, "But he doesn't just come out on Halloween!"

"No, and I might oughta start stayin' home on full moon nights, too, but I'm definitely gonna stay home on Halloween. He's been pickin' on me every Halloween fer th' last couple o' years." He looked pointedly at Lightning. "Ya know that."

Lightning nodded slowly, his engine quietly purring. "I do," he agreed, "but I also know you can't miss out on all the fun Halloween brings. It's one of the best celebrations of the year, right after the big race!"

"I can, too, miss it!" Mater said determinedly. "It might be fun, but I'm tired o' that oil gone Ghost Light scarin' me! I don't know why he's always gotta pick on me. It's not like he bothers th' rest o' y'all that much, but he always gets me!"

Lightning sighed and wearily eyeballed Mater. "You ever think that maybe there's a reason why he does?"

"Sure," Mater agreed, a whistle passing through his gapped grill. "I know there's gotta be a reason, but I sure don't know what it is!" He shook his cab again. "I don't wanna know what it is, either. It don't matter why he does it. What matters is that I ain't gonna let it keep happenin'."

"But, Mater!" Lightning whined and caught himself in surprise. He wasn't accustomed to whining. It wasn't his style at all! Whining might get vehicles like Mater and his Rusteeze friends what they wanted, but race cars didn't whine! He cleared his engine. "I mean - "

"Nope," Mater said with a determined shake. "I'm sorry, Lightning, but there ain't nothin' ya can say or do to change my mind. Ya can go out if ya want to, but I'm stayin' home this Halloween. That oil gone Ghost Light ain't gettin' me this year, an' that's final!" He sped away down the dusty highway, his tow swinging in the breeze behind him, before Lightning could say or do anything else to try to change his mind.

Lightning sighed; his engine spun sadly. His bumpers lowered closer to the ground. He couldn't bare to let his beloved Mater miss out on his favorite holiday, but he wasn't going to let him change his mind as long as he thought the Ghost Light was real. There was only one thing for it; he was going to have to tell him the truth!

Lightning waited until he had Mater alone out in a moonlit field after an evening of tipping tractors before approaching the subject again. "Mater," he started slowly, "about what you said the other day . . . "

"What?" Mater asked lazily, gazing up at the stars that stretched for miles above their heads. "What did I say?"

"About Halloween."

Mater stilled. "What 'bout it?"

"I don't think you should miss out on it. There's something you ought to know about the Ghost Light scaring you before you give up Halloween to keep away from it."

Mater sniffed. "Ain't a problem with me keepin' away from it. It's a problem with me keepin' it away from me." He swung his tow, and something clanked behind him. A tremble passed through him, but he pushed the thought away. It wasn't a full moon, and Halloween was still a few weeks away. The Ghost Light wouldn't be out tonight. It had to be just the breeze.

"I understand," Lightning cajoled. He peered up at him. "But what if I could promise you the Ghost Light wouldn't get you?"

Mater looked at him warily. "How could ya do a thing like that?" he asked and then stilled again when he heard the clanking sound directly behind him once more. "L-Lightning," he stammered, "di-did ya hear that?"

"I did," Lightning agreed slowly, "but I know why . . . " As he'd been talking, Mater had slowly looked behind him. The moment he saw the light at the end of his tow, he started shaking, and the rattling of his metal parts completely drowned out what Lightning was trying to tell him.

Lightning saw his love spooking and started calling his name more loudly in a fruitless attempt to return his attention to him. "Mater? Mater! MATER!"

Yet it was no use for, as soon as Mater's fear eased enough that he could react, he started screaming. He screamed and started driving immediately. He fled all the way through Radiator Springs and back around again, still screaming at the top of his engine's volume, and though Lightning tried repeatedly to call to him as he followed him, it was of no use for Mater couldn't hear him for his own frightened screams.

At long last, Lightning managed to get behind Mater and remove the lamp from his tow. It was several miles later before Mater finally paused his screams long enough to look behind him and realized he'd shaken the Ghost Light. He breathed a heavy sigh of relief and grinned though his weary parts still trembled, now from exhaustion rather than fear. He'd out ran the Ghost Light again at long last!

He shook his cab as he recalled Lightning's earlier words. There was nothing his beloved hero could do to keep him safe from the Ghost Light, no matter how much he wanted to or how valiantly he tried. The Ghost Light was out to get him, and the only way Mater could stay safe was to keep away from the nights that the Ghost Light traveled on. That meant no more Halloweens or full moon nights, and it might, Mater thought, come to mean no more nights out period for tonight was just an ordinary night. There was nothing special about it, and yet the Ghost Light had come after him again. He sighed, hung his head, and started slowly back home.

Lightning was already in their cone when Mater returned. He didn't open his windshield though he heard his sweetheart slip into their cone and park beside him. He vroomed quietly, feigning sleep as he thought over the night's events in disappointment. He'd try again soon to tell Mater the truth about the Ghost Light, but this time he'd make sure he didn't hang the lamp on to Mater's tow until after he'd told him the truth. Maybe then his love would listen to him.

He'd never meant to scare him so badly but just to have a little fun with him. Lightning trembled slightly, and Mater touched his right wheel with his own. "It's okay, little fella," he crooned, thinking Lightning was having a nightmare. "It's all gonna be okay." It was going to be okay, Lightning agreed silently. It was going to be okay, because he was going to make Mater understand the truth about the so-called Ghost Light or his name wasn't Lightning McQueen!

It was broad daylight when Lightning again turned to Mater about Halloween. They had gone out together on a drive and were sitting on the bluff overlooking the town. "Mater," Lightning started, turning to him with a serious and somewhat scared expression, "there's something I've got to tell you."

"Shoot," Mater said, his tow wagging in the bright, afternoon sunlight. "Whatever ya gotta tell me can't be that bad, Lightning. Ain't nothin' gonna make me mad at ya, ol' buddy." His engine vroomed, coughed, and then vroomed again as he rubbed his fender against Lightning's.

Lightning spun one of his white-rimmed tires against the gravel. "I'm not so sure about that, Mater," he said, slowly pushing himself to deliver the facts he had to reveal to him. Mater had every right to be furious with him once he told him the truth; he only hoped he'd forgive him. "You see, I started doing something that I thought was funny, but it's something that, hum, might have hurt some one who means a great deal to me. I didn't mean to hurt him," his windshield peered up into Mater's, "and I'm very sorry I did. But when he learns what I did, I don't know if he'll be able to forgive me." He shook his hood. "I can't blame him if he don't want to forgive me, because I've done it what I know now to be way too many times. My actions have made him afraid to do normal things, and I never meant for that to happen."

Mater looked at him. "What you talkin' 'bout?"

Lightning's windshield had drifted down, but now, with far more boldness than he felt, he raised it back to gaze up into Mater's. "I'm talking about the Ghost Light, Mater."

"Aw, man!" Mater complained, tossing his cab and swinging his tow in irritation. "Don't bring that thing up here, Lightning! It's a beautiful day, an' that Ghost Light ain't got no business comin' out in th' daylight!"

"That Ghost Light," Mater spoke softly, "does not come out as often as you think, Mater. I'm not going to say it doesn't exist, because I don't know if it does or not."

"What you mean?" Mater interrupted angrily. "Of course it exists! Ya know how often that thing has chased me!"

"No," Lightning said, lifting his antennae, "I don't, because most of the time - all of the time, as far as I know - it hasn't been the Ghost Light."

Mater glared at him. "What? Ya think I'm crazy now?"

"No! No, of course not! Look." Lightning glanced down at his rear antennae. Mater followed his gaze and shrugged his cab at the sight of the lamp dangling on his antennae.

"What am I supposed to be seein'?" he asked. "I don't see nothin' but a lamp."

Lightning sighed. "Okay. I can understand that," Lightning agreed, "but watch this." He hooked his antennae over Mater's tow, and the lamp slid down onto Mater's tow.

Mater studied the swinging lamp with its blue light. "Hey, that . . . " he said slowly. "That kinda looks like th' Ghost Light." He shook his cab. "But it can't be."

"It is," Lightning insisted. "Mater, don't you remember the prank we pulled on you before back when you were scaring everybody in town?"

"Yeah." Mater nodded slowly. "Yeah, I do." He swung his tow and studied the way the blue light flickered.

"And we scared you back by putting the lamp on your tow and making you think it was the Ghost Light?"

"Uh huh."

"And, if you think back, how long has the Ghost Light been scaring you?"

Mater thought about it before answering, his grill whistling, "Reckon fer 'bout as long as ya been here."

"Precisely." Lightning's engine purred cajolingly. He turned to him and touched his tires with his; he rubbed his front bumper softy and comfortingly against his. "It's been me all along, Mater! I've been the one making you think the Ghost Light was on your tow."

Mater shook his cab. "Ya couldn't have been."

Lightning nodded. "It was me," he sincerely assured him, "and I'm sorry!. I never meant to scare you so badly!"

"No. No." Mater shook his cab more furiously. "It wasn't ya. Couldn't have been ya. Ya just don't want me to stay home on Halloween, is all. That's why ya comin' up with this cockamamie story. Good try, Lightning, but I know th' difference between a lamp an' th' Ghost Light."

"Mater! I'm not making up a story! It's the truth, and I really am sorry!"

"Nah, it ain't." Mater shook his cab and dropped the lamp onto the ground. "I think it's time I went back to town now, Lightning. I got work ta do. When yer ready to tell me whatever's really botherin' ya, I'll be right here fer ya, but I'm still stayin' home on Halloween. That Ghost Light ain't gettin' me any more."

"Mater!" Lightning called as his love began to drive away.

Mater shook his cab again. "Not now, Lightning!" he called back. "Not unless yer ready to tell me th' truth!"

"But that is the truth!" Lightning returned, but Mater was gone. He sighed, lowered his hood, and glared down at the lamp. His engine rumbled sadly. How on Earth was he ever going to convince Mater that it really had been him all along? "Great going, Lightning," he taunted himself. He'd only meant to have a little fun with his beloved Mater, but now, it seemed, he'd scarred him for life and there was no convincing him of the truth. There had to be a way, though, to make him see the real light! Lightning would find it and make Mater accept the truth, and he'd do it in time for him to enjoy Halloween, he swore, or his name wasn't Lightning McQueen!

It was the last full moon before Halloween, and Lightning was parked alone out underneath the stars on the bluff overlooking the town that he'd chosen to make his home. Almost all of the inhabitants of Radiator Springs were busy planning for Halloween. Filmore had started drawing spooky grins on his gasoline cans, and Flo was decorating the spigots at the diner in all kinds of spooky designs. Ramone had a new paint job for Halloween, and Luigi and Guido had started stacking tires in designs to look like the monsters from classic horror films. Even Doc was bringing in some bonafide pumpkins. Every one was getting ready to celebrate the holiday in full and fashionable swing, everybody except himself and his beloved Mater.

Lightning sighed, breaking the silence around him. Everything had been quiet since he'd driven out here except for the revving of his own motor as he'd contemplated how to solve the problem he'd given himself and his love. He'd tried many times over the last couple of weeks to make Mater see the truth about the Ghost Light and accept that it had been he who had been scaring him. Lightning knew his dearest friend would be furious if he accepted the truth, but once he got angry, they could get over that, he hoped, get him back to normal, and continue on with their lives.

He refused to let him miss out on his favorite holiday, but yet Mater just wouldn't listen to reasoning! He'd shown him several times in the daylight what it looked like when he attached a lamp to his tow, but Mater continued to persist in his belief that Lightning wasn't the creator of his Ghost Light but only trying his best to erase his fears. Lightning had even messed up once and attached the lantern during the night again, but the moment Mater had seen the light, despite Lightning's warning that he was putting it on him, he had freaked out again. He'd spent the rest of the night driving backwards in terror, and though Lightning had chased him at first, telling him he'd done it and apologizing, Mater had refused to listen to him. Lightning had at last given up and returned to their cone. Mater had not shown up until daylight the following morning, and he hadn't come back out at night ever since.

Lightning sighed again, his entire body sinking closer to the ground, and he let his tongue loll out of his grill. He had messed up big time, and he didn't know how to fix it. He'd gone to Doc for advice, but Doc had not given him any new plans and hadn't understood why it was such a big problem for Mater to miss Halloween. He had, however, told Lightning something else he'd already known. He had messed up, and he had no one else to thank for Mater's fears but himself. "Gee, thanks, Doc," he'd thrown back sarcastically and had shot out of town, driving as fast as he could until he'd finally circled back around here as the sun had set over the desert.

He was screwed, Lightning thought, tears welling in his windows, and he had no idea how to fix it. He couldn't go to his best friends for advice for Doc had been useless and Mater refused to believe him, which was the whole dilemma of his problem. He'd asked Mac, but Mac hadn't had any clue either. He'd finally broken down and asked every one in town for help and advice, but no one had been of any help. Filmore had even gone as far as to tell him that the "little man" was right to think monsters were out to get him for they were, and not only the Ghost Light, but all the monsters that went bump in the gas. He'd giggled insanely, and Lightning had driven off, his anger building, until he'd almost crashed into Sally, whose offer for a drive he'd immediately slammed down.

Lightning's motor revved louder in his frustration. He was so upset and disappointed in himself, more than anything else, that it felt as though all four of his tires had gone flat. He felt something hot breathe against his trunk, glanced behind him, saw nothing, and rolled his eyes. His windshield wipers started stroking away the tears rolling down his windshield that he had yet to acknowledge. He was so lost and frustrated that now he was beginning to imagine danger where there was none.

Again the hot air blew against his back. Lightning looked back once more but still saw nothing. "Cut it out," he muttered to himself. "Just because Mater won't listen to you doesn't mean you have to start imagining things." He perculated as low, guttural grunts started to sound from behind him, but still he persisted in ignoring whatever it was. He wasn't going to start imagining things like his beloved and innocent Mater.

The night had settled in, and clouds were now passing before the stars. It had grown dark without Lightning realizing it, and he was about to pop on his real headlights when a blue light suddenly washed over him. "Thanks," he said and looked back to see who had lit up the night for him. He winced in the sudden harshness of the brightest light he'd ever seen out in the countryside.

All he could see was a bright, blue light, and then something roared. Lightning's tires creaked, and he began to shake. "Who . . . ?" His tongue wiped his grill, and he demanded more firmly, "Who's there?" The anguished roar sounded again, and then something touched his rear tears. Lightning still couldn't see anything but the light, and when that touch came, despite himself and all his bravado, he screamed and started driving.

He spun gravel in his haste to escape whatever was behind him, and still the light stayed right on top of him. He raced in circles until he managed to climb down the bluff, and he kept speeding all the way through Radiator Springs. He was in too much of a blind rush to escape the light and the roaring noise he heard to hear the laughter coming from his friends, and it wasn't until he was long out of Radiator Springs, well on the other side of the otherwise empty desert, and beginning to run out of gas that Lightning began to slow down.

He was panting hard, and his engine bubbled. His tires ached, and he knew he was low on gas. Still, when he looked behind him again, the light was still there. But, he thought, with suspicion finally dawning, he hadn't heard any more roars in a long time now, not since he'd left the bluff. He slowed to a crawl and looked behind him again. The light was right on top of him, but he couldn't see anything else.

Then he heard laughter, and if it had been possible, Lightning's shiny, red paint would have turned an even brighter shade. "Mater!" he cried, and the little truck appeared, running from behind the light and sliding in next to him.

"I got you!" Mater sang out, whistling between his buck teeth.

Lightning stopped running at long last and glared at him. "You did," he acknowledged, and then he gave him a long, scrutinizing look. "How'd you do it?" he questioned.

"I ain't tellin'!" Mater exclaimed, grinning broadly. He hooked his tow onto the back of the light, and as he lifted it off of Lightning's trunk, Lightning finally recognized it was a stadium light.

"How'd you get that?"

Mater shook his cab. "I told ya I ain't tellin'!"

"And the roars?"

"Not tellin'!"

Lightning let out an irritated breath, but a small grin tugged at his front bumper. "Would you tell me how long you've been planning this?"

Mater nodded. "Now that I will. I been setting this up fer ya ever since ya told me ya were th' one scarin' me."

Lightning stared at him in shock. "So you did believe me?"

"'Course! Not that first time ya tried to tell me at night, but when ya showed me in th' daylight, then I knew ya'd been playin' me fer a fool!"

"I really am sorry."

"I know, an' I forgive ya now that we're even."

Lightning grinned. "So you'll come to Halloween?"

"Sure will! I already got my costume an' everything!"

"What are you coming as?"

"Not what. Who." Mater grinned at him and swung his tow. "I'm comin' as my bestest buddy in all th' world! I'm coming as you!"

Lightning beamed in his glowing praise. "I am sorry, you know," he apologized again. "I never meant to scare you so badly. I just wanted to have a little fun."

"I know." Mater nodded his cab in agreement. "That's why I got so much fun outta prankin' everybody, but now we're even." He paused, thinking seriously for a moment, before proposing, "An' ya know what we oughta do next year?"

"What?" Lightning asked, his grin growing in the light of Mater's infectious, eager smile.

"We oughta pull pranks on everybody together!"

"That'll be fun," Lightning purred in agreement, turning to face him. "But do you know what I'd like to do tonight?"

Mater thought about it a moment. "Scare me again?"

"No. I'm never going to do that again."

"I'd like ya too sometime. It's kinda fun runnin' like crazy." They shared their first laugh together in weeks, and then Mater asked, "Get some gas?"

"Besides that."

"Watch that horror marathon they're playin' in th' drive in theater?" When Lightning shook his disagreement, Mater asked, "Then what?"

"Make up," Lightning told him softly, his engine purring. He kissed him, and Mater shook all over.

"That sounds like th' bestest idea I ever heard!" He kissed him again, and slowly, side by side, they drove back to their little cone in their small town and did exactly that, kissing and purring the night away.

The End