Legacy - A Sapphire Sky Story

[ebonyviper]

DISCLAIMER: Cars and everything related to it belongs to Pixar Disney. Sapphire Sky/Julia Weathers and Violet Cunningham belong to me. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for entertainment purposes only.

NOTE: I have been wanting to write a Sapphire story for ages and now here it is.

CHAPTER 1: A Daughter's Thoughts

It wasn't fair.

She should be out there on the racetrack right now, but she was in no condition to be racing in the first place. A serious injury was keeping her away and stuck in her parents' home in Raleigh. It wasn't like she had a choice in the matter. Chick Hicks caused her to crash into the wall and cause her the damage that she was now recovering from. Her side still hurt whenever she moved and she felt very sore. She couldn't really be up and about that much.

The only way that Sapphire Sky could possibly see the race at all was by watching it on the television that had been set up in her room. It wasn't the same and she could only catch snippets of her father speeding around that track, following closely by Chick, and then that rookie, Lightning McQueen.

“Stupid injury,” she muttered irritably, wincing at the sharp pain that it caused her when shifted her weight on the sleeping pad and trying to get more comfortable, “Keeping me away from what I love best.”

“I don't think it's a bad thing,” said Violet Cunningham, one of Sapphire's childhood friends who had come to visit the race while she was laid-up, “At least you don't have to concentrate as much as you do on the track. And it gives you time to relax and be with friends.”

“You're lucky you weren't born into a racing family, then,” Sapphire answered, “At least you get to choose what career path that you want. Mine was already set out for me.”

“That's not true. I don't think racing is the only thing you're good at, Julia,” replied Violet, calling Sapphire by her real name, “Maybe during this forced downtime you'll find something else that you'd like.”

“I don't know,” sighed the racer, “What else am I good at other than racing?”

Violet thought for a moment, “Hey, I have an idea. Why don't I go down to the library and pick out some books on various subjects and see what interests you. How does that sound?”

“Library?” asked Sapphire, “It's not a place I usually frequent, but since I'm stuck in recovery, I guess I have no choice. Maybe it'll help relieve my boredom.”

“Oh, come on,” replied Violet, “Reading's not that bad. You learn something from books that you don't learn from racing. I think you'll like it.”

Sapphire sighed, “Whatever you say, Violet. Go ahead.”

“Okay,” Violet nodded, smiling, "See you later." The deep purple Dodge Intrepid left Sapphire's room on her chosen task, leaving the racer alone with her thoughts and the television.

Sapphire turned back to watching the race, hoping that she hadn't missed anything during her talk with Violet. She felt tired, but wanted to catch the rest of the race before she needed some sleep.

There was an incident on the track that Chick had just caused, sending almost all of the racers into chaos, slamming into each other, tumbling out into the infield, just a lot of serious wreckage and damage. Sapphire tried to spot her father and was relieved to find out that he had made it to the pits. For one dreaded moment, Sapphire thought that something had happened to him.

Sapphire was able to see what happened next. Lightning had made it through the wreckage for some miraculous reason and was now in lead position. He would've been able to hold it if his left rear tire didn't blow out. And then the other one blew out and now he was riding on his rims. Plus Lightning was very close to the finish line too, with the King and Chick coming up fast behind him.

All ended in a blur and the laid-up racer wasn't sure who won. She wasn't even sure she could stay awake long enough to wait for the results of the race, but she was pretty sure that her parents would call and tell her about it.

Maybe she just needed a nap. That's what she was just going to do anyway before Violet came to visit her. Yawning, Sapphire pressed down on the special tire pedal to turn off the television and then the lights in her room so that she'd have peace and quiet while she slept.

It wasn't until a few hours later that the ringing of the telephone woke Sapphire up. She groaned and activated it by pressing down another floor pedal. The phone popped out of the wall to face her.

She spoke groggily into it, “Hello...?”

“Oh, Honey,” the voice her mother on the other end answered, “I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry about that.”

“It's okay, Mom...” replied Sapphire, “I'm awake now... How are you and Dad...? What happened at the race...?”

“Well, it's like this,” explained Lynda Weathers, “There was a three-way tie...”

“Three-way tie...? You mean Dad didn't win...?” asked Sapphire.

“Well, no, but there's going to be a tie-breaker race to be held in California in about a week,” continued Lynda, “It's to determine the winner. Only one racer is going to take home the Piston Cup.”

“Isn't Dad going to retire soon...?” asked Sapphire.

“Yes, at the end of the season,” replied Lynda, “He wants to go out with dignity.”

“Oh... I wish I was well enough to go see this tie-breaker race...” murmured Sapphire.

“You'll probably will, Hon, if you get enough rest and let yourself heal,” answered Lynda assuringly, “All of us want to see you back on your tires again. But don't strain yourself too much, okay?”

“I won't, Mom...” Sapphire promised, “Tell Dad I said congratulations and that I'm going to be cheering him on... and that I love him...”

“He and I both love you too,” replied Lynda, “Just concentrate on getting better, okay? We'll be thinking of you.”

“Thanks, Mom...” replied Sapphire.

“I'll let you go now, Hon,” Lynda said, “You still need to recover and I don't want to keep you up any longer than you wish to. I'll give your father the message.”

“Talk to you later... Bye, Mom...” Sapphire hung up the phone, suddenly feeling tired again. She really needed to rest this time. No distractions. She sighed, wincing once again at the sharp stab of pain in her side, then lay back down.

Don't worry about anything, she told herself, Just rest and get better.

[Evangeline]

Good stuff. Poor, frustrated Sapphire...

[ebonyviper]

Chapter 2: Memories of the Past

DISCLAIMER: Cars and everything related to it belongs to Disney Pixar. Sapphire Sky, Violet Cunningham, and Heather Axle belong to me. No copyright infringement intended. This is just for fun.

Between the books and the television, Sapphire had very little to do while she was recovering from her injury. Even if Violet stopped by every once in awhile, the racer still felt rather lonely. She had only spoken to her father a few times while he was on his way to California for the tie-breaker race within the week.

Sapphire wished that she could be there with her parents, but the best she could do at the moment was to stand up and slowly drive around her room before she started to get tired and had to lay back down. The healing injury still hurt her and she was hard-pressed to stay idle just so that the pain would pass.

She tried to remember the good times that she had with her family. The stories that were told to her when she was only a child were still fresh in her mind. Those were what she used to distract herself from the harsh reality that she was living now.

* * * * *

Once, years ago, they had been a modest, happy family. Her mother had told her that when she was born, she was just in the 'plain adorable category', which identified all babies. She was told that when she had first met her father, which happened to be a tall, majestic Plymouth Superbird, she tipped over because she was fixated on his wing, causing her to cry. She only stopped when her father gently righted her back onto her tiny baby wheels and gave her a nuzzle.

That was when she started to follow him around as she was growing up. Her father called her 'His Little Shadow'. Sapphire adored her father and when she was older she wanted to follow in his treads and become a famous racecar like he was.

When she was 13, she was allowed to go watch her first race, called the Rush 500, in which her father was participating in. She and her mother had gotten infield passes and were making their way over to her father's pit area. That was when she first met Chick Hicks.

To Sapphire, the green #86 racecar was rude, crude, and so full of himself. She was nearly run over by him before he realized that she was there.

“Hey, get outta my way, kid!” Chick snapped at the young Sapphire.

“Why don't you stop that damn weird spider from eating your face!” Sapphire snapped back, referring to Chick's mustache-grill. She could hear her father laughing at the remark. Her mother, however, wasn't looking quite happy about it.

“You're gonna get it, kid,” growled Chick, raising a foretire to strike Sapphire. He would've hit her too, if it hadn't been for her father putting himself between her and Chick.

Her father made it VERY clear to Chick that if he ever harmed Sapphire, he would have to deal with an extremely angry Superbird. Chick just growled at Strip, shot an annoyed glare at Sapphire, and backed away to continue on to his own pit.

After Chick had left, Strip and Lynda turned to their daughter. “Honey, you shouldn't say things like that,” Lynda gently, but firmly, admonished Sapphire, “You could get in trouble with the track officials.”

“But, Mom, that racecar was being rude to me,” Sapphire protested, pointing in the direction that Chick had gone.

“Julia,” Strip replied, “Chick Hicks may be rude, but he knows better than to get in trouble with the track officials, especially Heather Axle over there.” He pointed to the pace car that was sitting patiently beside one of the track officials, waiting to lead the racers onto the track itself.

Heather glanced over at the Weathers family, smiled, and waved at them in a friendly manner. She didn't know that she was going to die that day.

Lynda and Sapphire went up to one of the special suites to watch the race as Heather led the racers onto the track, who were weaving to and fro behind her. Sapphire became upset when there was a disaster on the track. Apparently, she had watched as Chick zoomed up on Heather's blind side and smashed the pace car into the wall. The race had to be stopped so that paramedics could attend to Heather's battered and crushed body. Sapphire was crying into Lynda's side, not wanting to watch the gruesome scene below.

Sickened by the death of the pace car, Sapphire did not attend any more races for awhile and had just sat in her room, listening to her music to try to drown out those awful memories. This had worried her parents and they tried to get Sapphire to come out of her shell.

“Honey,” Lynda called from behind Sapphire's closed door, “Can we talk?”

“What's there to talk about?” Sapphire snapped, “Heather's dead! And it's all Chick's fault!”

“Julia,” replied Lynda, “Heather didn't know that she was going to die and she was quite unprepared for that move that Chick made on her. She's up there with Chrysler and The Great Manufacturer right now and I don't think she blames Chick for her death.”

Sapphire opened her bedroom door, her sides stained with tears. She had been crying. Upon seeing this, Lynda gently snugged her daughter, wanting to comfort her. “It's going to be alright, Honey. It's going to be alright.”

* * * * *

Back in the present, Sapphire's memories were halted when the telephone rang. She got up and shook herself awake.

“Hello...?” she asked sleepily when she activated the receiver.

“Sorry to wake you, Sweetie,” it was the voice of her mother on the other end, “but there's been a serious accident on the track involving your father.”

Sapphire sat up, alert, ignoring the pain from her healing injury. “What is it, Mom? What happened to Dad? Is he alright?”

“You're father was sent tumbling into the infield by Chick near the end of the tie-breaker race,” Lynda said in the calmest voice that she could, but Sapphire could tell her mother was worried, “He was badly injured, but he's in the hospital and recovering nicely as the doctors had told me. But he's going to be pretty much out of the circuit for good now.”

“He sounds much more worse off than I am,” replied Sapphire, “But I'm glad that he's being well-taken care of. I wish I had energy to go see him, but seeing as how I am...”

“Julia, he knows that you shouldn't be traveling in your condition, but he's been thinking about you before, during, and after the race,” answered Lynda, “He wishes you well and loves you very much, like I do.”

Sapphire smiled, knowing that her mother couldn't see it, “I know. Tell Dad that I love him too. By the way, who won the race?”

“Chick did,” Lynda paused upon hearing her daughter growl in response to the mention of the #86 racer's name, then continued, “but they booed him off the stage.”

“He doesn't deserve the Piston Cup, after what he did,” growled Sapphire.

“But he won and he's going to keep that trophy until someone takes it from him,” said Lynda, “Hopefully, one of the nicer, more friendlier racecars.”

“I'll give it a shot,” offered Sapphire.

“Oh, Honey...” Lynda was a bit startled, “Chick would...”

“I'm not going to let Chick do anything to me,” Sapphire replied, taking a quick glance at her side, “You know I've always bounced back from any injuries.”

“I know,” Lynda replied, realizing that she couldn't dissuade her daughter from doing what she put her mind to, “When you recover and start getting back into shape again, I'll be there for you, no matter what. And so will your father.”

“Thanks, Mom,” answered Sapphire, “I'll talk to you later. I still have a lot of sleep to catch up on.”

“Alright, I'll see you in a couple of days. Bye, Sweetie,” Lynda Weathers hung up the phone to let her daughter sleep.