Chapter 13

Two Years Earlier

Races at the Forever Fall Forest Circuit could and often did produce random results. It looked like another weird one as the race approached its end. Sure, Pyrrha and Yang were near the front, but the rest were a strange mix of drivers who had never done anything worthwhile. Sage was in the lead, at least for this lap. Bolin, Emerald and Cardin were all preposterously in the mix for the win. Their teams had taken the wings off their cars hoping for extra speed. They got it. They also lost any shred of control, not that handling was particularly important at a track like this.

Yang's car had been modified too. Her wings had been reduced to the smallest size Ruby would allow. Still she had trouble keeping up with the wingless cars. Pyrrha was struggling right along with her, but for a different reason. Pyrrha had ditched the wings entirely in hopes of more outright speed. Unfortunately, her chassis did not have the kind of mechanical grip Yang's did. Without the wings it also produced just a little lift. The corners were a nightmare even if it did scream down the straights faster than any of the competition.

With just five laps remaining Sage led from Emerald, Cardin and Bolin as they exited the final corner. Yang was just hanging on to the back of the pack after slipping past a struggling Pyrrha in the corner. Pyrrha came rocketing out of the turn after a bad entry but great exit and passed Yang by the time they cars reached the start/finish line. She had a damn good run and might just carry that momentum to the lead. She effortlessly passed Bolin just after the pits, then Cardin just past where the old high-banked oval split off from the circuit.

Emerald used the draft to get a good run on Sage. She moved right to pass as they neared the end of the straight. She should have checked her mirrors first. At just that moment Pyrrha was coming up alongside. The track was not wide enough for all three of them. Pyrrha almost slipped by before Emerald clipped her left-rear. Pyrrha's car hooked sharply left, spinning across the track just in front of Sage. Sage missed the accident by inches as Pyrrha continued on, spearing head-on into the armco. The front end popped up in the air as the armco bent back from the force of the impact and the shattered car pirouetted on its rear tires. The front slammed back down and the car continued on, sliding into the armco straight off the first turn side-first. It was still going terrifyingly fast and on impact it simply flipped up and over the barrier, heading for the forest.

Emerald's car also spun. Cardin and Bolin were not as lucky as Sage and both were tangled up by the out-of-control Emerald. Cardin's car was deflected to the right, slamming into the armco there before bouncing back across the track. Bolin barely made contact with Emerald but it was enough to send him into a slide that soon intersected with Cardin as he bounced back across the track. All three cars slid into the armco near where Pyrrha had gone over, their combined speed and weight effectively flattening the barrier as they plowed straight through before coming to a rest just short of the trees.

The race went on. Sage should have won but his motor expired with just half a lap remaining, allowing Yang to steal the victory. Winter ended up a very distant second, followed by Weiss in third. Not that the drivers really cared. After winning, Yang did not return to the pits. She drove to the first corner and brought her car to a stop before the scene of carnage. Winter did the same when she arrived and the pair waded in, unsure what horrors they would uncover.

Horrors indeed. Emerald, Cardin and Bolin were beat up but mostly unhurt. Still, their cars were streaked with blood. A track worked unlucky enough to be behind the armco they had obliterated had been crushed and torn apart beneath the tangled storm of metal. His mangled corpse was impossibly to identify visually, but a nametag pinned to his stained and shredded shirt gave a name to the tragedy. Still their exploration was not done. Pyrrha's car had gone flipping into the forest, and with the carnage closer at hand, no one had bothered to see if she had survived. Most no doubt assumed her dead after such a violent accident.

Yang and Winter followed the trail of debris deeper into the forest. Pyrrha's car had deflected off of at least one tree, as evidenced by the suspension components left embedded deep in its bark. Finally the pair stood before the hulk of crumpled metal. It lay upside down in the dead leaves and detritus of the forest floor. Both were afraid of what they would find when it was turned over. The engine was no longer attached, instead burning against a tree a few meters away, and the cockpit was bent at a pretty nasty angle around where Pyrrha's knees would be.

Then, a ray of hope. "Hello?" A muffled voice called from the wreckage. It was clearly Pyrrha's voice! Winter and Yang rushed to the car. With all the strength they could muster, they rolled it onto its side, the downward vertical bend in the cockpit preventing it from being set fully upright. Winter and Yang stared at Pyrrha in disbelief as she undid her belts and began wriggling out of the crumpled car. After a moment of shock the pair helped Pyrrha out. Once free of the car, Pyrrha dusted herself off and took a deep breath. "I thought I was a goner." She said.

"You thought you were?!" Yang shouted. "How are you so calm?! How are you even okay?!"

"Well, there was no sense getting worked up over it." Pyrrha shrugged. "I was just along for the ride. I'm lucky the cockpit bent where and how it did though. If it went another way it would have broken my legs. As it was it just bent my knees pretty hard."

"Unbelievable." Winter said, shaking her head. "I've never seen someone walk away from a crash like this. Do you have any idea how lucky you are?"

"I'm very lucky." Pyrrha confirmed. "I was almost F1's first posthumous champion."

"I can't believe you're so calm!" Yang yelled. "You almost died!"

"But I didn't." Pyrrha said. "Is everyone else alright?"

Winter shook her head. "We lost a marshal." She said. "The other drivers are okay but they're pretty shaken up."

"Someone died…" Pyrrha started.

"It wasn't because of you." Yang cut her off. "That crash wasn't your fault and your car didn't kill him."

"Yes, if anyone's to blame it's the people running this track." Winter said. "The track is too fast, the armco isn't strong enough, and there isn't enough runoff room. There should never have been a marshal stationed in that spot either."

"I still feel terrible." Pyrrha said.

"I'm just happy you're alright." Yang sighed. She stared at Pyrrha for a moment. "Oh crap, I should probably get back. You too Winter. It'll be an interesting podium without the top two finishers."

"You finished first and second and you came here?" Pyrrha asked.

"I think I can speak for Winter when I say that your safety is our main concern." Yang said. "The podium can wait. I don't think there will be much celebrating anyway."

Present Day

It was Thursday night before the Forever Fall Grand Prix. The sun had just set but the moon shone brightly. Yang was alone, sitting beside the stone monument to Summer Rose. Well, she thought she was alone. "I wouldn't have expected to find you here all alone." Pyrrha said as she walked up. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"What are you doing here?" Yang asked.

"I'm just making sure you're alright." Pyrrha replied. "It's been over an hour."

"Has it?" Yang sighed. She sounded depressed. "I guess I just got lost in thought."

Pyrrha sat on the grass beside Yang. "What's wrong?" Pyrrha asked. "Something's been on your mind all week. I can tell."

"That obvious, huh?" Yang said with an uneasy laugh. "I guess I...understand how dad and Summer must have felt." She took a deep breath. "You know, Summer wasn't my real mother. My birth mother left me with my father as soon as I was born. I think I can understand why now. Dad always said she left because he wouldn't stop racing. She must have been so scared for him. I think she thought having a kid would convince him to quit, but that was never going to happen. It must have finally been too much."

"This has to do with me, doesn't it?" Pyrrha said.

"Sort of." Yang confirmed. "Summer wasn't my real mother but she treated me like I was her daughter. When she died, dad was crushed, and I was crushed too. Ruby was too young to really understand, but I knew. Before that, I had never really worried about my parents when they were racing. I knew it was dangerous, but it never hit me that they could die until it happened. When I started racing, part of the reason was that dad and Summer were so happy when they were racing. I wanted to feel that for myself. They must have been terrified for each other, but something about driving made it worth it, and I had to experience it." She sighed. "I guess I never had to deal with what they dealt with until now. Sure, I worried about my friends, but they were just my friends. Now it's my sister and the woman I love putting their lives on the line and it's a lot harder. I don't know if I can go on like this."

"You know you can." Pyrrha said. "Your parents did it, your sister had to deal with it even when she was just a mechanic, and I'm doing it. It's tough, but in the end we just have to believe that everything will work out alright."

"I want to believe." Yang said. "I could believe until I got here. This stone here, this shows just how mistaken that belief is. When I come here, it's impossible to ignore." Yang turned her head around and looked back toward the track. "When I saw your car flying into the trees, I was sure I watched you die."

"That was two years ago, and I came away without a scratch." Pyrrha said.

"Then seeing your crash at the 500 and then on Patch, it's almost too much." Yang continued. "Any one of them could have killed you. Hell, all of them should have killed you. I feel like I've watched you die twice already this year. It was bad enough when I thought you were just someone I would always admire from afar. Now that we're together…"

"Yang, I'm going to be fine." Pyrrha cut her off. "You're going to be fine. Ruby's going to be fine. All our friends will be fine. That's all there is to it. If let your mind go down this path it'll destroy you. It's a dead end. Ruby's not going to quit, I'm not going to quit, and you're not going to quit. On Sunday we're going to get in our cars and race and there won't be any time to think about all this. After you were born your father must have been terrified of leaving you an orphan, but he still got in the car. When he got together with Summer, they kept racing, even though they knew how it could end. We're going to do the same. If I die out there, at least it'll be doing something I love, something that makes me happy. I'd much rather that than live a long, boring life wondering what might have been. I know you agree with me."

"I guess you're right." Yang said. "There's no point in worrying about something I can't control." She laughed. "You know, I feel like I've had this same conversation with Ruby, except with me in your position. Maybe I should learn to practice what I preach."

"That's better." Pyrrha said. "I'm glad I could help."

"I'm glad you could help too." Yang said, finally managing a smile. "I suppose it's time to head back and leave the past where it belongs."

After practice the results looked like a foregone conclusion. With much smaller wings, the Schnee Automotive cars and their powerful engines were well ahead of everyone else. Winter was well ahead of May at that. It did not look as if there would be a competitive race for the win, but things got very interesting further down the order. Having removed their front wings entirely and replaced their rear wings with smaller airfoils, the Team Juniper pair was looking fast. Going just about as fast were the Beacon GP cars. Their front wings remained mostly unchanged but at the back the wing was now tiny. Team Haven had their own tiny wings and speed to compete with Beacon and Juniper. Even the Auburn Racing Team was fast enough to hope for points. Even if the race for pole was not, qualifying was going to be interesting.

At the beginning of time trials, Winter set a blistering lap. May set a quick one as well but was clearly not in the same league. Both decided to sit on their times as none of the other runners could even get close. As the session neared its conclusion, Reese sat third followed by Ruby, Pyrrha, Sage, Yang, Scarlet, Arslan and Weiss. All were well within reach of one another and as the drivers went out for one last lap, they did so knowing the starting order would be jumbled again. Two drivers decided to go for broke. Pyrrha had the team entirely remove her rear wing. Shockingly, so did Ruby. If she was afraid of driving at the track that had taken her mother, she was certainly not showing it.

Ruby kept her car wide as she entered the final corner. At just the right moment she hit the throttle and dove to the inside line as the corner unwound onto the frontstretch. She crossed the line to begin her lap and rocketed toward turn 1. As Ruby neared the end of the straight, the engine screamed and stuttered, clearly pushed to and probably past its maximum. No matter, it only had to last one lap. She barely slowed as she entered the first turn, a long, sweeping right-hander. Ruby was back on the throttle almost immediately, powering out of the corner before braking as she swung through the left-hand kink that preceded the track's tightest corners. Braking hard once the track straightened out, Ruby slung her car through the sharp right that followed. After a short straight she hit the brakes again and slid through the banked right-hander that came next. Ruby thundered down the straight, first downhill, passing under the old oval, then back up. She only had to brake lightly for the left-hander before powering onto the backstretch. She flew toward the final corner at incredible speed. Just before reaching the final corner she was hard on the brakes. The car squirmed as Ruby slowed it from its suicidal pace to a speed that would allow it to make the corner. She dove to the apex, getting on the throttle as the corner unwound, sliding her car to the left-hand edge of the track. Seconds later she was across the line.

Ruby's lap was fast, but not fast enough. Winter and May held the top two positions, followed by Pyrrha, then Ruby. Both had thrown caution to the wind, and it had paid off. Still, after the white-knuckle terror of driving around the circuit without wings, both were well aware that what they had done was reckless and stupid. It was also unsustainable. The wings would be back for the race. Arslan jumped up the order to fifth, followed by Weiss, Yang, Scarlet, Reese and Sage. It was going to be an interesting one.

For the first time, Ruby did not throw up before the race. She had been expecting to, but it never came. Perhaps the magnitude of racing at the track where her mother had died was so great that it did not hit her. Perhaps she was finally at ease. Even she did not really know the answer. She just rolled around the track with the other drivers for their parade lap, then returned to the grid and waited. The starter raised his flag and dropped it almost as quickly. With the screech of tires and the roar of engines, the cars were off, thundering toward the first corner.

Winter and May arrived at turn 1 side-by-side. Winter was on the outside, not the preferred line, but she was brave. She kept her foot down and swept around May and into the lead. Pyrrha and Ruby both got good start, arriving at the first corner third and fourth. It did not really matter though, as the draft and relative evenness of the cars behind meant that there would be no escaping the pack. By the end of the first lap Winter and May already had a sizable advantage. Behind them, a train of eight cars was already bunched up, swapping positions continuously between them. Further back were more such clusters, ruled by the air more than driver skill or car quality.

On lap 9 it was all over for Winter. Her engine shook itself apart, leaving her to coast to a stop in the grass beside the track just before the first turn. May's race was not much longer. On lap 17 her engine failed as well. She entered the pits trailing a spectacular plume of white smoke. The Schnee Automotive engine tuners had set up the motors for maximum horsepower, but the reliability had suffered greatly. After her outburst in Shade, the team expected May to be livid. Instead she went to every crew member, apologized for her previous behavior, and offered her full support in the face of what was a disastrous day for the team.

Suddenly the gaggle racing for third was now racing for the win. It was really anybody's race. They swapped positions almost too frequently to track and all took turns leading. At the back Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss settled in. They knew none of it mattered until the end. There was no point in mixing it up, risking a crash or mechanical failure, until the time was right. They hung back off the group, just close enough to keep in touch with their draft. At the time of their choosing they could get right back into the fight.

Ruby did everything she could to stay in front, to lead every lap, but aerodynamics made that impossible. The car in front simply had to push more air out of the way than those following in its wake. Ruby was smart enough to not block, and when Reese or Sage got a run, Ruby would just fall in behind and wait for the momentum to shift to her. She was learning. Winning the race would take a perfectly timed run and a little luck. There was nothing Ruby could do about the luck, but she could at least get the timing down.

Mechanical issues took their toll on the field. In addition to taking out the Schnee Automotive pair, engine failures claimed Sage, Russel, Dew, Adam, and Nolan. Gwen fell out when a blown tire sent her into the armco at the exit of the first turn. The crash looked nasty but Gwen was unhurt. Mercury retired with a suspension failure that he luckily noticed before a corner and the resultant high-speed crash. Coco and Emerald had transmission issues and an electrical problem ended Fox's day.

With only 2 of 55 laps remaining, it was go time. Running line astern, Yang, Pyrrha and Weiss drafted up the right of the cars ahead as they careened down the frontstretch. By the time they reached the corner Yang was up to second behind Reese with Pyrrha falling into third and Weiss fifth behind Ruby. For the next few corners they ran in line before mixing it up as they launched onto the backstretch. Yang jumped out of line with a good run on Reese and Ruby followed her, moving just in time to prevent Pyrrha from making the move herself. As they reached the final corner, Yang shot out into the lead. Behind her, Ruby and Reese were side-by-side with Arslan and Pyrrha side-by-side behind them.

Ruby got the better of Reese as they exited the final corner and crossed the line to start the final lap. Now Weiss was charging. She flew up the right side, passing the others as if launched out of a cannon. She made it all the way to the back of Yang's car by the first turn. Ruby managed to hold onto third, but behind her Pyrrha fell back behind Arslan and Scarlet. Rounding the final corner outside Ruby had ruined Reese's momentum, but her race was not over yet. After the pair of tight right-handers, Reese got a great run. She shot up the inside of Pyrrha, Scarlet and Arslan. Ruby jumped out of line and stole some of Reese's momentum to get past Weiss. They rounded the left-hander and Ruby locked onto the back of Yang's car. Weiss continued to fall, with Reese and Scarlet getting past. Pyrrha and Arslan had almost wrecked each other in the left-hander and fell back and out of contention when they slowed to avoid crashing.

Reese shot up the inside just before the final corner, but left her braking a bit too late. Yang dove inside and passed her, followed by Ruby who was in the process of getting a great run through the corner. Scarlet got a great run too just behind her. Reese recovered from her mistake and both she and Weiss got good runs off the corner. Yang slipped. Her car oversteered and she had to lift to save it, allowing Ruby, Scarlet, Reese and Weiss to slip past. The four fanned out as they thundered toward the line, passing the checkered flag in a finish that was almost too close to call.

The fans may not have been able to see who had won, but the drivers knew. Ruby pumped her fist in the air as she coasted down the frontstretch. She had timed it just right and crossed the line inches ahead of Reese. Scarlet and Weiss had followed, then Yang, Pyrrha and Arslan. Sun, Cardin and Roy rounded out the top 10 after their own epic battle. It would be the last race at the track to be so fast and chaotic. The next year chicanes would be added to slow the cars in the name of safety, and handling and skill would again be crucial elements of victory.

Ruby made her way to the podium. As she stood on the top step, listening to the national anthem of Patch, she cried. As lucky and flukey as it was, this win was her proudest moment and nothing would ever surpass it. She had won at the track that had taken her mother. The track that had destroyed her family. The track she had feared for so long. Those demons had been exorcised. She stood triumphant, conqueror not just of the race but of years of fear and pain. She was handed her trophy and raised it high overhead. Then, as the fans cheered and emotion overtook her, she vomited.

Standings after nine races:

1st - Winter Schnee - 33

1st - Weiss Schnee - 33

3rd - Ruby Rose - 32

4th - Yang Xiao-Long - 31

5th - Pyrrha Nikos - 29

6th - May Zedong - 27

7th - Sun Wukong - 15

8th - Reese Chloris - 8

9th - Neptune Vasilias - 6

10th - Arslan Atlan - 4

10th - Scarlet David - 4

12th - Coco Adel - 2

13th - Fox Alistair - 1

13th - Dew Gayl - 1

Inspirations

- The Forever Fall Forest Circuit is based on Monza.

- Driving a car sans wings is probably what led to the fatal crash of Jochen Rindt in 1970 (may have been a mechanical failure). That and not wearing the crotch straps of his seatbelts. His car busted through some weak armco, struck an upright, and stopped suddenly. Unrestrained from below, he slid down in his seat, below his belts, and the latch slit his throat.

- Chris Amon ended up in the forest in 1968 and was somehow unhurt. His car ended up hanging from a tree (at least according to his account).

- Slipstreaming battles that produced seemingly random results were common at Monza before the introduction of chicanes for the 1972 race.

- Again the attrition rate is relatively accurate to the time period. Monza was harder on engines than almost any other track.

Inaccuracies and Anachronisms

- There was no marshal-killing crash at Monza in 1969 but a track worker was killed by flying debris during the 2000 Italian GP.

- While the drafting and passing at pre-chicane Monza was intense, it was not quite as intense as depicted.

- I have never heard of a driver puking on the podium, though a few have thrown up in their helmets mid-race, notably Mark Webber.