A Sacrifice for Those You Love

Chapter 5: Breaking Point

Sir Topham Hatt smiled cheerfully as he looked through the work schedules for his engines today. Since the announcement of Edward's parts being brought in and constantly getting updates about him, he was getting excited. He had a special place in his heart for the number 2 engine for he was the first engine he bought to work on his railway years ago after having him on loan. Out of all his engines, Edward was the only one who never argued or tried to get out of doing the jobs he was tasked with. The only issue he could think of was the time Edward let Thomas pull his goods train not long after Thomas arrived. He knew Edward wanted Thomas to have the chance to pull a train, even though he knew Thomas wasn't ready to pull trains at the time. S.T.H also knew that Edward was very loyal and determined, never giving up and helping others when they needed it.

Picking up the metal toy train off his desk, he held it in his hand and stared at the light blue paint coating it, with a yellow number 2 on its side. "You'll be back with your family and friends soon, Edward." He said softly, smiling warmly as he put the train back onto the map, his mind traveling to when he first met Edward.

~~Flashback~~

Sir Topham Hatt smiled as he got out of his car, looking at the sign that said Furness. Smiling to himself, he closed his door and walked towards the controller's office, wanting to talk to him about some of their engines. He had just gotten the rights by the mayor to connect the three railways on Sodor to help the increase of transporting goods and passengers to and from the other towns on the island and even onto the Mainland. He had already had a drawbridge built over the Walney Channel, converted most of the single tracks to double, and had repaired shops made in Croven's Gate. The only problem he faced was the lack of engines. He knew that the coffee pot engines were still working, even hearing how the Master of the Railway was helping before he vanished but knew that he needed strong engines. Walking up to the controller's door, he gently knocks on it and waits.

Not long after knocking, the door opened, and a man walked out. "May I help you?"

S.T.H stared at the slender man in front of him. His hair was a dirty blonde and slicked back and had dark brown eyes. He wore a black dress suit with a white dress shirt under it. His black shoes sparkled from being shined and a pale yellow handkerchief in his breast pocket. "Hello, my name is Topham Hatt, I called a few days ago to ask about loaning some engines from you." He stated firmly, in a business-like manner as he took his top hat off and held his hand out.

"Oh yes, I remember." The man smiled as he took his hand, shaking it. "My name is Ronald Chapman. Please, follow me." He hummed as he closed the door behind him, walking off.

Putting his top hat back on, S.T.H followed the other controller behind him towards a goods yard. Multiple engines were busy shunting or about to pull trains. Ranging from coffee pot engines to different standard gauge engines, he noticed how all of them were painted red.

"As you can see, we have quite a few engines that will be perfect to help you build your railway on Sodor." Ronald smiled as he showed him the engines.

"They all do seem really useful engines." S.T.H smiled as he watched the engines work hard.

Blinking, he turned his head to stare at an engine that was shunting quietly. He was a FR 21/K2 class mix traffic standard gauge engine with a tender attached to him. His configuration seemed to be 4-4-0 and has a total of 14 wheels. He was painted a rich red color with golden stripes on him and on his tender. The letters FR were painted in yellow on his tender and his wheels black as ebony. His focus was on the trucks, but S.T.H. could tell that something was up with him. Though his face looked focused and determined, his eyes read a different story. They seem to be filled with sadness and pain. S.T.H frowned at the engine, wondering why he looked so sad while the other engines seemed to be happy.