Sodor's New Worker (Semi-Hiatus Due to an AO3 rewrite)

A Promise Kept

   Ever since Maddy was confirmed that something was wrong with her, something about her just..changed. Like something wasn't quite right. Of course, she was still Maddy, the sweet, lovable goblin whom lit up her friends' lives, but more...hmm.

"Hey, did Maddy go out early?" James yawned, still a little tired. "I never felt her get out of bed.."

"She did, James." Henry answered. "I managed to catch her before she left. Just wanted a head-start on her duties for today."

"That's what Gordon said last time...and Thomas before that, and PERCY before THAT!" he frowned, leaning against the entrance to his berth. "What did I do this time?"

"Nothing. At least, not that I know of." Henry hummed. "And she tells me or Emily everything you do that makes her mad."

"Yeah...you noticed that too, Hen?" Emily piped in. "It's like she's avoiding all of us..but why?"

"Did someone piss her off?"

"Thomas!" Edward called from the back of the sheds. He was currently sitting on Maddy's bed, with her hoodie on his lap. As of late, it slowly was becoming tattered, and he offered to fix it when he managed to get ahold of her. "Language!"

"What? Did we? Cause I sure didn't. Not after what she did to George. Percy?"

"Nope! Gordon?"

"She hardly acknowledges me as is, little engine. It sure wasn't me."

"Emily?"

"Now why would I do anything to upset her?!" she huffed. "Shame on you!"

"Well, I'm stumped then. Edward? You gave any idea?"

"Well.." he began, not looking up from his patchwork, "I'm thinking it has something to do with the events that happened a few days ago."

"What do you mean?" James asked, looking behind him.

"You all saw how distraught she was when she found out she hurt you, James."

"Well, yeah- But I know she didn't mean it. She would never hurt me, or any of us, on purpose..! Well, except Thomas."

"Hey!"

"James, dear boy. I have never felt so sick to my stomach when I heard her wailing her little heart out. She was convinced she had killed you. That it WAS her fault, for Lady's sake. I'm thinking she's avoiding us for OUR sake."

"But.." he frowned. "We're a family. We're in this together.."

"She's also becoming aware of just how dangerous she's becoming. We hardly know anything about her, and she doesn't know anything about herself, either. She's scared, James. Scared of accidently scrapping one of us. Scrapping YOU."

   Edward's words rang in each and every one of their funnels and/or heads. The more they thought about it, the more they all realized that Edward was right. They all were holding her, watching her fall apart right before their eyes.

"Cinders and ashes.." Thomas muttered. "Well, what do we do..?"

"I say," Percy peeped. "We support her as much as we can! Show her we're not scared! A little haywire magic isn't going to stop me."

"That's an excellent idea, little Percy." Gordon, of all engines, beamed. "But there's just one small problem."

"Which is..?"

"We can't catch her. She leaves too early."

"Unless we catch her on the rails." James pointed out. "If we can just figure out what's she's doing, or where she's going, we can corner her and dump all our support and affection on her."