Nate was in a slump. A bad slump. Even after Mavis officially moved into Tidmouth a few days later, nothing could bring him out of the hole of losing his best friend, all because of some highly unfortunate timing.
"Nate, c'mon.." Henry soothed. "You can't stay in that bed forever..I'm sure she'll forgive you one day.."
"I won't." she called out, which earned herself a glare from her Papa Hen. "I have no reason to."
"Just ignore her.." he sighed. "How about I tell you a story?"
"Oh oh! Is it about your crash?" Thomas peeped.
"It..wasn't going to be."
"Tell it, Henry!"
"What...cr-" Maddy wondered. "Are you talking about the crash with the Flying Kipper..? That Gordon tried to tell me when I was sad?"
"..."
"C'mon, Papa Hen." she smiled, taking a seat in the circle of engines that had gathered, but as far away as Nate as she could be. "Tell me!"
"Well-"
"I think she deserves to know." Edward chuckled, patting his partner on the back. "It was a big part of who you are, Henny.."
"A part of me I don't like."
"Pleeeeeease?" she tilted her head, batting her eyelashes. "Tell me about this crash..!"
"Aaah..alright. Sit down." he sighed.
Everyone was gathered around Henry, whether they've heard the story or not.
"Alright..this was a long time ago..so long ago, I had a different shape. It was awful..my firebox was too small, and..."
"I'm dreadfully ill, and no one seems to care.."
"Maybe if you stopped complaining as much as you do, we'd care a little more." Gordon sneered.
"You're not the one with a small, faulty firebox.." Henry sniffled.
"You're a stolen design though, aren't you?" James asked. "Supposed to be like Gordon, hm?"
"Pah.."
"Be nice to him.." Edward frowned. "You're not helping. Neither of you."
"We're not defective." James huffed. "We don't need special coal to function properly."
"James! Enough! Good Lord.."
"What? Being as ill as he is, I'm shocked he found someone to love him."
"Alfred has a strange way of loving him.." Edward mumbled to himself.
"Pardon?"
"Nothing. Nothing, James, but quit it. What if it was you, hm? What if you had the small firebox? What if you couldn't get up to steam properly?"
"..."
"Would you be happy, knowing someone would make fun of you?"
"No.."
"Then hush."
"You've got a real ego on you, don't you James?" another red engine said.
"Can it, Murry."
YOU ARE READING
Sodor's New Worker (Semi-Hiatus Due to an AO3 rewrite)
FantasyIt was the day of Thomas' arrival on Sodor, but he wasn't alone. He had a friend tagging along, and they were no ordinary friend. No one was sure where they came from, not even Thomas knows, and they won't tell, either. Everyone was doubtful about h...
