Authors note: I don't own any of the characters, they all belong to HIT Entertainment. And please excuse my poor english, I'm norwegian and didn't pay too much attention in my english class...

From Sodor with love

Chapter 1: Sir Topham Hatt is not amused

At Sodor Ironworks it was busier than normal. It didn't seem to bother its inhabitants much, Arry and Bert were shunting trucks full of scrap metal and fooling around, having great fun as always.

"Yo! Bro! Catch this!" Bert biffed into a truck full of metal going to the smelters, sending it flying towards Arry. Arry was caught off guard and wasn't prepared, so the truck rammed him at full speed, spreading the metal all over the tracks.

"Better luck next time, brother!" Bert chuckled as Arry started cleaning up the mess while swearing and cursing. Then he rattled over to help and soon they both laughed of it all.

"You won't catch me off guard again!" Arry grinned as they shunted the truck into the smelters to be emptied.

"Don't you two have better things to do than fool around and laugh?" a voice boomed from the control room. "The whole yard is full of scrap metal and trucks; you don't have time for silly games! I am tired of telling you this over and over! Get to work!"

The two shunters looked up, seeing the Fat Controller standing there looking down at them, he had been there to have a talk with the ironworkers. He was not amused by their antics, looking stern down at them.

"Sorry, sir…" they both muttered low and oiled back outside to get more scrap.

For a little while they were working silently and effective, but soon they were bored again, wanting to jazz up the work a little.

"Flatbed coming through!" Arry shouted bashed into a flatbed with broken engine parts, sending it towards Bert.

Bert was prepared for it, catching it gently without dropping any of the parts.

"Right back at ya!" he shouted, sending it back.

For a while they sent it back and forth between each other, until the Fat Controller walked outside, standing with his hands on his waist, looking at them.

"Ahem!"

The hazard-striped twins stopped, looking like kids who had been caught red-handed stealing cookies. The flatbed slammed into Bert's buffers, pushing him a bit backwards.

"Didn't I tell you two to quit joking around and get to work?! You are both causing confusion and delay! If I have to tell you ONE more time, I will split you up and send one of you to the mainland! Is that understood?" Sir Topham looked at them, not looking very happy. He also knew that the worst punishment for the twins was to be split up and sent away from each other. He knew they were very attached to one another.

"Yes, sir…" they both slumped low, ashamed of themselves, or rather… ashamed that they were caught not doing their jobs. They didn't regret having fun, just being caught for it.

"Good. Don't let me down this time!" the Fat Controller shouted and walked towards the office to talk to the managed at the smelters.

Arry and Bert went back to work, sighing in boredom as they shunted more trucks. They looked at each other over an empty flatbed, both getting a mischievous look in their eyes. And soon… they were playing and joking again, quickly straightening up and working normal whenever Sir Topham peeked out to check on them.

"Catch, Bert!" Arry ran at full speed, pushing a long train of trucks towards his brother.

Bert quickly switched tracks to prank his brother, making Arry and the trucks run past him and straight into the smelters. A loud bang followed by swearing made him giggle, he quickly turned at the turntable to go check on his brother.

He found Arry looking down in the pit cursing.

"We're in deep shit, bro…" Arry mumbled worried as they saw the blue rear end of a car sinking into the pit, smelting slowly, along with a couple of trucks.

"Uh oh…" Bert choked out.

"What do we do now?" Arry bit his lip, knowing that this would really upset Sir Topham. "Who the hell parks his car at the rails inside the smelters?!"

"Maybe if we pretend like nothing… just go back to work and act like nothing happened…" Bert yelped. If he hadn't moved, this would never have happened, he felt just as guilty as his twin-brother.

"I don't think Fat Hatt will buy that…" Arry whimpered, throwing worried glances towards the entrance. "How are we going to explain this?!"

"Well, he was a fool for parking his car there! Any other idiot would use the parking lot instead, but no… Fat Hatt is too lazy to walk a few extra meters!" Bert snorted, looking at the car sinking deeper and deeper into the pit.

"Fine, YOU tell him that!" Arry snapped.

"Hey, I wasn't the one who pushed those trucks!" Bert barked back.

"You were the one who moved out of the way!" Arry snarled.

"What are you two bickering about now? Didn't I tell you to work?!" a voice boomed behind them, causing both shunters to cover like they expected being beaten. They looked worried at each other.

The Fat Controller walked over to them, looking stern at them.

"Do you mind expla… MY CAR!" he suddenly saw the last of his nice blue car disappear into the pit, gone forever. For a while he just stood there, staring into the glowing, hot melted metal. Then he turned to the iron-brothers and now he was furious!

"What the hell… WHY?!" he shouted, glaring at them. "Explain yourselves!"

Arry and Bert looked at each other, like two naughty kids trying to come up with a good excuse.

"Umm… we… we were… ahh… erhm…" Bert stuttered.

"Speak up! I can't hear you!" Sir Topham screamed at the shunter, now turning to the other twin instead. "What do you have to say about this, Arry?!"

"I… umm… it was an accident, sir…" Arry mumbled low.

"An accident?!" The Fat Controller's face was red from rage. "You two better tell me how this happened, and be honest about it or I might have an accident with that claw over there! I am so tempted to scrap you both right now!"

"Please don't, sir…" Bert whimpered, backing a bit. His lower lip shivered.

"Suck it up, Bert!" Topham slammed a fist into his buffer-beam. "I hate seeing grown-up engines cry! It's pathetic!"

Then he turned back to Arry, who was looking very guilty, standing at the edge of the pit trying to avoid his stare.

"It was YOU, wasn't it?!" the chubby man asked loudly, jerking his coupling chain.

Arry didn't know why this little human scared him so much, if he just took a leap forward he could easily reunite him with his car. But everything in him fought against it. Hurting humans was against every engine's nature.

"I'm sorry, sir…"

"Give me ONE good reason not to have you scrapped! That car was my pride and joy! Do you have any idea what it cost?!"

"I… uhh… Because I… am a very useful engine…?" Arry swallowed hard, but the Fat Controller just shook his head and sighed sadly. He sat down on the tracks, staring into the pit where his car had met its demise. His shoulder started shaking, like he was crying.

Arry and Bert looked sideways at each other, confused by the sudden change of mood.

"I'm really sorry, sir." Arry nudged Sir Topham Hatt softly with his buffer in a sorry attempt on comforting him.

"Just explain to me how this happened." Topham said low and stern, not leaving any room for protests.

"I… we… it was…" Arry swallowed hard. "We were playing. I was going to send a train at Bert for him to catch, but he switched tracks, so I ran straight into your car and… it fell into the pit. I am very sorry, sir. I didn't mean to…"

Sir Topham Hatt stood up again, turning towards the two iron-diesels.

"You know I could never scrap you two… We grew up together, we're almost family." He sniffled, placing a hand at Arry's buffer-beam. "However, you two need to learn a lesson! I am tired of you not taking my orders and acting like two bumbling morons while you should work. What you do when you are not at work is not my business, but when you're at work I expect you to actually WORK."

Arry and Bert just stood there, not daring to say a word. They were both fearing the punishment.

"I need to split you up for a while!" the Fat Controller said, frowning at them. "Arry, you are going to the mainland to help out at one of the shunting yards! And if you both manage to behave yourselves… I MIGHT let you come back. But until then, you are staying at the mainland."

"Yes, sir…" they both said, looking down at the tracks. They had never been apart before; it would be hard. They looked at each other sadly, knowing they would miss each other badly. They used to talk and have fun in the shed after work, it would sure feel lonely if one of them were to leave.

"Arry, you are going NOW. My car is gone, so you have to bring me home first, but then you go straight to the mainland and report to the manager at the shunting yard nearest Vicarstown bridge."

Arry looked down at the Fat Controller climbed into his cab. He wasn't going far away at least; he could still look over at Sodor from the mainland.

The hazard-striped diesels looked at each other, attempting to smile, but failed. They both looked devastated.

"Bye brother…" Arry said low, backing out of the smelters.

"Bye, Arry. I'll do my best while you are gone. Good luck, bro." Bert replied, slumping low, feeling alone as the sound of his brother's engine faded away in distance.

He sniffled as he went outside to shunt trucks, working on without any joy, having a sad expression on his face. He hoped it would be long until Arry came back. He was going to behave as good as he managed and work as hard as he never had done before. He wanted to get his brother back fast!

He coupled to an empty flatbed, pulling it out of the scrapyard, putting it on a siding, then going back to shunt another into the smelters to be emptied. He worked fast and effective, not even thinking of joking or pranking anyone. He knew he had to change if he wanted his twin back.

And he was starting now!

To be continued…