Duke sat in the dark, a green tarp draped over him. It was quiet and still, and if you were there you wouldn't have known if it was day or night. Suddenly, Duke heard the rusty old door that had been closed so long ago slowly, ever so slowly, begin to creak open. Small beams of moonlight spilled in from the outside and the cool night air flooded over him.

Two very familiar silhouettes stood before him, letting off steam.

"We came back, Grandpuff!" Stuart said gleefully.

"We promised we would." Falcon said.

"We always knew we'd come back for you again."

"You didn't think we'd forgotten you, did you?"

Duke was overjoyed, and a flood of emotions took over him. He rushed over to meet them, to ask them where they'd been, and to thank them for being so brave when he wasn't with them. But they were no longer there. Nothing was there anymore.

Duke opened his eyes, slowly. Darkness all around him. The rusted door was still shut as tight as could be, and there were no sounds to be heard.

A dream.

It had all been a cruel, teasing dream from the taunting hag that was reality. Stuart and Falcon were gone. They'd been gone for weeks. They'd been gone for months, years maybe! Duke didn't know how long, he'd stopped keeping track of time, usually resorting to sleeping.

You don't feel sad when you're asleep. You don't feel spiteful, or bitter, or lonely, or forgotten. Sleeping was Duke's way out of this lonely, dark reality that he was in. But it seemed that old Evil Mistress had snuck into his sleep again and made him feel a joy only to snatch it away from him by waking him up and showing him just how alone he was. Duke began remembering everything he could about the two little engines. Determined to remember, determined to never forget.

"Never mind, Grandpuff. We're only young ones after all,"

Are you even young anymore? Duke thought. Or have you grown up and gone off without me while you did?

"Fusspot! Fusspot! Fuddy-duddy, fuddy-duddy, fuddy-duddy!"

Still up to mischief Falcon? I hope you don't derail on a mountain-side again. Duke thought. Without warning, tears sprung to Duke's eyes, but he dared not cry them. Now was not the time for sadness.

"Fiddlesticks!"

Oh, Stuart, Stuart, Stuart. Duke thought, chuckling a bit. But the tears still remained in his eyes, and though he was laughing, the heartache still remained.

After holding it back for so long, Duke finally let a few tears fall, the memories becoming too much for him to handle all at once. The memories flooded his vision and caused a tightness in his boiler. How he longed just to see them again, just one last time. Duke forced himself to calm down. Sleep. That's what he needed. He didn't cry when he was asleep, and hopefully, the memories wouldn't come back again while he was sleeping.

Duke sighed and closed his eyes.

They'd come back. They'd promised they would.