The last thing an unconscious person would suspect was to be taken away from their resting place. And yet, that was the first thing Luke encountered when he awoke- Duncan was face to face with him, trying to pull him out of the tunnel! Skarloey and Rheneas were also watching the operations nearby.

Panic kicked in.

With all his effort, Luke held on tightly. His wheels, small as they were, were soon gripping the rails so hard that the stone floor underneath could have cracked.

"Flippin' funnels!" yelled Duncan. "Wouldn't ye just come on oot already?"

But the Irish locomotive knew where he was heading, and he was keen on avoiding another visit. Images of the yellow engine flashed through his mind.

"No- I'm not going!" he protested, weakly.

"Luke, come on. You're not feeling very well." Skarloey reasoned.

"Yes we have a friend at the Steamworks who can help you." added Rheneas. "He'll make you as good as new."

"Aye." grunted Duncan "Noo come oot o' that tunnel!"

"Please don't make me go back to Crovan's Gate!" Pleaded Luke, frantically hoping that Duncan would give up and leave him here to rust- he deserved no better –or worse- fate for what he had done.

"Why? It's a good place Luke. Our friend Vi-"

But Rheneas stopped when he saw Luke starting to breathe irregularly and much more rapidly; his eyes darted about with paranoia; his frame was shaking so violently he could have fallen to pieces; seam hissed from his cylinders and every time Duncan yanked forwards, the little green engine always ground his wheels in with twice the effort. Not to mention the fact that tears were streaming down his cheeks.

Rheneas, in all his years in existence, had never seen such a desperate attempt to avoid going in for repairs- why, anyone would think he was going to be scrapped!

"Back up Duncan." he decided at last. He couldn't bear to have Luke being towed away against his will to the Steamworks begging for mercy. He hadn't realised Luke's reaction was this bad, and he felt guilty for agreeing to Duncan's plan in the first place. He now feared that their friend's trust had been permanently damaged.

Both Duncan and Skarloey stared at him in shock.

"Ye mean - I hae tae...let him go- after a' that struggle?"

"Yes you heard me." Rheneas replied firmly.

Grumbling away about a waste of time and steam, Duncan waited for a shunter to uncouple him from the sniffling and whimpering green engine in front of him.

"Rheneas, what in the name of Ivo Hugh are you doing?" Skarloey asked him.

"Trust me, my brother. I know what I'm doing." With that, Rheneas puffed away with a fixed goal in mind.

Meanwhile, Luke was exhausted. His cheeks were alarmingly red, and tears continued to run down his face. Then unable to cope any longer, he broke down in tears. Quiet sniffles and sobs broke out from within the tunnel.

Duncan huffed off in complete disgust- that left Skarloey alone with Luke. But he had no words of comfort to offer. So, poor Luke became a sobbing wreck. The irony of it all was that he was thinking of the wreck the poor yellow engine had been in, because of him.

Fit for the scrapyards? That was a definite.

...

Author's Note: Hope you like, cos this is my first chapter in a while, and I'm quite proud of it.