Chapter 10 - Suffer Alone

The Logging Locos have been completely oblivious to the recent horrific events on Sodor, as they rarely traveled there, anyway. Little did they know that Sodor's terror would soon become their own.

It was just a normal, gloomy day on Misty Island; Bash, Dash and Ferdinand were shunting and loading logs onto flatbeds with the help of Hee Haw and Ol' Wheezy. And like usual, they liked to save a few logs for when their work was finished and give it to Ol' Wheezy to throw around without a care. But as they laughed hysterically when a log went flying, their laughter ceased when the giant limb stopped in mid-air, just before the big crash they were expecting.

Instead, the log had an even brighter red glow to it than usual, as it was slowly brought back over and floated in midair. But before long, the log burst into flames, exploding into a million fiery pieces and making all three engines crying in fear.

"Sorry for the theatrics, but is how else was I supposed to enter?" Thomas' voice came, his nonchalant tone matching his confident smirk as he rolled in with a terrified Ryan by his side.

"Please, let me go," Ryan whimpered.

"Quiet!" Thomas snapped before averting his attention back to the Logging Locos and smiling again, "I need to ask a small favor of you three. And I won't lie, if you don't listen—well, let's just say that my dear old friend Ryan here will be sleeping with the logs."

Bash, Dash and Ferdinand remained quiet, exchanging nervous glances and puffing out steam in hesitation. This tried Thomas' patience, as he soon grabbed another huge log and knocked it against Ryan's boiler hard. As Ryan cried out in pain, the Logging Locos finally realized that this was no joke.

"What do you want?" Bash quickly questioned.

"We'll do anything, just don't hurt him or us!" Dash added.

"Th-That's right!" Ferdinand shakily informed.

"Shut the hell up!" Thomas snapped and struck Ferdinand's cab without a second thought, "You're the most annoying engines I've ever had the displeasure of meeting, and I'm sure everyone on Sodor and in the future would agree."

"Are you going to kill them?" Ryan sheepishly inquired.

Thomas was quiet for a moment, looking at Ryan and back with a quirked brow, "No. But I do want them gone."

"What?" Bash and Dash asked in unison.

"I've got too much blood on my hands—er, wheels—already, so I'm really not looking forward to killing anymore," Thomas calmly began, "All I ask is that you leave. Go to the docks on Sodor, catch a boat, make up an excuse, any excuse—just be sure to never come back. Think you idiots can handle that?"

"Y-Yes," Bash answered.

"Of course," Dash nervously added.

Ferdinand was about to reply with his trademark "That's right," but held his tongue when he saw the deathly black and red glare that Thomas gave him, as they all steamed by and left their island for good.

But even after they left, Thomas still held onto the log and even grabbed a few bigger ones, snapping some in half to create sharper edges.

"W-What are you doing? They left, just like you asked," Ryan pointed out when the sharp ends of a few logs loomed over his face.

"Yeah—but I haven't forgotten how happy you were when you took my branch line," Thomas stated with a monotonous growl, interrupting Ryan when he opened his mouth to speak again, "I know what you're thinking. 'Oh, but Thomas, it was just temporary, and Sir Topham Hatt made me do it'. I wish I could believe you, but pride is an inescapable feeling."

The logs grew closer, the red glow and Thomas' eyes getting brighter.

"B-But you said you weren't going to kill anymore!" Ryan begged.

"I lied."

The last thing Ryan remembered was a broken log being shoved into his eyes; his screams echoing throughout the forest as a chilling mist rolled in at the loss of another soul.

Victor knew he didn't have much time. He needed to find Diesel Ten and avenge his beloved employee, Kevin; otherwise, it would have been all for naught.

Se valiente…you can do this, Victor, the Cuban engine told himself over and over, slowly puffing along due to the tracks being larger than his own narrow gauge. But with hyper-extension and sheer luck, he managed to get quite far; he also got along by remembering the real reason he was out here.

…for Kevin.

Victor pushed on until he came up to the old Diesel Works sign, but then the air was pierced by the long whoosh of Gordon's whistle. The others were starting to catch up, sending the narrow gauge engine into a panic as he picked up speed.

The closer he grew to the Diesel Works, the thicker and darker the clouds become, a tell tale sign that evil still lingered. Which is exactly what Victor was hoping for.

Soon, the gloomy building came into view, propelling the Cuban engine's anger and determination.

"Diesel Ten!" Victor shouted at the top of his lungs. But as soon as he entered the yard, something came barreling towards him, bashing into his side and sending him rolling a many feet away. As sparks flew and metal scraped against concrete, a chilling maniacal laugh filled the air.

"Did you really think you could surprise me?" Diesel Ten cackled while approaching Victor, who was helplessly laying on his side, "I guess I shouldn't be surprised—your little crane was quite disposable. Why should you be any different?"

Just before Diesel Ten could strike with his newly-repaired claw, which gleamed with razor sharp revenge, Mavis came racing through and bashed face-first into his front buffers.

"What are you doing?!" Diesel Ten hissed while recollecting himself.

"Saving a friend," Mavis calmly yet firmly replied and stood in front of Victor defensively.

Diesel Ten only grinned, his eyes turning black and red again, "You're such a bitch."

Before they knew it, Mavis and Victor felt a supernatural pull on them, as the narrow gauge engine was lifted back onto his wheels, and Mavis was forcefully pulled slowly towards Diesel Ten; he lowered Pinchy in front of his face, chomping rapidly and sending sparks flying as his victims grew closer and closer.

The she-engine grunted and cried as pain and death approached, wishing that Thomas was here to save her for once. But help never came. Mavis closed her eyes to brace for the worst, giving up all hope—but then everything went silent. The clanging stopped, the sparks ceased, and even the screeching of brakes hushed.

"What happened?" Mavis breathed.

"I-I don't know…I can't…move," Diesel Ten grunted, continuously trying to move his claw or even move along the tracks. But nothing happened. A few puffs of steam emerged from Victor's smokestack as he rolled back with ease, further raising confusion and fear.

But Mavis was quick to think, and saw the perfect opportunity to finally do something.

"Percy is on a flatbed inside the main building. Grab him and get out of here. Hurry!" the she-diesel demanded while keeping her eye on Diesel Ten, and Victor soon made his way into the Diesel Works without question.

"You really think you can win?" Diesel Ten snarled, still unable to fight back.

"Nope," she simply answered, and with a cold glare came a swift push to Diesel Ten. Both diesels were utterly scared and confused, especially when Thomas' whistle sounded.

Soon after, the blue engine came racing in with a curious glare, "What is going on here?!"

"She's a traitor, Master! She saved Victor!" Diesel Ten quickly replied.

"Victor? Where is he now?"

Before they could respond, James came out of nowhere and bashed into Thomas with full force, taking him by complete surprise and sending him many yards forward.

"Yippee-ki-yay, Motherfucker!" James exclaimed boastfully.

Thomas was instantly pushed to the limit, his eyes black and red, his teeth sharpening into fangs, and the one on his side leaked with blood when the zero appeared again.

"You're going to regret that!" Thomas' voice had many pitches, most of them loud and demonic.

"EXPRESS COMING THROUGH!" Without warning, Gordon rushed in from the side, running into Thomas hard enough to knock him clean off the tracks and scooting a little ways across the yard. But he didn't stay down for long, and roared at the top of his lungs while transforming into a silver-blue mist and appearing back on the tracks as a solid engine.

Gordon and James immediately acted before he could gather himself, as James took a junction to get in behind him and Gordon took another to get in front; both engines clashed into Thomas at the same time, keeping him still as sparks flew from Thomas' wheels and their breaks, all three fighting to either move or keep still.

Meanwhile, Victor had coupled up to the flatbed carrying Percy and prepared to make a quick get away, but it wasn't easy for a smaller engine like him to pull such a heavy load; he could barely pull him to the entrance.

Just then, Henry whistled as he rolled in with Sir Topham Hatt in his cab, "Need some help?"

"Si! Thank you, Henry!" Victor happily replied as Henry coupled up to his front buffers, and reversed to help him pull Percy out. As they made their way through the yard, Thomas was constantly growling and roaring like a wild animal, but Gordon and James still proved to be stronger.

As soon as Thomas noticed that Percy was getting away, the demonic glow in his eyes almost immediately faded away. When they saw the window of opportunity, James backed out of the way while Gordon pushed against the smaller blue engine with all of his might; they soon crashed into the Diesel Works, metal crumpling as Thomas grunted in agony upon impact.

"You're done for," Gordon growled threateningly.

"Gordon, let's go!" Sir Topham Hatt shouted, to which the said large engine reluctantly backed out and left with everyone; even Mavis seized the opportunity to escape. The only one that stayed was Diesel Ten.

"Master, are you ok?" Diesel Ten asked with concern, nervously approaching his recovering master.

"I'll be fine," Thomas breathed meekly, closing his eyes to try and ignore the pain, "But I'm very disappointed in you."

"I-I'm very sorry, Master! There was too many of them!"

"I know, and I suppose that after everything that's happened, I shouldn't have expected more from you."

All of the sudden, Diesel Ten felt all of his energy being siphoned, slowly loosing all feeling in his limbs and his vision blurred.

"W-What's…happening?" Diesel Ten groaned.

"When you were rescued, you were still alive—but just barely. My magic was what kept you from decaying this whole time, but now I see no better way to end you," Thomas explained as hints of red magic were transferred back to him.

As the last of the magic left his body, Diesel Ten became dull and grey, his eyes lifeless and his claw going limp at his side.

Thomas slowly and meekly chuffed out of the Diesel Works, making sure to tell Diesel Ten one last thing before he was completely dead, "You were always meant to suffer alone."

I couldn't help but kill off Ryan because of Thomas' grudge against him in Sodor's Legend of the Lost Treasure. Sorry, Ryan fans.

Until the next chapter, I'm TRikiD, bye-bye!