ToaR: Ch12
Edward set Shales head on his lap. One arm squeezing her hand and one hugging himself. He could feel something pulsing under his fingers so she was still alive. But she was in really bad shape, really bad.
Her skin was blossoming with dark purple marks and scrapes all across her exposed skin. There was swelling around one of her eyes and a steady trickle of blood running out of her nose.
Edward didn't know if anything was broken and he didn't want to move her if he wasn't sure. So he resolved to stay put until the others eventually caught up.
Noting how the blood was still seeping from her nose he grabbed Shales knife and cut a piece of fabric from his shirt and padded around her nose. He didn't think the other bruises would be a problem. As long as she got some rest after all this, she'd be fine.
"Edward! Edward, where are you?"
He heard turned to where Skarloeys' screams echoed from. "Down here! I found Shale but she's really damaged!"
"Wait for us, we'll find you!" This time it was Renneas calling out.
The sound of footsteps came closer. Edward almost thought that those older boys were coming back. He moved himself so his back was facing the entrance and gently cradled her frame.
The footsteps came closer. He could hear their voices now. Edward lost some tension when he heard the Narrow Gauge engines instead. But they were yelling. Yelling at each other.
"I told you we should've gone after em'. We could've taken em'!" said Duncan
"Yea, but we'd probably get the crap kicked outa us. We don't even know how humans fight." said Falcon
"But what if someone called the police? What would they do?" said Peter quietly
"I don't know, Peter. But I imagine it wouldn't be anything good." said Skarloey. He turned the corner and saw Edward hunched over a body.
They all went quiet. They all stopped but Skarloey walked forward and placed a hand on Edwards shoulder. Edward looked up, smiling, but tear tracks shining down his face.
Skarloey smiled too, happy that his friend was alright. But he gasped quietly when he saw the state of Shale. His other hand covering his mouth in shock.
"Oh, oh dear. Is, is she-" Skarloey couldn't bring himself to say what he thought.
"No!" Edward yelled. The volume echoing around the alley and making some of the Narrow Gauge engines jump slightly.
"No." He repeated, this time softer. "Shale's still alive, but we should get her out of here. She has a place we can stay, but I don't think we could make it there."
"And why is that?" Falcon asked
"Well, because it's in a tree." Edward said plainly.
Falcon raised an eyebrow at this. "Your kidding? Who builds a shed in a tree?"
Duncan slapped him upside the head for that. "You idiot, humans don't live in sheds. There called houses, you donkey."
"Duncan, Falcon, now's not the time for this." Skarloey snapped. "Anyways, we have somewhere for you two to stay. But what will we do about her then?"
Edward paused to think.
"Well, I guess we could just wait until Shale wakes up. None of us know how to repair humans anyways."
"Oh!" Peter Sam exclaimed. "But don't humans have doctors? We could ask one of them to repair her!"
Renneas hummed in approval. "That could work, but we'd have to find a doctor first."
"Alright then. Lets go." Edward crouched down to pick up Shale. One arm supporting her back and the other hooked under her knees. He was surprised by how light she was, but set that thought aside.
They stepped out into the street. Walking around they found an open front store and Skarloey told them to wait outside while he asked where the nearest doctor was.
"I hope Shale will be alright. She looks really damaged." Peter whispered.
"Yes, I hope she'll be okay." Edward said
"Geez, humans are really messed up. Aren't they?" Falcon muttered. Each of the engines turned to face him. Except for Duncan, who was leaning against the wall.
"Falcon? What makes you- why would-" Renneas kept stuttering, trying to find a good response.
Falcon rolled his eyes at the sudden attention. "What? Don't try to deny it. They're terrible things, look what they did to us. Hell, look what they did to her." He gestured to Shale. "Why are we even helping her? She said it herself, she just wants us for protection. That's it. We should've just left her there. I'd save us a lot of trouble if we did."
"Sir Handel! Why would you say that? Not-" Peter Sam was cut of when Falcon slapped him across the face. Peter cradled his face where a mark began to form, eyes wide with shock and tears beginning to form.
"Shut up!" He screamed. "My name is Falcon! I'm not keeping the name that fat cunt gave me! I choose to be Falcon and that's that!"
"That's enough out of you!" Renneas stepped in front of Peter and Edward. "Falcon, what has gotten into you! That was uncalled for! Don't blame this human for what the others did to us."
"Renneas is right guys." Rusty added. "She didn't do anything to us so we shouldn't blame her for anything."
"Tch, when has anything good ever come out of them anyways?" Duncan added.
"Not helping, Duncan." Renneas hissed.
"No, Duncan has a point! She might have helped us now, but what are the chances she'll screw us over later?"
Both Renneas and Rusty were taken aback by this. "But, she's so small." Renneas said quietly. "What could she - no, why would she do anything to us?"
"I dunno, but what I do know is that humans are greedy, selfish things that only care about themselves. We'd all be better of if they'd disappear altogether." Falcon stated. Glaring at the small girl whist saying most of it.
They kept bickering with each other. But Edward remained silent the whole time. He was listening to the whole conversation until he found a good place to speak up.
"Falcon, may I ask you something?" Edward asked. But he was drowned out by the others yelling.
"Falcon."
Still unheard.
"FALCON!"
They all went silent again. None of them could recall the last time the old mixed traffic engine raised his voice. Falcon raised his eyebrow but held his tongue.
"Falcon," he continued in a softer tone. "Do you recall who made you?"
"What? What's that got to do anything?"
"Please, just answer the question."
"Alright," He said reluctantly, but took a moment to recall. "Um, dam. I don't remember who. But they must've been a money whore if they were willing to sell me of to the Fat Controller."
"Well, if they made you. The wouldn't that mean that they decided to keep you alive?" Edward continued
Falcons eyes went wide with this revelation. " I, I guess they did." He mumbled.
Edward smiled at this. "Then if they really didn't care, wouldn't they have left you as just a shell?"
"Edward, just tell me what you trying to say."
"Well, my point is that even though humans do bad things to us and each other, they do them because of a good reason. Most of them probably don't like hurting others, but they think that it's the only way to make any progress."
"Okay, that's true. I guess." Falcon murmured. "But that just means that they're all to willing to hurt others to get that's they want."
"Yes, that's also true." Edward agreed, slightly discouraged. Looking back to Shale, he realized something. "But if we gave up every time somebody hurt us, then we'd never get anywhere. Just because everyone else decides to hurt each other doesn't mean that we have to do the same. We should instead focus on what we can do instead of wishing for something long gone."
Again, Edward nodded to Shale. "She's the best example of this. Shale's still a child, but she's one of the most persistent people I've met. Human or otherwise. She could've just left me with you but she stayed and offered her help to us. She could have left me again but she decided to stay."
He turned to stare at Falcon. His expression was stern but ever patient. "So you see, not all humans are bad people. We've all met other engines who've done bad things before, haven't we? But in time we realized that they were either accidents or a result of what they've seen before. The same hold true for the humans. So please, just give Shale a chance."
That made them all stop to think. It was ironic in some ways. Even without a majority of his memories, and technically being the youngest of the group, he was still the wisest of them.
Falcon signed in defeat. "Okay, I understand your point. I'll give this human a chance. But I still don't like the others."
Someone behind them coughed. It was Skarloey standing by the storefront. He seemed hesitant to speak.
"Pardon me, but I have some bad news. Unfortunately we need something called a health card to go to the doctor. Either that or we need to pay them more money."
Skarloey said
"What'd I tell you guys." Falcon said. "Always about money."
"Falcon, could you stop being so negative. Like Edward said, we should try to fix what we can." Renneas said. "Also, I believe you own Peter an apology."
"What? What happened while I was in there Renneas?" Skarloey asked. He noticed how Peter was cupping his face and the shine in his eyes.
"I, well. After the fact, I regretted it but-" Falcon stuttered
"Falcon slapped Peter after callin' Im' Sir Handel again." Duncan stated.
"What? Why would you that?" Skarloey said, shocked.
"I'm - I'm sorry Skarloey. It was just a heat of the moment kind of thing. I just hoped that I'd never hear that name again." Falcon rubbed his arm. He couldn't bare to look his leader in the eye so he just stared at the ground.
"I'm not the one you should apologize to, Falcon." Skarloey crossed his arms. He was mad, but he also somewhat disappointed.
"Right," Falcon looked up to Peter, who looked more sympathetic than he expected. "Sorry, Stuart. I just, just don't want to keep being reminded of that."
Peter Sam managed a small smile. "Okay, I forgive you Falcon.
"Good, we should start heading back now." Skarloey took point and the other followed behind in a tight group around Edward.
Peter had one more question for his old Shed-mate. "Why would you be so mad over a name?"
"Cause it was one of the only things I could've chosen for myself. And even that was taken from me." Falcon crossed his arms.
"Falcon, it doesn't mater what others call you." Edward said. "A name can't change who you are. The one thing that change who you are, is yourself."
"Oh, I never really though of it like that." Falcon face palmed and groaned into his hand. "I'm such a puffball, aren't I?"
"Well, when your havin'a good day." Duncan joked
Falcon yelled indignantly. But it didn't stop some of the others from giggling.
They backtracked there way back to where the tree line started. They found the bush that cut through to the railway and made their way in. Edward tried to keep any stray branched from catching on any of Shales bruises but some still brushed against them, making her wince slightly.
When they made their way back to Peter and Falcons old railway, Edward brushed away some rocks and set Shale down under the shed. He gingerly pulled of her jacket to fold into a makeshift pillow and to asses the extent of the damage.
The bruises were even more extensive now that before, coloured purple and yellowed at the edges. At some places the skin had been broken and blood was smeared around the edges. The only small blessing was that her nose had also stoped bleeding and the rag Edward cut was still useable.
"Do any of you know how to try and mend a human?" Edward asked.
The Narrow Gauge Engines all looked at Duncan for an answer. Said engine had his eyebrow raised and was confused by the sudden attention.
"What? What're you lookin' at me for?" Duncan asked
"Well you seemed to know the most about the things humans do out of all of us." Rusty said.
"Yea, but only the illegal stuff! Not how to fix a human!" Then he caught a glance at the bag hanging from Shale. "There might be somethin' in there tho."
Edward flipped open the bag and pulled out whatever he though would be useful. He set down three vials of different size and colour . He picked up one of the vials and looked at the liquid inside.
"Do you think it's some kind of -what's it called - medicine?" Rusty asked.
"I'm not sure. I don't know if we should use this, it could be dangerous." Edward said. He unplugged the cork and let a small amount of the liquid pour into his hand. It was clear and there wasn't any kind of reaction. He couldn't smell anything either so he assumed that it was just water.
"What do you think, Skarloey?" Edward turned to face him.
Skarloey had his arms crossed and a hand stroked his chin thoughtfully "I'm not sure. But let's try some and see if anything happens."
Edward nodded. He took the rag and poured some of the liquid onto it. He brushed the rag over the blood and cuts. They were still bleeding slightly so Edward cut out some more material from his shirt, added some drops from the vial and used them as makeshift bandages.
"Alright, but what do we do about the bruises?" Renneas asked
"I guess we could just leave them. They might fade after a while but until them we should just wait it out." Edward said. After a moment he added "Would it be alright to borrow your jackets for Shale to use as a bed?"
"Of course, she needs it more than I do anyways." Skarloey pulled of his leather jacket and Peter gave his sweater to him. Edward lifted Shale up again so they could place them on the ground.
Edward hoped that Falcon or Duncan would do the same. But when both of them wouldn't move he spoke up.
"Arn't you two going to help?" He asked
Duncan was going to retort but was stopped by Skarloeys quiet glare. He wisely kept his mouth shut but handed his yellow polo to Skarloey. Falcon eventually did the same with his sweater which Edward draped over Shale like a blanket.
"I hope she'll be alright." Peter said, laying a hand on Edwards shoulder.
"Me to." He then remembered something. "Oh, I want you all to try something!"
Edward fished out the chocolate bar from his pants pocket and broke it into several pieces. He handed one to each of the engines who just stared at it, confused.
"It's called chocolate. I didn't try any of it yet but the younger children always seemed to like it." Edward bit into his piece and his eyes went wide with awe. "Now I see why! Try some, it's amazing!"
Each of the engines took a hesitant bite, one by one. Each of them immediately having a similar reaction.
They were finished in no time and Peter ended up licking some of the chocolate that melted from his hands. "Man that was great!"
"I guess being human isn't so bad after all." Falcon shrugged.
"Yea, I guess." Duncan said.
They all chatted quietly afterwards. Each of the Narrow Gauge engines taking turns catching Edward up to speed about what had happened to them and vice versa. All of them hoping for Shale to wake up soon.
