A/N: Here we finally see just how bad Lady can be, so a quick warning of some violence and death in this chapter. Also, to Guest, I update the story every couple days, so please be patient. Thomasfanfictionista, I am already working on the next chapter, so it will be up as soon as possible. Anyway, on with the story!
Lady circled the island like great vulture, occasionally landing to pick up materials for a nest for the two human children to stay in for tonight. She landed in the logging depot, and looked down when something glittering in the sun caught her eye. It was a gold coin that a human had left behind that was lying under the tracks. Lady knew it was useless as a nest material, yet she hungered for it. She slithered between the tracks, and snatched the coin. Now that no one was watching, she could let her true self show itself.
She took the air once more, and her sharp eyesight picked out a humans wearing a golden ring. Apparently, not all the humans fled, or they were just starting to return to the island after years of vacating it. She snorted. She didn't want to harm the human, but deep inside, she wanted the trinket... now. If she let him live, he would know too much, and would most likely tell someone about her. She circled the human, careful to stay out of sight. When the time was right, she dived, and landed in front of the human. The hard ground cracked under her immense weight. The human screamed, and tried to run away from her. Lady slammed her tail on the ground in front of him, cutting him off. The human whimpered, and cowered before her. Lady held back a twisted smile at the human's fear. He should be afraid of her.
"What do you want from me?" the human was shaking in fear. Lady snorted, black smoke billowed from her nostrils, and looked down at his ring. The human immediately covered his hand.
"You can't have that! It's my wedding band!" the human flinched when Lady snarled at him. "No! You can't have it!"
Lady let the fire in her belly rise, and she let out a blast of flame from her powerful jaws, burning the human alive. The human screamed in agony, but quickly succumbed to the intense heat of her flames. Her stomach let out a thunderous growl the moment the smell of rotisserie meat hit her nose. She plucked the ring from his corpse, and devoured the foolish human. He was lucky she decided to kill him rather than just eating him alive. She had done it before to several of the hikers that dared to wander into her shed for shelter. She never grew bored of the sweet flavor of the blood of her prey. It was like she couldn't get enough of it. Oh well, she could do it to the next one.
Lady took to the air once more, and searched the island for anything else of value, but found nothing. Frustrated, she returned to the ridge by the waterfall, where her Rider, and her friend were waiting for he, and began to construct a small shelter for the two humans.
Lily reached out to Lady, and felt a fierce hunger for gold, greed. It wasn't like Lady to be like this. Lady lifted her head to look at her. Her golden eyes were feral. Something was wrong. Lady snorted, and then returned to building the small shelter. Lily poked, and prodded at Lady's mind. It felt so alien now. Lady finally let her in, and greed, and blood lust emanated from Lady in sickening waves. Lily quickly withdrew. Lady obviously hadn't outgrown her violent stage, or was there something else to it? Once Lady was finished constructing the small shelter, she slithered over to the other side of the ridge, and placed a golden coin, and a ring onto the ground. Lady laid down on top of them as if to guard them, her first treasure hoard on Misty Island.
"Where did you get those?" Lily raised an eyebrow. Lady smiled, baring her fangs.
"I found the coin, and a human was kind enough to give me his ring." Lady replied. Lily could sense Lady was hiding something from her.
"Is there something you're not telling me, Lady?" Lily raised an eyebrow at her. Lady's smile faded, and snorted, black smoke billowed from her nostrils.
"You're not ready." Lady growled. The ground shook beneath them it was so deep, and had so much power behind it.
"What do you mean I'm not ready?" Lily crossed her arms.
"You won't see me the same way again." Lady narrowed her eyes to golden slits. "I told you I shared blood with a beast of legend." Lady was growing agitated.
"What kind of beast?" Lily was pressing Lady for answers, maybe pressing her a little too much.
"ENOUGH!" Lady snarled. Patch, and Patch flinched. "You do not understand the power I posses!" Lady snapped. Lily shook he head, and sighed.
Lily walked off to the other side of the ridge, and sat down on the hard rock. Patch sat down beside her.
"What's up with her?" Patch whispered.
"I don't know, but I don't like it." Lily grumbled. She looked back over her shoulder to see Lady using her wings to create a tent around her to isolate herself from her Rider. "She's stubborn."
"Maybe she's doing it to protect you." Patch knew Lady cared more about Lily than Lily might have known. Perhaps it was better off to wait until Lady thought Lily was ready to handle it.
Lady felt horrible for snapping at her Rider, but she had to protect Lily from the beast dwelling deep in her very soul. Lily just didn't understand her great power, and obviously didn't hear just what beast of legend she shared blood with. She had kept this secret from Tasha, and even Burnett, but Lily... she just might have to tell her the horrible truth about her. She opened her wings slightly.
"Why don't you two go, and make friends with the Logging Locos? They have been wanting to get to know you two." Lady suggested to them. Lily sighed.
"Fine." Lily stood up, and climbed down the ridge, with Patch trailing behind her. She didn't want to leave Lady like this. There were so many questions, and Lady wasn't willing to answer them. She looked back up at the ridge. Lady had enclosed herself within her wings again. Lily shook her head, and together, she and Patch made their way to the logging depot. She grew sick as she saw the logging locos roughhousing.
Murderers. Lily thought. She had had enough of this place. There was so much suffering, and death here. She couldn't bring herself to move any closer to three engines.
"Are you okay?" Patch asked her softly. Lily shook her head.
"No, you can go ahead, and introduce yourself to them... I think I'm going to be sick." Lily grew pale. Patch saw she needed some space. He nodded, and left her to chat with the Logging Locos. Lily retreated into the forest, and threw up. She wiped her mouth, and sat down on a rotting log, holding her head in her hands, and sobbing softly. A few minutes later, she felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She looked up, expecting to see Patch, but saw a middle-aged woman instead, who was wearing a worn flannel shirt, and jeans. Her hazel eyes had a glint of worry in them, and her auburn hair was barely past her shoulders, which meant there maybe others here since her hair had been cut.
"Who are you?" Lily straightened.
The woman smiled warmly. "The name's Brenda. I take care of the Logging Locos." she held out a hand to her. Lily reluctantly shook it.
"I'm Lily, nice to meet you." Lily smiled weakly. Brenda sat down beside her.
"The Logging Locos told me about you, and your friend, and I thought you two ought to get a proper welcome, unlike the usual stalking around from my boys." Brenda chuckled.
"Are there other people here, or did they all flee the island after... the incident?" Lily asked. Brenda's smile faded.
"Sadly, I'm the only one who stays here. I can't abandon my three boys. I raised them since they were just little kittens." Brenda replied.
"Then... why did they attack the town here, then?" Lily felt terrible for asking Brenda about the attack, but it was likely she would know the answer more than anyone else.
"Hmm... how can I explain this... um... you see, steamies are not like the diesels by any means. This includes their instincts. A steamie is born with a killer instinct, and a lust for blood. The diesels lack this. Think of a steamie as similar to a lion, or another powerful predator. Killing is in their DNA. They are made for the kill, and when they are teenagers, their lust for blood is at it's strongest. They were beyond my control. Killing is what makes steamies steamies, like how your talents makes you you, and unfortunately, nobody can control that." Brenda did her best to explain this to the child.
"But... Lady is an adult. She's still bloodthirsty." Lily looked down at the ground. Brenda's eyes grew wide in wonder.
"You mean the lost engine? She's here?" Brenda had heard legends about Lady when she was a child, but never imagined they were true. Lily nodded.
"I'm her Rider." Lily raised a hand to show Brenda the wheel on her palm. "She's not as gentle as I thought she was." Lily sighed. "It's like she enjoys killing whatever, or whoever stands before her."
"Hmm... that's odd. Can you describe some of her behavior to me? I might not be an expert on steamies, but I know enough about them to raise one." Brenda raised an eyebrow at her.
"Well, at first she was really sweet, but recently, she's been getting worse. When I reached out to her, I felt greed, and blood lust from her. It made me feel sick. She has never acted like that before." Lily thought Brenda wouldn't be able to come up with an explanation for Lady's sudden change in behavior, but it was worth a try.
"Hmm... I never heard of an engine having a hunger for gold... That's strange. I heard magical engines are hybrids, is that true?" Brenda needed more information in order to get to the bottom of this.
"Yeah. She says she has the blood of a beast of legend flowing through her veins. She told me she destroyed whole kingdoms years ago. She has two treasure hoards too." Lily looked up at Brenda.
"That narrows it down quite a bit. There are two creatures that gather treasure to decorate their lairs: the griffin, and the dragon. However, since she has two treasure hoards, which I assume are huge, it seems she's actually part dragon. Dragons are notorious for destroying whole kingdoms for gold to adorn their lairs. That would explain her hoarding behavior, and why the presence of gold can cause a sudden increase in her aggression." Brenda knew it was a shot in the dark. If Lady's Rider didn't know much about her, then no one ever will.
Now it made sense. Lady's hunger for treasure, and lust for blood made it all too obvious. Lady shared blood with the dragons, which meant Lady was able to destroy the Sodor with ease, She grew horrified when she realized that was only half of it. Lady posed a threat to not only Sodor, but the real world as well.
"That's just my opinion. I don't know Lady as well as you do." Brenda looked down at her.
"There's only one way to find out." Lily stood up. "Would you like to come, and see her? This might be the one chance she'll let you see her." Lily looked at Brenda.
"Why of course! It's not everyday you get to see such a powerful engine!" Brenda smiled, and stood up. Together, they walked back to the ridge, while Lily was bracing herself to face Lady's anger.
A/N: So, there we have it! Now we know the truth about the magical engine herself. Lady is the one responsible for so many hikers going missing in Muffle Mountain, and is known for eating humans, more often than she lets on as a matter of fact. The next chapter is already in the works, so until we meet again, see ya later!