A/N If you know it, I don't own it. Autumn's loosely based on me as a kid, except with a nicer basement than I grew up with. Her home's basement's based on my Indiana relative's fixed up basement. The omitted characters just haven't come yet when my character's there. If there's anything that seems weird, remember this is a fantasy world. I come from the classic era, where sentience is the only unrealistic element of the characters, so other than faces, feelings, personality and talking are the only unrealistic things they do if a fic where I keep them as train engines, like this one.
Autumn, a six year old girl with dark brown hair and eyes was down in the basement watching Thomas the Tank engine videos. It was a rainy, yucky day and she was stuck inside. Thomas was her go to when she was unhappy. She was a cheerful, friendly, creative and strong willed little imp, usually, but the dreary day got her feeling rather low. Her last Thomas video ended with The Island Song. Her smile lit up the room. I knew it, she thought. The happy little tank engine made me smile again. She began to daydream.
Autumn was floating away. In her daydream world, she saw a clear blue sky, except for a few white clouds, and a smiling sun. Off in the distance, she saw a blue sea. The air was filled with hissing, whistling and other railway sounds. "Bust my buffers. I somehow got to Sodor", she said. She ran ahead to where Thomas was happily shunting some cars. "Hi, Thomas", she said. "I'm a fan. My name's Autumn" Peep, peep, went Thomas. "Welcome to Sodor, Autumn. What brings you to visit here?" "Daydreaming", she said. She skipped off, finding her way to the big station and found Edward finishing pulling some coaches away. The little old engine gave her a kind look. "Hi, Edward", I'm Autumn and I'm a fan of you engines.".
Autumn stood beside the shed as Henry steamed in after pulling his train. She heard someone, probably Gordon, she thought say "Express coming through!" in the distance. The voice was unclear, but sounded something like Gordon to her and the big blue engine was out of her sight.
James puffed out of the shed and saw Autumn. "Hey, see my red paint?", he said.
"I'm Autumn" , she said "And how could I not see you since I can see perfectly fine? You vain engine!" He said, as he was coupled to his coaches, "We're in need of a tank engine. I guess you know Thomas used to shunt here, but he has his branch line now."
She said, "I was just there and he was shunting some cars. Probably has a freight train to pull or just finished with one. By the way, there may be a tank engine in the workshop." Autumn knew about Percy, Toby, Duck, Donald, Douglas and Oliver, along with all the other characters, like the non-NWR engines. However, she wanted to stay in the time place where she was. She sensed Percy was soon to come to the shed. And so she remained by the shed until Gordon came puffing in after pulling the express. Yup, she thought, I was right about ol' Gordon. She knew he was grumpy and pompous, but could see his good side, so she waved at him. Autumn decided to find Thomas again, so she said goodbye to the engines of the big shed. I can't stay here long, she thought as she skipped off to find the engine she loved most once more. She decided to spend the rest of her stay with Thomas, if possible. She found him having a drink after pulling a freight train. When he was done, "Hello, again", she said to him.
"What brings you back here?", the littlest engine said, a cheeky grin on his face.
"Only you, Thomas", Autumn said and she sang "Thomas' Anthem", "He's the One" and "The Island Song". She skipped up to him and gave him a big hug. "You're my favorite character", she said. "You're one of my go toes when I'm unhappy, due to your cheerful personality." He gave a short laugh and then she saw tears of joy in his eyes. She knew it was her doing and asked "What exactly was it that made you happy cry?"
Thomas said," Just the combination of everything, your songs about me and this island combined with your hug and words.". His voice was steady, even with the happy tears. "Nice to meet a fan, especially if you can enjoy me in a healthy way. I think you can since you do talk and interact. He's the One happens to be my favorite song, as it calls me a Really Useful Engine and the number one."
Autumn and Thomas talked about the stories in which he had a speaking role she wanted to ask about. She found out why in A Big Day For Thomas he didn't know he forgot the train, at first. He was simply too excited to know. She knew it was a sad moment for him when he realized, but it was heavy on her mind. But she read the story and saw the video, so she knew it had a happy ending. She eventually felt a pull back to reality and she and Thomas said their goodbyes. I hope I can visit again, she thought. I met some of my heroes without disappointment. Maybe it's because they're just a fantasy, though. She was old enough to know it was make believe, but still not too old for that kind of thing quite yet.
A/N Should I send her back there sometime when more engines have come or maybe have her visit another railway on the Island of Sodor?