A/N: Thank you all so much again for your reviews of my rewrite! I appreciate your feedback and how amazing you guys are! :) So here's a brand new, EXCLUSIVE chapter for LTL 2- and another updated one as well!

Thank you!

…..

"I shall send you to the Steamworks, Duncan." Said Mr. Percival gravely, once Duncan and Skarloey had returned from their chat. "Would you mind taking him there, Skarloey? Rheneas will take over your duties until you return."

"Oh, that's fine by me, sir," Replied Skarloey quickly, remembering his promise to Luke about Smudger.

"Me too, sir." Added Rheneas.

"Good. I hope you feel better soon, Duncan." Added the Thin Controller, patting his No. 6's buffer warmly. "I shall come by to check on your progress later."

"Thank you, sir." Mumbled Duncan, but he didn't sound sincere. Fortunately, Mr. Percival said nothing, save for his usual kindly parting remarks, and left.

….

Once Rheneas had fetched Smudger's flatbed from the Upper Terrace (Skarloey decided it was high time he started repaying Rheneas's kindness; his poor brother was more than certainly worn out, due to the fact he'd been ill more than usual.) the unlikely trio set off for the Steamworks.

….

"So, did you ever actually meet Peter Sam and Sir Handel, then?" Skarloey asked Smudger awkwardly, as he trundled along to Crovan's Gate.

"Well, I heard them talking about this and that, rambling to ol' Dukie about whatever took their silly fancies- but my present situation didn't exactly allow me to be anything more than a hermit."

"If ye ask me, ye should have stayed there!" Spat Duncan from behind Skarloey, who was still in a bad mood.

"You take that back, you bloodthirsty haggis loving, b"-

"ENOUGH!" Boomed Skarloey, letting off a loud blast of his whistle, just in time. He glared back and forth at the angry pair- despite the fact neither of them could see him. Duncan resumed his sulk, Smudger started humming an old song that no one really remembered anymore, and Skarloey just muttered some choice words under his breath. In Welsh.

Hm, perhaps he needed to stop being a hypocrite to Rheneas, as well. After all, Talyllyn had been guilty of the same crime Dolgoch had been; they had both taught their twins how to curse in Welsh!

In all seriousness, he was surprised his brother was able to take everything in stride, considering what been going on over the past couple of months; and not lose control.

But it was Rheneas, he reasoned. He'd always been capable of thinking rationally; far better than he himself would ever be, anyway. He tended to lead more with wisdom and with emotion than thought. That was why he needed Rheneas so much.

That, plus Rheneas's wisdom was a healing balm, an antidote, a pain reliever, for his own anger and feelings of loss of control.

He was the only one Skarloey really felt comfortable in confiding about his strongest feelings.

….

At Crovan's Gate, Victor was very surprised to see such an unusual assortment of engines coming into the Steamworks.

"Hello, Victor!" Whistled Skarloey, trying to remain cheerful and polite. "How are you?"

"Hola, my friends!" He puffed cheerfully, as Skarloey rolled in wearily. "I'm very well, thank you. And I see you've… erm, brought a new friend with you." He said, glancing at the derelict tank engine in front of Skarloey.

"Mair like an inconvenience." Duncan huffed from behind Old Faithful.

"Says the blind man to the crippled man." Smudger sniped back.

"Hey, hey, we don't welcome ableism here," Warned the Hispanic tank engine, before Duncan could retort, "Or any kind of prejudice, for that matter. Now settle down. How may I help you, my friends?"

"Well, I need an overhaul and Haggis Tank here can't see a damn thing." Smudger drawled.

Victor looked quizzically at Skarloey, who sighed with frustration.

"Victor, this is Smudger, a friend of L"- fortunately, the old engine stopped himself just in him. "a friend of Duke's."

"Really, pal? I still haven't seen Dukie in over, what, 70 years, and you're"-

"I think you've said enough," Skarloey hissed dangerously. The younger engine got the message and promptly shut up; save to squeak out, "I need an overhaul- desperately!"

Victor smiled, and then laughed; a deep, warm laugh that seemed to embody his heritage and culture; the one he left behind. "Of course, my friend! We are more than happy to help you!"

"Thanks," Smudger replied, gratefully.

"And what about Duncan?"

Skarloey explained about Duncan's blindness which had resulted from the fire; which made Victor frown, before he sent two workmen to investigate the damage.

"So, how did the fire happen, Skarloey?" asked Victor worriedly.

"The Thin Controller is suspecting arson," replied Skarloey witheringly. "But he is working with the police and the fire brigade to establish what happened."

Victor hmm…ed in response but said nothing to Skarloey about what he thought of this disturbing revelation.

And, to be perfectly honest, the silence troubled Skarloey; he wanted some idea of what Victor thought of this, and maybe offer some reassurance that justice will prevail. But perhaps Victor didn't believe in clichés.

No, scratch that; he definitely wouldn't. he was far too sensible to fall into a silly, irrational mind-trap.

To make matters worse, Smudger and Duncan were no help in breaking the silence, still subdued by Victor's warning to behave themselves here.

Suddenly, there was a loud 'CRASH!' coming from somewhere behind Victor, which made all the narrow-gauge engines jump; as well as a couple of standard gauge engines.

"Kevin!" Victor called out. "I told you to be careful, my friend! And to slow down!"

"Sorry boss!" a sheepish voice squeaked out, and a curious, freckled face popped up beside Victor. "It was just a slip of the hook!"

"I know," sighed Victor, rolling his eyes with a fond exasperation.

Skarloey was honestly so grateful for the young crane's intervention, no matter how accidental it was, that he quickly forgave him for giving him and the others a scare.

"Hullo, Kevin!" the old engine greeted warmly. "How are you today, boyo? I haven't seen you in a while!"

"Hi, Skarloey!" Kevin replied happily, racing over to see Skarloey; completely forgetting his boss's warning. "I didn't see you come in!"

"Ah, I just came in real quietly," replied Skarloey mischievously, winking at Kevin conspiratorially, who merely blinked in awe, "I've lived long enough to learn how to do that."

"Considering your present company, Skarloey, I think you just broke a new record." Victor teased. "Kevin's usually quicker at picking up who's arrived within these walls."

The two aforementioned engines merely blushed in embarrassment at the implication.

Kevin liked it when the little engines of the Sudrian mountains came to visit the Steamworks; they were small and old; in fact, Skarloey and Rheneas were two of the island's oldest engines; but they were very strong and hardy, quick witted and were very kind to all that they met. Not to mention the fact that they loved regaling stories of their past; which Kevin found very interesting to listen to.

He also considered them to be far less secretive than Victor was. He was fond of his boss and looked up to him a great deal; and after hearing some sage words from Duke about your past contributing to your present, Kevin had been eager to hear tales of Victor's youth from his homeland.

Sadly, Victor refused to divulge any information; except for the fact that he had never seen snow before until this winter; and that ignorance had cost him a night out in the cold, in the transfer table well; after a mishap involving some late night repairs, icy rails and his own stubborn nature.

That incident had actually occurred only a couple of weeks ago; and now the other engines had taken some sick, derisive pleasure (Victor's words) in reminding him of how dangerous snow and ice could be to engines.

That was pretty much all Kevin knew of his boss; aside from his name, his passion for work, and his style of humour.

It was pretty disheartening; poor Kevin was just really keen to get to know Victor better, but each time he tried to not so subtly probe for answers, he would more often than not just receive a gentle "not now, Kevin," in response.

….

The workmen had finished their assessment of Duncan, and the outcome was not a very positive one.

"We had a good look, Victor, and I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." Joseph Trevor, Victor's Chief Engineer, said solemnly, shaking his head as he tapped his pen against his clipboard, laden with paperwork.

"Right, thank you very much for your time, Joseph, gentlemen," Victor answered courteously, acknowledging his human colleague and their team with an unspoken but not absent gratitude. "You can resume your duties- Joseph and I will arrange… erm, Smudger's restoration shortly. He turned his attention back to the three engines. He knew they would have heard every word, but he wanted to say it again; just to give Duncan and Skarloey the assurance of receiving answers, no matter meagre his offer.

"As I was saying to Joseph, I'm afraid your injuries outlie my men's experience, Duncan, my friend." Victor said sympathetically. He waited in silence for a moment as Duncan burst into a cursing fit over the news, save to instruct Kevin to 'keep working'.

Once the Scottish engine's foul-mouthed rant was over, he continued, "I cannot do anything to help you, my friend- save to recommend you see an eye specialist. I know its hardly conventional for engines to do so; but Whiff has such experience with this when he gets his glasses fitted."

"Interesting." Commented Skarloey.

"Please, tell Mr. Percival I'm sorry I cannot do anything for Duncan at this point." Victor added lamentedly.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, Victor," replied Skarloey compassionately. "You did the best you could. And please don't take Duncan's rant to heart- he's just been so upset about what's happened that he's been much angrier than usual."

"I can't blame him, and I don't, either." The Cuban engine replied honestly.

"So, what about me?" Asked Smudger, awkwardly.

"You, Smudger, will be staying here for an overhaul, as needed; but you will need to wait a little longer, as I have other repairs that need to be completed most urgently." Victor continued.

"Well, I've waited this long," replied Smudger nonchalantly. "I guess I can wait a few days or weeks more for attention."

"Good, I'm glad I've secured your cooperation." Victor said dryly.

Skarloey, deciding that now would be the pragmatic time for himself and Duncan to leave, coughed politely. "Well, I don't want to keep you two held up any longer, so I… erm, we better head back to the Quarry." He said. "But thank you, Victor."

"Please, don't thank me, Skarloey," Victor fretted helplessly. "I didn't do anything- I can't do anything in situations like this."

"Hey, don't stress yourself, boyo- you took the time to see to Duncan in what little you could offer- I call that better than nothing." Skarloey said firmly. "Now, I better get this one back to the quarry and find out what Duncan's to do. I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later," Mumbled Victor, weakly, his good mood suddenly evaporated into thin air.

"See you later, Kev!" Old Faithful called out kindly to Kevin.

"Oh, see you, Skarloey! Come back soon!" Kevin replied in kind, wanting to be polite.

With that, Old Faithful gave one last farewell toot on his whistle, before exiting the Steamworks with Duncan right behind him.

They remained silent all the way back to the quarry.