Your hope lights up the universe and makes me determined
At the Docks
Brendam Docks is one of the busiest places on the island of Sodor, so many ships from the Main Land and numerous other railways come over to trade goods in ships, with the help of Cranky the Crane and Salty, everything runs like clock work, especially since Salty gets more work done than 3 engines put together. But recently, less and less ships have been coming over, Salty was looking disappointed and worried. Soon a ship arrived. Percy arrived soon, he had to deliver the mail.
"Why are there less ships, Cranky?" asked Percy.
"It only makes sense Percy." started Cranky as he was unloading the mail "With the recent events, less goods and cargo will be coming over and they will all be going to other railways, like the smaller ones."
"Arrr, I've been hearing that the Blue Mountain Railway has been getting more attraction lately me hearties." said Salty.
"I've never heard of that Railway before." said Percy.
"It was a small Railway that is starting and it's been gaining more attraction lately." explained Cranky "Sodor has been like it. Similar things were happening to other big famous Railways..." Cranky stopped and got in deep thought. Percy knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Will we recover?" Percy asked. Salty and Cranky were just as unsure as Percy, no one had an answer. Sodor's fate is currently in the unknown.
Elsewhere
Timothy can be seen in his sheds laughing because of the recent events.
'HA HA HA HA HA! NOW EVERYTHING IS GOING PERFECTLY! ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE THE NEW RAILWAY CAN BE CREATED!' yells Timothy in his head 'WHAT YOU THINK OF THAT THOMAS?! THIS IS MY PERFECT VICTORY! THAT'S RIGHT! YOU WON LAST TIME BUT I WIN THIS ONE! I FUCKING WON! I KNEW THAT IF EDWARD WORKED WITH GEORGE, IT WOULD CAUSE CONFUSION AND DELAY WITH THE PIPES, YOUR DELIVERY AND ON TOP OF THAT GORDON WITH THE EXPRESS! I ALSO PLANNED FOR THAT CRASH YOU SUFFERED! I WON!'
At the Fat Controller's office, 3 workmen entered his office and each one handed him a piece of paper. The Fat Controller looked at them.
"What's this?" he asked.
"Its our resignation papers. Send us over to another railway, we don't want to work here anymore, after everything we just witnessed." said one of the workmen. The Fat Controller had no choice but to sign the papers, he couldn't just claim 'there might some sort of explanation', hundreds of workmen died recently and he felt responsible for all of them. Soon the Fat Controller signed the papers then looked outside, James was passing by with a goods train, but it was way smaller in scale compared to the usual lot.
'A lot less...' said the Fat Controller to himself. His wife was soon outside with some bags.
"Did you get the stuff we don't need anymore?" asked the Fat Controller.
"Yes." replied his wife.
"Sell those as much as possible, we can at least try to keep the railway running long enough for something to happen." said the Fat Controller.
At night
At Tidimouth Sheds, all the engines were doing their best to sleep, they had to work hard the next day, to no longer cause confusion and delay, all except one engine, Emily. All that she would dream of is of the crash Thomas went through, and all the deaths of the workmen. She would randomly wake up in the middle of the night, then check the empty berth for Thomas to see if he is back, but of course, he isn't.
'I just wanna see Thomas...' said Emily to herself. The next morning, Emily immediately puffed out of Tidimouth sheds and went to the Steamworks. The Steamworks are where all the engines get mended and fixed, whenever there are accidents and crashes. It was especially with fixing Thomas. When Emily arrived, she could see Thomas hoisted up at the ceiling being mended. Seeing the state Thomas was in still placed Emily in a sense of despair, the embodiment of hope being destroyed to this extent. Feeling the same amount of despair as she did yesterday, Emily back away, as she felt a tear drop from her face. 'What am I doing with myself? I can't do anything right.' puffed Emily to herself 'Am I even a useful Engine?' she cried all the way back to the Yards. Most of the engines were just ignoring her all the way through, because they were starting to view her as a big pair of bossy buffers so almost nobody decided to talk to her. Emily then backed up to a corner at the Yards, where nobody else could see her, crying all alone.
"Its almost done." said a voice who Emily instantly recognized as Timothy "Smaller Railways are gaining popularity thanks to me and you, and then I will be starting construction of one whole Railway."
"Thomas will come back and defeat you..." said Emily.
"Stop with this hopefulness nonsense." boomed Timothy "What do you want me to say? 'You're probably right. Of course he will, that's who Thomas is.'? That Tank Engine was just caught in the crossfire of a necessity for my plan. He is nothing more than a bridge to continue my objective." Timothy said all of that with indifference and not a single bit of care in his voice, the embodiment of nothingness and nihilism "If I were you, I would be infuriated with him for even doing what he did, I would shunt freight cars at him just to teach him a lesson and make sure he never does it again. In fact, every single one of these engines will help me achieve my goal, some may die, some may be collateral damage. Thomas meanwhile, is a stubborn little Tank Engine who thinks he can do anything with determination and will, but I will tell you what, you should be angry at him for even daring to challenge me, he is no different than a lamb to the slaughter." the second Emily heard Timothy say that final line, she immediately went full speed at and shunted him with all her might, almost derailing him. Timothy was taken aback by the sudden action and Emily was panting.
"He is not anything like that, Thomas has a big heart, he is not doing it to be suicidal, he will defeat you!" said Emily as she panted.
"The railway is almost closed anyway, so even if I am exposed, I will give this railway a year or so before it closes down... unless you can do anything about it to delay." said Timothy as he was then seen leaving. After awhile, a workman found Emily.
"Emily, Thomas wants to see you." said the Workmen "I got a call from the Steamworks and apparently Thomas woke up calling out for you." Emily, somewhere deep inside her she felt relieved, immediately had her fire started and left for the Steamworks.
"Thanks a lot!" she said. When she arrived at the Steamworks she heard.
"Where's Emily?! Is she safe?! Was there anyone else hurt?!"
"Calm down Thomas, just calm down." it was Thomas and Victor talking. When Emily entered inside, she immediately looked at the hoisted Tank Engine and he looked back at her.
"Emily... you're safe..." said Thomas.
"Yes, I am..." Emily replied, as she shed tears of joy. She wanted to say something to Thomas, anything really, but she was so happy to see that he was alive that she couldn't think of what to say exactly.
"But what about the others?" Thomas asked.
"I think I must give you the answer Thomas." said a voice who was the Fat Controller.
"Sir! What is it?! Please tell me one is alive! Just one!" pleaded Thomas, he puffed the biggest huff ever, just hoping someone is still alive. The Fat Controller took off his top hat and looked down and Emily also looked down.
"I am sorry, Thomas..." said the Fat Controller. Thomas now felt saddened, his face of joy seeing Emily again now replaced with a deep face of pain and suffering, then he began to cry.
"Not one...?" The Fat Controller then shook his head. Emily also felt Thomas' sadness, but she could feel the ocean of despair Thomas is feeling. Just as two hearts beat as one, Emily was able to feel the emotion behind Thomas, it grieved and pained her.
"Victor... is there a place where I can sleep with Thomas tonight?" Emily asked.
"I mean you can sleep at a corner." replied Victor.
"Thank you..." puffed Emily then she looked at Thomas.
'I promise Thomas, I will never have you feel this sadness ever again.' said Emily as she puffed out of the Steamworks to continue working. When Emily finished all her work, she immediately puffed to the Steamworks. The whole day she had this despair still on her, it felt like a smell that never came off for some reason. When Emily arrived at the Steamworks, she found Thomas still being repaired, with the same look he had when he learned the news of the workmen's death. Emily was able to comprehend all of it, just like how the rain connects Heaven and Earth, it felt like she was connected to Thomas. Emily puffed closely to Thomas and buffered up in front of him.
"Its all my fault..." said Thomas "I should have... I shouldn't have..."
"I'm here Thomas, I'm here." said Emily, she knew that if Thomas heard something like 'we couldn't expect' or something along those lines, it would worsen his emotions, with the atmosphere being as dense as it already is "Thomas... I don't know how to speak of it... I want to help you, but I don't know how to talk about it without hurting you... so whenever you want to talk to me... we can..." Thomas smiled at Emily's comment but he had this weird feeling.
'But Emily... there was a uncertainty in your voice and so many pauses... its like you were putting on an act... you do understand me right?' Thomas wondered to himself. Timothy can be seen on a mountain side, looking over Sodor. He was feeling resolved, knowing the results of all his efforts.
'Emma... I promise you. We will be reunited upon the creation of the new railway...' said Timothy commenting about another Engine. In 2 years, the confusion and delay Timothy was causing skyrocketed, manipulating Henry into thinking he had lucky trucks which then caused confusion and delay for both him and Edward, or how he had let a cow loose causing Thomas to lose the billboard that was meant for Knapford. Emily meanwhile cranked her attitude to eleven, just doing her absolute best not to see Thomas or any of her friends get hurt again, like how she tried to avoid Whiff when he first arrived on Sodor, causing confusion and delay since there were several garbage trucks on the Railway, or how she didn't get Thomas to have his final inspection when she wanted to instinctively get Thomas back to the yards, get him to have his final inspection and have a talk with him about it, and how she had this boastful attitude about "excellent Emily" and caused confusion and delay for Murdoch. Sodor's economy was gradually dropping each day, not a lot of passengers coming over, Main Land goods not coming and having to sell some assets yet smaller Railways were growing rapidly. Sodor was soon moving into a dark age where Timothy's will was the only law.