A/N Michaela and her crew belong to FurryFoxFires
One day, Thomas was going along all happy when he saw Erica looking sad. "What's wrong, little sister?', he asked, his smile turning sympathetic.
She sniffled and blinked as her sad eyes grew wet with big tears and in a sad voice said, "I heard some dreadful news." She began to cry. Her voice became a wail and sobs kicked in. "M-my o-oldest s-sibling w-was s-scrapped.", she said in a broken, choked voice. "T-the o-only n-nice t-to m-me e-engine b-back h-home." She then turned her talking to her driver. "D-driver, c-can y-you w-wipe m-my e-eyes?"
Erica's driver climbed onto her running board with a handkerchief to wipe all the tears from her weeping eyes. "There, there," he said. "Cry all you want and I shall dry your eyes."
Thomas pressed his buffers against his "little sister's". "I lost all my siblings and cried myself to sleep that night when I found out. That was the saddest moment in my whole life. But it only bothers me when I think about it too much", he said, sorrow tingeing his voice. "I was all wailing sobs and sniffles until I had no more tears to cry. Then, I fell asleep and had a vision of all my siblings on The Big Railway In The Sky. It's this golden railway for engines whose time's up. I cried my heart out with my friend Janie the next day. My crew was on break after I had a train on my branch line to Knapford, where she was living." His driver patted him comfortingly.
Erica said with a sniffle as she cried more, "M-my s-sibling's th-there." "I-I g-guess, a-anyway." She engine hugged her brother back.
Her driver said as he continued to wipe her tears away, "Don't worry about if you're crying too much. I know you feel better after you cry."
Erica looked at "big brother" briefly as he said, "You've got to believe, little sister. I know my older siblings believed in it and from my vision, I can tell the younger ones did, too. I wanted to, but I had doubts. Skeptical, they call it. But the one in charge of it heard my cry that night and sent me that vision, so I do believe, now. I don't know how long an engine can live, but I want to be there if my time's ever up. But for now, we've got to focus on our lives and being Really Useful Engines."
Erica's tears were done now. She smiled a bit at her brother and he smiled back with twinkling black eyes.
"Little sister, I love seeing you feel better. I learned the best way to feel so much better's to cry and have someone comfort me.
The first time I cried, that someone was Driver at the time."
Erica said, "Let's do what we need to.". And her "big brother" and her got on with their day.
Erica had been told her oldest brother was heavily damaged in an accident and the heritage railroad where he still was when she left for Sodor couldn't afford to fix him. She thought about how unfair it was that he could never visit her on Sodor while her driver was on his lunch break. Big tears welled up in her dark eyes and she shut them, feeling the sting of her tears and sobbed bitterly. Her driver came back and found her, red face tear-stained and streaked with fresh tears as she sobbed and sniffled, eyes shut with indication they were red and puffy.
"There, there," Erica's driver said after he climbed on her buffers, as he took a hanky from his pocket. He gently wiped her eyes and wet with tears face. "I shouldn't leave you so long when you're this sad."
Erica, unable to speak, sniffled loudly and kept sobbing and crying more.
He said as he continued to wipe her tears away, "I know how much you loved him. All these tears are is a sign you cared. If you didn't care, it wouldn't hurt, so cry as needed. I'll just keep drying your eyes."
Erica finished her cry and her crew gave her a drink. Then, they went back to Knapford Yards.
Michaela had some cars to take to Knapford and detected Erica was very sad and asked her friend why while giving her an engine hug.
Erica replied, now in tears, "My oldest brother was scrapped back where I come from. That means he's gone." She asked her driver, "Can you wipe my eyes?", in a quivering, sob-filled voice.
Michaela burst into sobs as well, feeling her friend's pain and death quite upset her anyway.
Kennet comforted Michaela, drying her tears with a rag as he said, "Michaela, I know you're sad about your friend, so get the tears out." He dabbed her eyes and rubbed her cheeks to wipe the tears away.
After crying with buffer pressing and their respective drivers' comfort, the two female engines each had a drink and Michaela went home as Erica went back to shunting in Knapford Yards.
After Erica's work was done, she visited Rosie and told her sister about their oldest brother.
Rosie wailed, "That's dreadful.", as she began to cry.
The sisters pressed buffers and sobbed their mutual grief with their respective drivers drying their tears as an act of comfort for the very sad little engines. Erica had a drink and went to her shed for the night.
Thomas opted to sleep in Knapford Sheds because his "little sister" needed a friend.
Erica asked her "brother" in the shed that night, "If I was to not believe in The Big Railway In The Sky, what would happen?"
He said, "Little sister, I saw the back of a shed in my vision. I guess that's for the ones who didn't believe. So, believe and you get to ride golden rails forever. Maybe you shall get a vision tonight. You cried almost as hard as I did, except I was sniffling too much to speak. You were a little better. Maybe because it was only one sibling, but you could barely talk. Edward, Henry, Percy and Toby believe. Oliver does, too, I think. Not sure about the others."
Erica said, "No one ever told me about it, except my oldest sibling and he believed. My other brothers and my sisters were too busy joining our fellow engines in bullying me. All he ever said, though, was "When I get scrapped and die, I'm going to ride The Big Railway In The Sky. I didn't think much about it because I was focused on my life in the present. My work, the good times with my oldest brother, getting my engineer, my word for driver back home, to comfort me when I was bullied and all that."
Then, they went to sleep and Erica had a vision of her oldest brother riding golden rails and like her Sodor "big brother", she believed in the afterlife. When she woke up, she told her "brother" about her vision and how she believed, now, too.
Thomas smiled and his eyes twinkled at his "little sister's" news. He said, "Erica, it means so much to me to know that if we die, we can forever ride the golden rails." He shed a tear as he said this and his driver, who was new arrived, dried it on his sleeve. "Just an emotional moment with my "sister", he said. "Something she said really touched my heart, so no more coming, Driver."
And the "siblings" got on with their day.
Erica's fireman arrived before her driver and found her sobbing like a child.
"Can you wipe my eyes?" she choked out.
He climbed on her buffers, took out a cloth hanky and dabbed her eyes and then wiped her face, saying as he did so, "I know you're sad, so it's okay to cry."
"Keep wiping," she said, fresh tears in her eyes.
Her fireman said as he continued to wipe her tears away, "My poor engine, crying your eyes out. You miss your brother so much." He smiled sympathetically.
Erica finished her crying as her driver arrived and she got to work after they gave her drink and all else they had to do.
Erica needed comfort several times that day. Her injector failed and she had to go to the Steamworks, comforted by the kind workman when she wept for her oldest brother there. She had to take some cars to Edward's branch line and bawled her eyes out after dropping them off, comforted by her driver and a tank engine whose name was Nia, a newer arrival there. Later on, Rebecca was in Knapford after pulling the Express and she heard Erica cry and sniffle. Her driver and Rebecca comforted the sad little engine. While Erica's driver was getting his supper, which he planned to eat on a tray in a chair with her, Lady Hatt was meeting her husband in Knapford to go out for dinner. Sir Topham Hatt talked to Erica in a way meant to cheer her up and Lady Hatt pulled out a handkerchief and dried the little engine's tears. James came through Knapford and saw Erica had red, puffy eyes, so he teased her, including calling her a "cry-engine." Her driver comforted her and so did Thomas, giving her a buffer press, as he arrived in time to hear James call his "little sister" that name.
Then, Erica's day came to an end and in the time to come, through a great many tears and everyone's comfort, she recovered, mostly.
A/N Sometimes, a person who's moved will wipe away a tear and this scene has the engine form of that. It means a lot to him that his "little sister" will be with her "brother" forever. This is me trying to include religious type stuff a bit. The reason Erica's oldest brother said "Railway" was he learned it during WWII when the S100s were in Europe.