Only Toby

A/N Toby's like Thomas and Edward, no remaining siblings. Canonically, he shows sadness and nostalgia about his old line, so he may know. Even before his anxious persona, Toby's canonically cautious, so don't take his timid nature as something from his Flanderized self. TvTropes is where Flanderization came from, so if you want to know what that is, go there.

One evening, Toby was told, "After your old line closed, your siblings were scrapped. You're the last of your kind."

Toby, when in his shed, began to cry, sobbing softly and sniffling. His driver and Henrietta comforted him in his sadness. He was unable to speak due to his sadness and sniffles, just blinked.

"There, there, Toby", his driver said, dapping his little engine's tears from his eyes with a cloth. "You need to cry. It's okay to let the tears out."

Henrietta said, "I'm here for you.", as Toby wept.

His driver just kept drying his engine's eyes, as Toby allowed it and said "Cry as much as you want. You've got me to dry your tears, so let it all out." He knew Toby's heart was broken.

Toby thought, I can do nothing but cry. It hurts my mechanical heart. He continued to cry incessantly until he had no more tears left to shed. His driver wiped his last tears and left for the night. Then, he went to sleep with thoughts of The Big Railway In The Sky. The old engine wondered if it was real. He heard some engines talking about it once, though.

As Toby slept, he had a dream. He heard a voice say, "I'm the one in charge of this place and because you couldn't stop crying, I sent you this vision." He saw his siblings, happy and riding golden rails. The voice said, "If you believe in this place and live a good life, you shall join them if you get scrapped." Toby woke up from his dream then.

Toby said "I can work on the branch line today. It'll help me to do that, as it'll ease my emotions for a while to be busy. I've got to be a Really Useful Engine, so I shall allow myself time to grieve when I'm done with jobs, even in between." Sir Topham Hatt and Toby's crew went along with the tram's choice, thinking he knew what he could do. His driver thought, Toby may be a funny looking little square engine, but I know he's wise. He added in his mind, I trust you, Toby.

Thomas had just pulled a train and was headed back when he found Toby resting sadly on a siding, his crew on break.

The tank engine asked his friend, "What's the matter, Toby?" and pressed his friend's buffers with his.

Toby said, blinking his eyes, "All my siblings were scrapped."

Thomas said with a note of sorrow, "Mine, too. So, I know how you feel. I was so sad and upset when I found out. It's ok to cry. I wailed my broken heart out, so I understand if you've got tears to shed. You shall feel better if you let it all out. Driver says we need to go now. Cheerio!"

As Thomas puffed away, he could Toby begin to cry. The tram's sniffles and small sobs told his friend how sad he was. Toby's crew returned to their tear-streaked engine as break was over. His driver comforted him as much as was possible.

"There, there," he said, softly drying Toby's tears from his eyes with a cloth. "I know it hurts to be the only one of your kind. You just needed to sob and getting sad's okay now. Go ahead and cry your heart out."

Toby said in a choked voice, "Thomas came while you were gone and his comfort broke me."

The little engine's driver said as he continued to wipe his tears away, "I guess he told you to cry. He seems be someone who believes in crying. I know he can be emotional."

Toby cried his eyes out, weeping until he had no more tears left. Then, his crew gave him a drink and they went on with the rest of the day.

Days went by and Toby got over the main part of his grief. However, he always looked back on his old line with sadness and nostalgia.

A/N Respect my Thomasverse. I'm not British, they are, so if I used a word or phrase that's off, tell me in a non-flame way. I try to write in TTTE show English, which is a hybrid as sometimes my country's dub retained the British word and sometimes translated (for lack of a better term) it.