Henry had come to greet the Flying Scotsman early in the morning. He was still asleep when Henry entered the Castle workshop. He looked very sick and ill and he still had damage where he had been buried in the cave in at the mine.

Oscar and Vincent buzzed around him, starting his fire and oiling his pistons while Jeremy tried to wake the Scotsman up.

They struggled for almost an hour before the Scotsman awoke, still very groggy and very snappy.

He clearly didn't want to be woken up and hissed steam at them weakly. .

"Easy big guy," Vincent tried to reassure the famous engine. "We know you're ill, but we still have to try to get you in steam."

"I'm tired, I feel sick, leave me alone and let me sleep," he snarled at them, extremely annoyed. "I don't want to go anywhere."

"Henry's been waiting an hour to take you to the steamworks," Oscar told Scotsman with an apologetic look to Henry and his crew. "We can't keep him waiting all day, I'm sure Henry has jobs to do."

The Flying Scotsman gave a deep sigh and opened his eyes, gazing at Henry who was watching him with sympathy.

"Fine," Scotsman relented. He still didn't look happy but he didn't complain anymore. "Where's Tornado?"

"Oh she's buzzing around somewhere," Oscar said. "Ms Olivia and herself wanted to get acquainted again I expect. Been a few years since Olivia was Tornado's engineer."

"Or maybe she wanted to see some of her Sudrian friends," Jeremy pointed out. "I saw the Scottish engines snooping around this morning. Tornado likes to hang with them a lot "

"The little feisty ones? Oh I like them," Oscar said smitten. "They're good fun."

"There's barely any steam building up," Vincent sounded agitated but also sorrowful. "It's worse than yesterday."

Scotsman ignored the humans chatting about him, discussing how much weaker he was growing with every day and instead focused on Henry.

"It's Henry isn't it?" He asked and Henry smiled at him.

"Yes, I'm Gordon's best friend," he said returning the smile. "He's… dealing with stuff right now."

"I see," the Scotsman didn't press. He was extremely certain that 'stuff' was Flying Scotsman himself. He personally couldn't blame Gordon for taking issue with how he acted.

He hoped that Gordon would forgive his foolishness, even if it took him a hundred years.

The Scotsman looked up at Henry but then narrowed his eyes as he recognised him.

"Wait aren't you the engine that-"

Henry turned bright red and became flustered.

"Duck tricked me into taking those grimy tenders!" He blurted out suddenly. "It's not my fault I was jealous of your tenders!"

"I was going to say the engine that rescued those two diesels," the Scotsman said pointedly and Henry went bright red. "I completely forgot about the tender thing."

"Oh I am such an idiot," Henry would've kicked himself if he had the ability.

The Scotsman gave a faint chuckle.

"You did it while having a mechanical fault I recall," Scotsman said. "It was most inspiring and impressive. I've seen few engines display such strength under adverse conditions. I wish I was as strong as you."

Henry was puzzled.

"But you are as strong as me," Henry pointed out. "Gordon is too, I just lack his speed."

"I meant strength of character," the Scotsman clarified.

"Oh," Henry gazed at the Scotsman. "Not really, I'm anxious all the time. I guess it comes from being constantly ill when I was younger. All of the other engines made fun of me because of it."

The Scotsman raised an eyebrow at him.

"Is that why your build is so strange?" He asked. "You look like an A1 with a Stainer 5 built on top."

"I am, I was built from a rejected Gresley Prototype, it made me so sick that after the controller got fed up with me he threatened to have me scrapped so I hid in a tunnel and refused to come out after I struggled to maintain steam," Henry said and he suddenly saw the Flying Scotsman's interest peak. "The Fat Controller sealed me up in the tunnel afterwards because he didn't want to deal with me anymore."

"You hid in a tunnel after a mechanical failure? So you wouldn't get scrapped?" the Scotsman asked curiously.

The humans around them had gone silent, picking up on what Henry was trying to do.

"Yes," Henry said with an embarrassed smile. "It wasn't my best moment, I'll admit but eventually I was let out. Gordon blew a safety valve and they didn't have any other engines strong enough to pull his express. Gordon and I became best friends after that."

The Flying Scotsman was silent and thoughtful.

"I offered to come and talk to you," Henry explained, realising Scotsman may be thinking Gordon had asked him to come. "I thought I'd give you my experience on the matter."

The Scotsman was thoughtful for a long moment but then gave Henry a small smile.

"Thank-you Henry, I appreciate it," he smiled kindly.

Henry returned the smile.


"Tornado?"

That night Gordon came back to find Tornado in Tidmouth sheds with Emily, James and Thomas.

"Hi Gordon!" Tornado said cheerily. "I missed you big brother!"

Despite the bad mood he was in, Gordon did give Tornado a small smile.

"What are you doing here Young Iron?"

"I came with the new museum director to check on Scott," Tornado said with a smile. "Ms Olivia is an old friend of mine so we also wanted to do something nice together."

Gordon gave a soft hum and reversed back into his own berth as Thomas and Emily began talking excitedly to Tornado again.

"Who are all these blue Spencer's anyway? Are they just as bad as he is?" Thomas asked incredulously picking up where James had been complaining about Spencer only to discover there were more 'Spencers' in the world.

Tornado laughed.

"Well, believe it or not Spencer is the most behaved of them. Bittern is a bit of a trickster and likes to mess with Scotsman. Mallard is an arrogant control freak and Sir Gresley has the highest standing over the mainland land railways," she explained.

"I've heard of Bittern," James said thoughtfully. "I thought he and the Flying Scotsman were good friends. Didn't know he was the same as Spencer though."

"Oh they are, doesn't stop them from constantly messing with each other," Tornado said with a small giggle. "They're friendly rivals. But Bittern was always aloof around me, he kind of ignored me whenever I met him. So much so that Scot and Bittern fought about it. Sir Gresley I only met briefly but he was the nicest. He said a Peppercorn was his best friend. I guess he's happy to have another one around."

Tornado smiled to herself sadly.

"Apart from Scotsman I don't really get along with the big engines, they don't like me and just ignore me like I'm a small engine," she said mournfully. "All my friends are shunters and station pilots because for the longest time none of the big engines would talk to me."

"You don't need to be friends with the bigger engines," Emily assured her. "The friends you have are more important no matter what size or shape they are."

"I guess you're right," she beamed at her.

"How is Scotsman anyway?" James asked meekly. "Is he okay?"

Tornado was silent for a few moments.

"They don't know but they're running extensive tests," she said quietly. "Ms Olivia and Jerermy have some suspicions though."

"Oh?"

"The last time he was rebuilt was under Cain's direction and he didn't want to spend as much money as they should have so he made the rebuilders take… shortcuts."

"Oh no," the other three engines were aghast.

"He hasn't been able to build up steam since he got out of the mine and his parts rusted much faster than they ever should have." Tornado said sadly. "They might have to rebuild him again but Ms Olivia says that the museum can't afford it after Cain squandered all the money."

Gordon was horrified.

His brother could be put into permanent storage or preserved if they couldn't rebuild him properly.

"We'll do something!" Thomas said desperately. "We'll help him, we can ask the Earl or the Fat Controller!"

Tornado was silent.

"My trust would've been able to help but… they're building several new steam locomotives after me, I don't think they can spare the money especially since they're also asking for donations." She said after a while. She sounded completely defeated.

She paused and looked over at Gordon remembering something.

"Gordon, everyone keeps talking like Scotsman is some kind of ghost or something. When I talked to him he seemed perfectly normal, why is everyone being so weird about him now?! Is it because it got revealed he was constantly sick for the past decade?"

"No," Gordon paused unsure how to continue. He didn't want to look a fool in front of the smaller engines for what he was about to explain. He hadn't spoken about what he saw in the mine despite the fact that the other engines constantly asked him.

But Tornado wasn't just another engine.

She was an express engine, their little sister and he held a deep sense of respect for her.

"May we go else where and speak in private?" Gordon asked and Tornado looked puzzled.

"Why?"

"Because I doubt my brother would want his personal issues discussed in front of others who aren't family," Gordon said with a glance at the other engines.

"Oh, of course," Tornado immediately accepted realising how serious he was.


"You aren't as devious as you might think brother," Sir Gresley said sternly to the other blue A4 sitting at the station as he rolled in.

Mallard paled and looked away from his respected brother nervously.

"I don't know what you mean," he avoided and Sir Gresley narrowed his eyes.

"About the new Peppercorn Tornado," he clarified. "She's not as stupid as she looks. Even without Pendennis and Truro keeping an eye on you I doubt you would have been able to manipulate her, at least not now."

Mallard rolled his eyes to which Sir Gresley frowned at him.

"I know how much you liked the Peppercorn class I was merely making sure she was in line," Mallard said cooly but his wheels were shaking.

"Of course," Sir Gresley's tone told him that he didn't believe a word Mallard was saying. "Flying Scotsman's bravado and personality has rubbed of on her now, she's a strong dependable young thing. A little brash and rude but she has energy I haven't seen in an engine for decades."

"Why are you telling me this?" Mallard interrupted.

"As a warning," Sir Gresley said coldly. "You pull any tricks on her, try to demean her or control her in anyway then you will deal with me, is that understood Mallard?"

Mallard was furious but knew that his attempts to sway the young Tornado to his side were all for naught. Sir Gresley had the unique position in where he could theoretically beat Mallard's speed record however he never had out of respect for Mallard.

Mallard swallowed his pride.

"Yes sir," he bit out angrily. "And what about Bittern? For what I recall Scotsman and himself had a falling out over how he treated her."

"Bittern actually liked the young iron," Sir Gresley said. "He was only keeping up appearances to which the Flying Scotsman took great offence. Bittern has asked to be there for the Earl of Sodor's celebration in the place of Spencer. To make amends with his close friend."

Mallard fumed.

Bittern had always complained about the young iron to the point that Flying Scotsman and himself had gotten into heated arguments about Bittern treating her poorly. He had stayed firm in his position to alienate the imposter but now he had gone back on his words.

All because the Flying Scotsman was now a Ghost Train or something.

Engines hadn't believed Green Arrow lies before, but when Spencer had backed this ludicrous story up everyone had gone insane.

"And do you believe all this stupidity about Flying Scotsman being a Ghost and being able to move without steam?" Mallard asked annoyed.

Sir Gresley looked thoughtful for a second before giving his brother a mysterious smile.

He left without saying a word leaving the Blue Mallard completely confused.


Gordon had always scoffed at Henry's affinity for the forest. But he did respect it. If it made Henry happy then he guessed it wasn't so bad. Even if it was very weird.

"This is Henry's favourite place," Gordon explained as Tornado gazed around at the beautiful forest.

"It's wonderful," Tornado said with a wonderful filled gaze. "Scott tells me all about the wonderful places he's been. Like in Australia, all the strange trees they have make the air smell of eucalyptus oil and the sand is so red and the sky is so blue that it looks like a painting. I like hearing his stories, he's met so many interesting people. He likes to tell them when I'm scared."

"That's nice," Gordon said disinterested in more stories about Scott.

"Does Scott tell you stories?"

"All the time."

"Do you ever listen?"

Gordon paused in his tracks caught off guard by her question.

"Excuse me?"

"Did you know that his favourite places to visit are lakes and that he prefers branchline journeys over the express?"

Gordon scoffed.

"An express engine liking tiny little branchlines?"

He stopped as he saw Tornado's disapproving face.

"You don't have to demean what Scott likes, you know. He's allowed to like things that don't fit your idea of an express engine." She scowled angrily.

"I never meant to demean him Tornado, it's just, I never saw him as someone else who liked that kind of thing, always boasting and putting on a facade." Gordon said. "Even when we were younger he always would."

"It was a struggle to get Scott to open up to me," Tornado said quietly. "But when he did he told me he wanted nothing more than to open up to you Gordon, but he always felt like you made everything a competition. He said he told you he liked the branchlines better but you just laughed at him and called him stupid. So over time he grew into this showman, this facade so he could impress you, his big brother. He thought that was what was expected of an engine like him."

Gordon was silent.

"He only ever wanted to make you happy Gordon, make you proud," Tornado explained. "He said he always looked to you as an example of what to be. But he never felt like he could talk to you. You just constantly complained to him if he tried to tell you he did something. Like a record he was proud of. It was always a competition with you."

Gordon looked at Tornado who was looking at him with sad eyes. He was reminded of a younger Scott.

Even though he had been Sir Nigel Gresley's pride, the one he showed off to the world, Scott had at first been anxious and meek.

Always weighed down by his responsibilities and pressure.

Their brothers and sisters had shunned him, called him an imposter although some were amicable with him. Not many. They respected him because he was Gresley's favourite and had a special place in history. Much like Tornado currently was.

Yet they saw no interest in speaking or talking to him as he was shy, anxious and meek for a big engine. Gordon, having something to prove as a prototype had befriended him. Taught him and showed off to him.

The Flying Scotsman had looked up to him and Gordon had loved it, until Scott had started succeeding and surpassing him.

He'd slowly grown jealous, shooting him down every time Scott had come to him, excited and proud of what he'd achieved and wanting his older brother to be happy for him.

Gordon felt a sinking feeling in his boiler as he realised that his jealousy had caused Scotsman to start boasting as he desperately sought approval from elsewhere.

He was right to be furious at his brother for not telling him about the plans he had had. But there were issues that had run deep that had caused this.

Gordon's eyes widened as he realised the parallels between the young Tornado and Flying Scotsman.

It was so obvious.

No wonder Scotsman had never told him about Tornado.

Scot really didn't want Gordon to influence Tornado as he had himself.

Gordon looked horrified at the realisation.

"I never wanted…" he mumbled, "I never wanted to demean him like that, I never, I never realised."

He looked at Tornado sadly.

"You're a lot like how he was after he was built," Gordon said quietly. "He was an anxious young thing, we both were. I talked to him because he was lonely despite being the favourite Gresley. But then I guess I was becoming jealous of him being Gresley's pride and joy and I… I wanted to best him at everything when he just wanted me to be proud of him."

Tornado watched Gordon quietly.

"And now you, you're the A4 Gresley's favourite," Gordon said with a faint smile. "I guess history does repeat itself."

"Just because that engine vouched for me doesn't mean I'm going to change, it just means I'm going to have more wheel lickers with false friendships," Tornado scoffed. "And Scott has made it clear that he doesn't want me to prove anything, I'm perfect the way I am."

"You did a 100mph run," Gordon pointed out.

"I wanted to do that, Scott didn't force me, the Trust and I wanted to know if I could do it and I did!" Tornado said proudly. "It was more to prove to myself that I was a worthy engine. Scott being so proud of me was the best part of that."

Gordon gave a sad sigh.

He was partly to blame for making Scotsman withdraw. For making everything a competition to the point where Scott didn't even feel he could speak to his brother without getting ridiculed.

"I've been, a pompous idiot, I know," Gordon said ashamed. "I can't believe I didn't realise-"

He struggled to find the words.

It was partly his fault.

He'd driven his brother away from him.

No wonder Pegler's death had been so hard on him. He truly probably was the only one he could confide in.

"It's okay," Tornado said kindly. "Scott is here now, you can both make up. He still loves you and he's extremely regretful and sorry for what he did."

Gordon looked at the Young Iron.

She was young, sweet, humble and kind. Something Scotsman himself once was.

A meek young engine who was about to crumble under the weight of the expectations placed on him.

"I saw Alan Pegler's ghost," Gordon said and Tornado looked shocked.

"What?"

"He was on Scott's running board while he was moving without steam," Gordon said admitted shakily. "I don't believe in ghosts but I know what I saw. He was protecting him."

"Are you, are you sure? I thought all this talk was mainland engines being idiots again but, he did really move without steam?"

"Yes."

Tornado looked thoughtful.

"His nightmares stopped," she explained and Gordon was surprised but glad.

"Really?"

"He keeps worrying about going insane because he keeps hearing his voice and having weird lucid dreams," Tornado explained.

There was a moment of silence as both engines contemplated what to do next.

"Would you come with me to see Scott?" Tornado asked as she released her brakes and began to roll away.

Gordon gave a determined grunt.

"Of course. I think it's time we had a long talk."


A/N: Mallard sucks. All my homies hate Mallard.