#but yeah i. read a realllly juicy fic on ao3 and it got my hamster brain running

[skarloeyspa]

The Two Good Fairies (Wait, Two?)

Just a bit (a lot) of re-imagining of the finer details of Duke's rescue and the episode Sleeping Beauty. I haven't exactly posted my writing publicly before so don't expect stellar content lol. I also took some liberties between the tv series and RWS canon, but most of the inspiration is from the tv series. Also crediting @/ryan1014n2 for the aluminum works HC for Stuart and Falcon!

“...and that’s why they call you a hotbox!”

“Hotbox?! At least I’m not the one with steamroller wheels!”

Rheneas watched the two new engines bicker with amusement as he waited for his own departure, passengers still slowly filing into the coaches attached to his back buffers. The two new engines, Sir Handel and Peter Sam were double-heading a heavy freight train, passing by the station slowly.

“Steamroller! Wait until Duke hears about this one!”

Sir Handel proclaimed, and the bickering had all but stopped. Rheneas couldn’t see the expression on either engine, they had already passed the station by then, and were speeding along the line once more. 

A familiar whistle sounded across the platform, Rheneas whistled back as Skarloey pulled into the station.

“Rheneas! How does it feel to be back on the line?”

“Just wonderful, is that even a question? I was so glad to finally get overhauled, but I’m even more grateful to be back.”

The two old engines shared a laugh, before settling into the buzz of the busy station. Tidbits of the earlier conversation between the two new engines resurfaced in Rheneas’ mind.

“Say, Skarloey. You know that Duke person that Sir Handel and Peter Sam bring up? Who are they?”

The red engine froze, before returning Rheneas’ gaze, a hint of bitterness in his eyes.

“Duke is…an engine. He was on the old railway that Sir Handel and Peter Sam used to run. It closed after some time and…they couldn’t find Duke a new home.”

Rheneas felt dread pool at the bottom of his boiler.

“Was he…”

“Oh, no, they didn’t scrap him. They just…sheeted him. But who knows what happened to the poor old engine?”

Rheneas opened his mouth to reply, but the sound of guard’s whistle kept the words on his tongue. Pursing his lips, Rheneas simply whistled back as he pulled out of the station, left to ponder about this mysterious engine’s fate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Several years had passed since their conversation, and Rheneas would have forgotten, if he didn’t hear passing mentions of Duke whenever the two new engines were around. 

No, calling them new would imply they were strangers, Peter Sam and Sir Handel had far outgrown that title.

Sometimes, when the rain was heavy and the trees rustled against the brick of their sheds, the two engines would recount tales on their old railway. It was from these stories that Rheneas and Skarloey would learn more about the mysterious engine named Duke. 

Duke, or as Sir Handel and Peter Sam liked to call him, Granpuff, was the old faithful of their old railway the Mid-Sodor. When they were still called Stuart and Falcon, Duke was the one to keep them in check and out of trouble. They talked of the time that Duke gallantly pulled Sir Handel back up the mountain, or the time Duke humbled Peter Sam by roaring loudly on the mountain as though he were the one with a packed passenger train and an engine pulling on his coupling. The two told of many stories, some more savoury than the others, but not once had they spoken Duke’s name without love.

And, as Rheneas would later recognize in their voice, grief.

One day, after returning to the sheds for the night, with Skarloey being the only other engine present, Sir Topham Hatt approached Rheneas and Skarloey along with a group of men holding rolls of paper and small suitcases.

“Starting from tomorrow,” announced Sir Topham Hatt, “I’d like the two of you to assist in a special job,” and he quietly explained to the two old engines the visitors’ proposal.

“They want to find Duke!” Skarloey exclaimed as the men left with the Fat Controller, “Goodness! Wait until Sir Handel and Peter Sam hear about this, they’ll be ecstatic!”

But Rheneas shushed his brother, “Best keep it a secret until we actually do find him,” he replied, “It would be such a letdown for them if we build up all this hope only to end up finding nothing.”

And so, the two engines and their crew agreed to keep this operation a secret. In the following days, either Rheneas or Skarloey would take the visitors and some workmen into the faraway mountains, going through old tunnels and over high bridges, trying to find the old shed that still housed the lost Duke. Every day, they would go deeper and deeper into the hills, and with each day their hope dwindled, but the search carried on, the crew refusing to give up. 

Skarloey waited on the old rails, watching as the search crew climbed further and further into the old station, looking like ants as they scrambled over the overgrown ruins. Bored, Skarloey observed the mountains around him. 

From the moss-covered tracks to the rusted barrels and rotting wooden crates that strewn about the grounds paved with gravel, Skarloey’s gaze trailed to the empty decaying shed, the first thing they had found upon arriving. Pieces of the roof had broken off and fallen onto the ground, the glass on the windows cracked and filled with holes, and vegetation ate away at the bricks and wood that still struggled to keep the shed intact.

Skarloey’s observations were interrupted by the sound of a distant crash. Returning his attention to the search crew, they were rushing towards the top of a particularly shallow cliff. Skarloey squinted his eyes. Was that…smoke? 

The men crowded around the clouds of dust, and Skarloey was too far away to hear their conversations, but soon cheers and laughter erupted from the crew. 

“We found him! We found our sleeping beauty!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Skarloey and Rheneas waited patiently as the crew secured the old engine to the flatbed, chains pulling over the engine’s dusty, worn brown paint. Some of the men discussed among themselves what to do with the decade-old coal that still remained in the old engine’s little tender, but neither Skarloey nor Rheneas caught the end of that conversation as their crew prepared for departure.

Rolling along the old track, Skarloey was coupled up to the flatbed, curiously observing the old engine they had just rescued. Duke’s eyes were wide and filled with glee as he watched the mountains pass. Soon, the old engine’s gaze landed on Skarloey.

“Oh? Hello there, I don’t believe we’ve met before,” Duke inquired of Skarloey. 

“No, we haven’t. But I’ve heard a lot about you,” Skarloey replied, and the two began chatting, with Rheneas soon joining in from behind. They talked of the stories that Peter sam and Sir Handel would tell, now hearing Duke’s perspective as well, chuckling over how the two had been such cheeky engines in their youth.

“Really now? Seems like Peter Sam hasn’t changed a bit!” Rheneas retorted, and the three laughed once again, though a sadness settled in Duke’s tired eyes.

“Peter Sam, is it? Everything does change, I suppose.” The old engine murmured solemnly.

“Perhaps, but I’d say the joy I hear in their voices when they told your stories was all genuine, and so was the sadness they'd tried to hide,” Skarloey said in return.

Duke contemplated Skarloey’s words in silence as they passed over the viaduct. With his gaze trained on the ravine below, Duke smiled tenderly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sir Handel bit back a retort, imagining all the ways he would one-up Peter Sam once given the chance. As he waited for his coaches to be uncoupled, Skarloey rolled into the station, strangely muddy for a day at the quarry and barely contained excitement.

“Hello Skarloey, what’s got you all excited?” quizzed Sir Handel.

“Oh, has the Fat Controller not told you yet? There’s a surprise waiting for you and Peter Sam at the sheds!”

“Surprise? How nice of him! What is it?” Peter Sam replied.

“Well, I’m not one to spoil surprises, but there’s someone you’ve been longing to see, just as he’d been longing to see you again.”

…huh?

“You mean…Duke?”

Skarloey’s grin widened. Next to him, Peter Sam bounced about on his tracks, shaking with joy, but Sir Handel remained frozen on his spot, disbelief still rampant in his mind. Distantly, he could hear his driver’s comments about his fire going on and off, unstable and incapable of producing good steam. Skarloey spoke again, but his words faded into a buzz, settling into the background with the rest of the bustling passengers at the station.

…

Glimpses of the mountain cliffs flashed through his mind, the pull of gravity on his buffers and the drafts of wind from the bottom of the mountain, the sheer cry of the eagle that pierced through the screeching and humming of his Granpuff’s wheels as he pulled and pulled against the tracks. Then, the comfort of the ground, of being pushed back to the station, standing safely next to his Granpuff as he shushed him to sleep later that night with a rare softness to his gruff voice.

…el…

Then there was the bitterness, the painful panging in his boiler when their old railway closed. The gut-wrenching fear, clawing and clambering at him as he was driven away from his Granpuff, who stood faithfully to the very end at his shed at the foot of the mountain. 

…alco…

Short flashes of those brief years at Peel Godred, the coldness of the factories where he found his only comfort next to his brother, wishing and hoping everyday that maybe, just maybe, someone would be nice enough to bring their Granpuff back. 

Drip. Drip.

Wishing, praying, oh he’d have done just about anything to have his Granpuff back, if only just for one day-

“Falcon!”

Sir Handel was snapped out of his thoughts, Peter Sam had stopped just before his buffers, with Skarloey looking on from the side with concern. 

“...Stuart?”

Tears welling in the corners of Sir Handel’s eyes splashed onto his footplate, only then did he notice how blurry his vision had gone, muddled by emotion. Blinking rapidly, Falcon cleared his eyes and took a good look at his brother before him, just to make sure he didn’t mishear.

It was like they were back at the aluminum works, where Stuart would feign bravery and act strong for both of them, keeping a smile on his face as he pushed on. But Falcon always saw the fear in his brother’s gaze, the trembling young engine who just wanted to be comforted too, but had put on a brave face because one of them had to. 

Now, wearing the same expression that Stuart had on when he tried to calm Falcon down the same way their Granpuff used to, there was still a fear that had long since lodged itself within him, but there was also something new. Like their very first night at Peel Godred, Peter Sam had hope, and maybe just a little bit of his own tears.

“Come on, Falcon, looks like we have to keep Granpuff in check.”

For one last time, Sir Handel dared himself to spare a glance at Skarloey. The old engine, now joined by Rheneas, smiled at him assuredly. Squeezing out all his remaining tears, Sir Handel beamed at Peter Sam.

“Yeah, gotta keep Granpuff in order, Stuart.”

#ehe #i hope this wasn't too cringey LMAOO #but yeah i. read a realllly juicy fic on ao3 and it got my hamster brain running #i wrote this in like 6 hours so #some of the train stuff probably isn't gonna make sense because im not a train geek but i tried- #all the lab report and mock journal writing accumulated to this!!!! #ttte sir handel #ttte peter sam #ttte skarloey #ttte rheneas #ttte duke #ttte #ttte fanfic #stem major tries out media literacy #capy posting