(The Sun Sun rises up giggling)
(Thomas and Ashima were enjoying some quality time together watching the sun rise from Kirk Ronan, they enjoyed doing this, they cuddled together as the warm sun radiated its heat over them. Ashima smiled at Thomas warmly as he gently kissed her cheek. Ashima sighed happily and returned the kiss. It reminded Thomas of the competition on the island between the Internationals and the Sodor Engines, when Thomas ended up slamming into her by accident and he had crushed her buffers and slid up them. Their noses touched and the two almost had a kiss, something they had not done since 1945. It was a few months before Ashima became a permanent member of the Northwestern Railway, back in November of 2016. There was one thing Thomas had never told Ashima about, his accident in the 1960's. It was a horrific accident that wiped his memory of everything before then, he had to relearn everything he knew. He sighed and spoke to Ashima)
There is something I never told you about myself, my love, I think it is time you knew." Thomas sighed. Ashima looked concerned at him and sighed.
"What is it Thomas, is it bad?" Ashima asked nervously. Thomas looked down at the ground and sighed.
"Unfortunately, yes it is, their was a time when you had arrived back on the Island of Sodor, and I had no idea who you were, it was because of a horrific accident I had back in 1963, it changed my life forever." Thomas said tearing up slightly. Ashima nuzzled with him and responded, trying to keep him calm.
"Please Thomas, tell me what happened back in 1963?" Ashima asked sadly. Thomas started to cry a bit and began his sad story...
August 1963, Island of Sodor
Thomas was feeling down, his brother and sisters on the mainland were being withdrawn by British Railways, and were being scrapped one by one. Thomas as already assuming he was the only survivor of his class. Thomas began to become afraid that if he didn't work hard enough he was going to be sent away and withdrawn and scrapped himself. He thought back of his time in India, with his beloved and beautiful Ashima during WWII, and he wasn't going to fade away and leave her heartbroken. He became reckless and on edge, becoming an more aggressive and hard working engine. His sudden change in attitude began to alarm the other engines and The Fat Director himself, who met Thomas in Fafarquhar early one morning to talk to him. Thomas smiled at him as he saw him approaching.
"Good morning sir, how are you doing today?" Thomas smiled. The Fat Director frowned at the engine and responded.
"Good morning Thomas, but I am not doing too well due to some reports I have heard about your behavior." The Fat Director said frowning. Thomas frowned at him, and was about to speak when the Fat Director cut him off.
"Speeding in freight yards, shunting more roughly than usual, speeding on your branch line, and being way too early with most passenger trains, WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU LATELY?" The Fat Director said angrily. Thomas just looked down at the ground and meekly responded.
"I am afraid you might scrap me, just like my brethren on the mainland, I am just trying to impress you sir." Thomas meekly replied. The Fat Director just shook his head in anger.
"Impressing me you are certainly not doing Thomas, DO NOT GIVE ME EXCUSES FOR YOUR IRRATIONAL BEHAVOIR, GET TO WORK AT ONCE!" The Fat Director boomed. Thomas meekly steamed away to find Annie and Clarabel and take the morning passenger train to Knapford Station. It was beginning to rain a good amount and Thomas was soon finding it hard to see ahead. His coaches were worried with how bad the weather had become. Annie called out to Thomas worryingly.
"Thomas, we have to stop at the next station and wait for the weather to get better, it isn't safe for us to be going anywhere!" Annie shouted. Thomas heard most of what she had said and agreed with her.
"Indeed we shall, I don't want anyone in dan----, DRIVER BRAKES, NOW!" Thomas panicked as he saw the bridge he was about to cross, wash away from in front of him. It was too late though, Thomas slid on the slippery wet rails and careened off the missing bridge, Annie was dragged with him, and Clarabel had broken her coupler and dangled off the end of the bridge. Thomas hit his head on something incredibly hard and he couldn't remember anything that happened after words...
A Few Hours Later, at Knapford Station
No-one had seen Thomas for hours and he was massively overdue. Gordon and Edward looked worryingly around for the sight of the modified E2, the weather had finally calmed down after what seemed like four to five hours of straight downpours and thunderstorms. Edward and Gordon eventually got tired of waiting for him, knowing something had gone wrong. The two engines set off from the station, leaving their trains behind in a desperate attempt to find their missing friend. Edward went up and down Thomas's Branch Line while Gordon raced along the Mainline looking for Thomas. Edward was the one that found Clarabel, who was in a distraught state. She was crying heavily. Edward slowly came up to her and pulled back onto solid ground and allowed her to calm down before he talked to her. Clarabel screamed out in despair as Edward was about to speak.
"GONE EDWARD, THEY ARE BOTH GONE, THEY WENT INTO THE RIVER, THEY GOT WASHED AWAY!" Clarabel screamed in terror. Edward's eyes went as wide as he was shocked by what she had just told him. Edward pulled Clarabel back to Fafarquhar Station and his driver ran into the station and soon Harold the helicopter was looking for the missing tank engine. He was not feeling optimistic of finding Thomas or Annie, but was determined to help his passengers what ever the cost. Harold was horrified as his spotlight caught the sight of blue down in a riverbed, he soon spotted Annie. He flew down to them and saw that many of the passengers were laying all over the place, in various states of injury. He then spotted Thomas, whom was dented horribly and was heavily damaged. Harold immediately landed and started taking the injured to hospital then after all of the injured were stabilized at hospital, he returned to the crash site and landed. His driver set off a flare to establish a location for a forward operating base for the recovery efforts. The British Military had brought in a few Armored Recovery Vehicles to clear a path to Thomas and Annie and then take them out of the riverbed. The operation took a long time. Thomas came to his senses days later after he was in the steamworks. The Fat Director was yelling at Gordon and Edward for their disobedience when a few constables came walking up to him and spoke to him about his reckless behavior as head of the Northwestern Railway, in which his decision to run trains during the rain had caused the derailment of Thomas and his coaches, which unfortunately resulted in the deaths of a few people, the Island of Sodor deemed Mr. Ryland to be unfit for service and had him arrested for the deaths of the innocent people, and had his much kinder and more experienced, now divorced wife, Mrs. Shawling.
"Mr. Ryland, you are under arrest for involuntary manslaughter, fraud, forgery, and the attempted murder of the NWR #7." The one constable said. The Fat Director quickly responded angrily.
"I WILL GET YOU ENGINES FOR THIS, YOU WILL ALL PAY FOR YOUR DISOBEDIENCE, LET GO OF ME!" He shouted angrily. The constable quickly took him away to a waiting cop car. Thomas looked over confused at who the two engines were. He quickly spoke up.
"Wh-who are you two?" Thomas asked confused. Gordon and Edward looked over at him confused.
"It's me, Gordon and Edward, Thomas, you know us." Gordon laughed. Thomas then froze.
"Oh, my name is Thomas, I didn't know." Gordon and Edward looked over at him shocked. The accident damaged his memory. Gordon whistled loudly for workmen who quickly ran over...
Thomas cried heavily as he finished the story. Ashima looked at him horrified. She nuzzled with him and kissed him softly.
"Th-th-the mos-most terri-fying thing was that I could have lost you forever if Sir Tophamn Hatt's daughter had not found that photo of us from 1945, that reminded me who you were, if that had not happened, I don't know if you would have still lo---." Thomas said being cut off by Ashima as she passionately kissed him on the lips. She smiled at him warmly.
"Thomas, I would have never stopped loving you, no matter what happened to you, I have always loved you with all of my heart, you know that." Ashima smiled. Thomas kissed back happily. The E2 and his Nilgiri Queen, they were inseparable, not even oceans could keep these two lovers apart. Ashima giggled at him playfully, and the two shared a kiss happily as the sun rose behind them. Thomas then sighed and responded to her happily.
"I love you Ashima, nothing will ever change that, and I think me going to India in 1940 was possibly the best decision of my life, It was destiny for us to be together." Thomas said smiling. Ashima looked into his eyes and smiled back.
"I believe it was our destiny Thomas, to fall in love, and I wouldn't have it any other way." She smiled. Thomas and her shared a kiss before they had to begin to head off back to Fafarquhar to begin another hard working day. Once they had gotten back to Fafarquhar, the saw Sir Tophamn Hatt smiling, as he stood by Thomas's shed. He waved to the two engines and smiled at them. Before either Thomas and Ashima could speak, Sir Tophamn Hatt spoke.
"Thomas, Ashima I need you two to work on the SAR with it's engines, Vihaan was sent home in disgrace, he apparently snuck to the railway from India and was found out and returned home at once, a engine is being built to fill in the gap created by Vihaan, but for now you two are going to be working together at the SAR, understood?" Sir Tophamn Hatt explained. Thomas smiled at him and responded.
"Yes sir! We will be over there as soon as possible." Thomas said with a smile. Sir Tophamn Hatt smiled at the two and responded.
"Good engines, now enjoy working with these engines!" Sir Tophamn Hatt said smiling. Thomas and Ashima smiled at each other as they departed for the SAR's engine house. It took about an hour or so to reach the place due to heavy summertime traffic. They arrived and were welcomed warmly by the five engines currently there, Amelia, Evie, Cheyenne, Saxton, and Liam. Amelia called out to Thomas and Ashima as they came to a stop.
"Hello Thomas, Hello Ashima, just curious, is James with you two?" Amelia asked slightly blushing. Thomas frowned at her.
"No he isn't with us, why do you ask?" Thomas responded curiously. Ameila stammered a response out making Ashima giggle.
"Umm, just nothing, checking on a friend that's all, tell him I said hello, okay?" Amelia stammered. Ashima giggled and responded knowing what Amelia was trying to hide from them.
"You like him don't you Amelia, you are not doing a good job of hiding that." Ashima laughed. Amelia giggled slightly and bit her lip. Liam and Saxton smiled warmly at each other, they had kept their relationship a secret for almost two months now. Then their was Cheyenne who had taken a liking to Murdoch. Evie and Henry had been going strong ever since their reunion when the S.A.A.P opened. The engines began to get to work for the mid day rush, the park was at peak capacity. The park's owners had requested two more engines to be built and brought in. Thomas and Ashima were double-heading a passenger train to the main theme park to drop people off at the hotel and then with further service to the water park. Thomas and Ashima were enjoying the beautiful countryside on the way there, watching the distant rollercoasters get closer and closer until they reached the theme park hub station. Hundreds of people got on and off the coaches, and the train was fully loaded in a few minutes. They soon departed the station and were making good time towards the hotel station when Ashima braked suddenly for a black bear that ran across the tracks, Ashima slammed her brakes on hard and the two engines quickly stopped the train. Thomas was very confused after they got back underway shortly.
"What the hell was that Ashima, why did you brake so hard?" Thomas said slighting annoyed because Ashima had stopped so suddenly. She was taken aback by his sudden change in attitude.
"Just trying to avoid hitting a DAMN BEAR, that's all hun." Ashima replied annoyed. Thomas sighed, knowing that raising his voice at her was an honest mistake. The two stayed silent for the rest of the journey, still mad at each other. They were on the verge of having an argument. But they held their tongues until they were alone, then pent up stress and anger that had built up over the day exploded. Ashima snapped at Thomas.
"Sometimes I just cannot stand you Thomas, you drive me insane some days, and today was one of those days." Ashima snapped at Thomas. Thomas just looked at her annoyed and responded.
"I love you Ashima, but sometimes I just lose my temper, I didn't mean to snap at you, you did the right thing today." Thomas said with a somewhat smile. Ashima glared at him.
"It may be a while before I accept your apology, THOMAS." Ashima said annoyed. Thomas just steamed over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek, the same spot he did all those years ago, back in India. Thomas smiled at her.
"I never forgot some things about you Ashima, that is one of those things I always remembered, I love you Ashima." Thomas said smiling. Ashima sighed and looked at him with a smile, Thomas always knew the way to Ashima's heart. She sighed which turned into a slight giggle. She kissed him back on the lips.
"I forgive you Thomas, and I love you too." Ashima smiled. The two shared a kiss on the lips. The sun was beginning to set on another eventful day, but no one could prepare them for what was coming....