First of all, I am sorry for the long wait, however, I must tell everybody that chapters will be a bit longer apart as I am currently concentrating on my Transformers stories. Simply because those are what I feel like writing now. This does NOT mean this story will be entirely forgotten, I will update whenever I have the inspiration for another chapter. I'm not abandoning the story! And thank you for your patience!

Second, I just researched a little on the Thomas wikia, and discovered there was a list of the Earls of Sodor - Earls, not Dukes, which they are just fondly called by the people of Sodor. That's why I won't change it in chapter four, but I will refer to them by either name or "Earl" from now on.

And... yup. Sucky chapter is sucky.

Lost in Mist V.

The rumor of Charles Norramby's death spread like wildfire through the Island and to the Mainland.

The Earl was the retired Lieutenant General of the Sodor Regiment, and he was staying in Lancashire at the time. He was just about to go back to Sodor when the bombs hit the land; he could not be saved. Gordon received the honor of pulling their beloved Duke's memorial train from Barrow-in-Furness. Even during the wartime and the ongoing sporadic bombings from the German air force, a huge crowd came to bid their farewell to the Earl, nobles and common people alike. No one worked that day, not even the engines - all of them were stationed at Arlesburgh where Gordon made his stop with the memorial train that was taken further by Duke on the Mid-Sodor Railway to Ulfstead.

For some, it was a hit in the core, reality crashing down on them. Even important people died, not just the soldier and the insignificant civilians. War did not make differences between rich and poor, old and young, criminal and innocent and lots of people who, until that point, still couldn't believe that it was really happening around them, to them, fell into despair and depression.

It was the Duke today, maybe it would be them the other day. Who would decide over their fate?

The engines watched in silence as the dark crowd departed. They could not follow them all the way to the Castle, only the Hatt family represented their railway and the baronetcy, and afterwards, it was their task to take home the people who had attended the ceremony. Edward just wished Henry was there as well, after all, the Earl had always been attentive to the railways' business and progression. He would be dearly missed.

The next day, they would celebrate the new Earl, Robert Norramby, who already had to take his father's place as Lord Sodor at the councils. They couldn't feel any changes yet, and Edward hoped they wouldn't either in the future - except, maybe, the reconsideration of using Ward Fell as ammunition storage...

No, Edward thought. That was King George's order with Prime Minister Churchill's continued agreement. They couldn't do anything about that.

At least, the Island did not suffer any more serious bombing attacks since the one that injured Henry. The air raid sirens wailed up only twice, and the damage was minor and far from the railway. Henry was still at the Steamworks in Crovan's Gate and would stay there as long as it took to get the new parts for him. He had been cleaned out and what could be fixed without the parts was fixed, there was nothing more they could do for him.

Edward thought about visiting him as they all went to shunt coaches for their trains, but on the way, he noticed the forlorn look on their French locomotive's face and he rolled up to her. He did not think their Earl's death would have too much impact on Sandrine, she hardly knew him - the lord couldn't have meant as much to her as he did to them.

"Hey," Edward called to her gently, "what is it?"

Sandrine looked at him for a long moment before she finally spoke, "Your navy destroyed our ships." she saw Edward's frown, but continued, "A whole fleet at Algeria. Joan told me this morning."

Edward took a deep breath. He understood now - no wonder the French government had broken off their relations, "And what could you have done?"

"Nothing, but still... I guess I'm not angry with you, more with the fact that... I don't know how to say it." she seemed to be struggling with the words, but eventually found them, "I know you did it for your own protection, but if it wasn't for this goddamned war going on..."

Edward studied her scarred face for a moment before replying, "A troopship, a liner named Lancastria was sunk by your shores. Thousands died with her. Churchill was trying to cover it up, but news reached us vehicles. They say it was worse than Titanic's sinking. Do you know about her?"

Sandrine huffed, "Who doesn't know about her?"

"Well... I didn't know her, but I knew Lancastria personally. She was a good soul. We all have suffered losses and will continue so until this war rages among the people. We just have to survive."

"Sometimes I do wonder how you can remain so... objective."

"There's not much else I can do. There will be a new Earl, there will be other ships. There will always be others. And anyway, if it wasn't for the war you would not be here."

Sandrine was rendered speechless as she watched the Furness engine steam away to fetch his train. Did he really believe that? And if so, why couldn't he say it earlier?

Strange engines, these British ones...

"So, you had the hots for her?" Anthony asked, grinning, his confidence gained back somewhat by the friendly and genuine way the old loco told him about his youngers days.

Edward raised an eyebrow with a surprised smile, "If you say so." he chuckled, "It was just a... "crush" back then, as you would call it. I guess her rebellious and straightforward attitude got me in the first place. And that was it... Robert Norramby was made new Earl Sodor the next day without much of a fuss. Things simply had to go on back then."

"But he was killed in the war, too, wasn't he?"

Edward looked down at the young man sitting on his footplate, "Yes, but it was just two years later. Lord Robert Norramby had to go away immediately, he had to continue his father's duties at the Duchy. It had almost nothing to do with us. Life on the railway went on like that... Refugees still arrived sometimes from the continent, and soldiers came and went between the islands and the Mainland. Even though we were protected somewhat thanks to the new radars, many friends... brothers and sisters were killed on the railways of the Mainland in those days... even more on the sea. Still, on Sodor, it wasn't so bad... I mean, compared to England and Wales. But we had our fair share of attacks. Especially after Göring started his assault on British land once again...

18 August, 1940

"Hey, you'll fall asleep again!"

Rachel's softly spoken exclamation made Henry chuckle a little. He stood on a siding at the Steamworks to be out of the way until workmen could continue overhaul on him. Rachel was finished with her last train earlier and went to Crovan's Gate to tell Henry about all that happened in his absence. It was a bright hot day, and Henry's pale face stood out in the shadows, light reflected on him from his companion's clean boiler.

"That's all I'm good at right now." he replied.

"It doesn't hurt at least, does it?"

"No, just... uncomfortable. I guess I'm used to it now. And I'm just a burden again, when with this much traffic I should be—"

"Stop it before you work yourself up even more." Rachel just raised an eyebrow when Henry heaved a frustrated sigh at this, rolling his eyes, "Maybe it would really be better if you slept. I'll stay here."

Henry snorted, "To watch me sleep?"

"What does it matter to you? Be thankful you have someone to watch over you in your sleep." she scolded him playfully.

Henry studied her face for a moment and his smile changed to a tender warmth as he formed the words he wanted to say to his companion.

"I am thankful. No one else has a guardian angel like you. I don't even know what makes you stay. You're too good for me."

Rachel looked surprised for a moment, "Do you really feel that? I'm just simply... worried about you. And you're belittling yourself."

Henry made a face that made Rachel laugh light-heartedly, it was moments like these when both could forget about the war and all the dreadful things that happened. Even the constant noises, clangs and whooshes of the Steamworks seemed to fade into the background like a natural cadence of machinery that would have lulled anyone to sleep and created a perfect atmosphere to surround their conversation. Henry had just dozed off listening to it, knowing his companion was there standing with him when the voice of her brother interrupted the mechanical lullaby.

"What are you doing here, Rachel?" Daniel didn't hush his voice, but Henry kept his eyes closed, feeling too tired to open them, "We have a double-header in half an hour!"

Rachel rolled back a little to stand next to the No.87546 engine and whispered in return, "I know that, Dan. He's just fallen asleep."

Henry heard Daniel snort at that, "I can't see why you're wasting your time here when there's work to do."

"Daniel, he's my companion!" Rachel hissed back, "Of course I'm with him whenever I can."

"Why, you just feel sorry for him. Just think about it, Rach. He's a wreck, and you feel that it's your responsibility to keep up with him."

His younger sister frowned and couldn't say anything for a long moment. She knew Daniel had never approved of her being with Henry, and they argued about it earlier, but her brother seemed especially agitated now.

"It's just the bombings that's putting you on edge." Rachel murmured, by then angry herself.

"Well... compared to what our brethren are suffering through back at the LNER, what happened here on Sodor is nothing. They have been bombed on the Mainland a thousand times worse, even with that new tracking technology and the Americans' destroyers they couldn't prevent the Nazis from killing all those people and vehicles. And here... a single hit put this engine out. He's weak and pathetic, and it's not your job to nurse him."

"Daniel... this is what companionship is about!"

"In your opinion, because that's what you have always done with him, that's what you always had to do. A companion should be stronger than you so he would protect you. And not the other way around. You deserve better, Rachel, and I can't wrap my head around it why you cannot see this fact yourself."

"Dan—"

"Come on." Daniel grumbled, though his voice turned a tad gentler, "We have a train."

Henry heard Rachel breathe a deep sigh, but she did not say anything, and their combined puffing told the injured engine that she had followed her brother without a word. Only when he assumed they were far enough did Henry open his eyes and looked out in the distance where he could still see the greyish steam of the two locos. His face remained emotionless, but inside his emotions were raging.

He was angry, for one part, but the more he thought about it the more he believed that Daniel might have been right. He really was weak, and sometimes he did wonder how Rachel put up with him. He should have been strong for her, but he wasn't - it should have been him who supported her and be her comfort. He was a sorry excuse for an engine. And he was starting to understand Daniel's reasoning...

Henry's thoughts were rudely interrupted, however, by a familiar siren he wished he would never hear again. It was like an icy claw gripping him as the rhythmic noises of the Steamworks gave way to the panicked rush of people to get to a safe place, extinguishing fires and powering down machines not to attract attention to themselves as the air raid siren wailed through the island.

For him, everything grew still - Rachel and Daniel had just headed out. To the open field...

It was the first sunny day in a week and Edward took a deep breath. He was double-heading a train with Percy, ammunition that had arrived by noon to Vicarstown from the Mainland - it was their job to take it to Crovan's Gate, where it would be rearranged and taken further by Rheneas and Skarloey to Ward Fell. Only Edward knew about this, and he was made to swear not to tell anyone else. Still, it did not make his conscience any better.

It was a nice day, and he wanted to concentrate on it fully to forget their heavy responsibility.

"Edward," he heard Percy's voice from his front call out to him, "why are those people burying their baggages? What are in those?"

They were travelling next to a small village, some houses and byres were built close to the railway and now that Edward looked to the side, he was greeted by a somewhat familiar sight; a large family with three children had just finished digging a big hole in the ground next to their house and now hauled two almost fully packed bags into them and already started to bury them.

"Mostly their clothes and dishes... maybe some books and money." Edward answered, "They buried their belongings to protect them, in case of a fire or something else."

"Like... if another air raid comes?"

"Yes. Even if their houses are destroyed, they can come back for the bags."

"But, Edward," Percy exclaimed, "I heard that the Germans' bombers are losing in the battles because of the bad weather. It has been raining for a week, and it will rain more. It's good news, isn't it?"

The older engine frowned listening to his naive partner, "Where did you hear this?"

"From soldiers at the Kirk Ronan harbour. But it's a good thing, right? Edward?"

The No.2 engine sighed deeply, "Percy, you know I don't like it when you talk to soldiers." he said. Even though he knew he couldn't hide reality from the young little engine, he wanted to spare him from the more gruesome details of what was going on outside their island, and these young recruits tended to accidentally spill things Edward would better not have Percy know about. And anyway, even those soldiers could be misinformed, after all, all kinds of news circled around from various sources, many of which could not be accurate.

"I...I didn't talk to them," Percy muttered innocently, "I just overheard them. But Edward, tell me it's good!"

"Yes, it's good, Percy." Edward replied absent-mindedly, still looking at the village houses. The Sudrian scenery was peaceful to him, a little reminder of his old home back in Cumbria. Edward wondered if it would be better to be there, but soon decided against it. He was at home now on Sodor, on the railway he helped to build. He would not leave it for anybo—

The distant, yet sharp scream of the air raid siren jerked him out of his thoughts and the whole world seemed to darken around him for an awful moment. He almost stopped dead in his tracks when he looked up at the sky and saw, far away, that the planes were already advancing towards them.

"E-Edward..." he heard Percy stammer and felt the young engine start trembling, "is it—"

"Yes." Edward replied hurriedly and pushed him a little, "Don't stop, Percy, add more speed! Let's hope they're just flying through."

They were rolling faster by the moment, Edward was constantly searching their surroundings with his eyes to find a building, or anything they could use as a shelter. It would have been enough if it was just big enough for the both of them, he did not care about the ammunition - he did not want to repeat what they had been through with Henry. Their safety was the most important.

Their crews were talking nervously, but Edward hardly listened to them. All he could think of was the aeroplanes of the Luftwaffe coming closer and closer. He hoped he just imagined hearing the whoosh of a bomb plummeting down to the land...

"Edward..." Percy whimpered when they heard the first explosion. It was on the Mainland - the sound was distant, but they were still too close.

"Calm down, Percy, just concentrate on—"

The roar of the planes. The crackle of weapons as fire was returned from the land.

The villagers all picked up their most prized belongings, grabbed as much money and papers as they could and let the animals out. Sheep, cattle, horses and dogs all ran with the people, fleeing the hell that was about to rain down on them once again. Shouting was heard within the chaos, the crying of children...

One more explosion that Edward was sure came from the southern part of the Island, somewhere from Ballahoo. A fiery rage creeping up on them. Edward was faintly aware of the sobs coming from the smaller engine at his front.

"Just keep going!" he told Percy as the first plane shot past above them, "Keep going! Faster!"

They were out in the open, with only a few trees by the line that could not have hid them. They had surely been spotted by that time, a full train covered in tarps - trains like these were targets the Germans hunted for. And when this realization dawned on Edward, the world seemed to have turned ice cold again.

A bomb came down on them. Percy cried out - the explosion was thunderous and overwhelming, Edward couldn't hear anything but ringing for a long moment, and even though it was not close enough to throw them off the rails, Edward could feel the rush of heat and it sent flying debris and burning chunks of wood and embers everywhere. In their direction, too. Edward only had a moment to realize that a sharp, rocky chunk of ground was hurled towards Percy and the picture of Henry lying broken on the ground flashed before his eyes and with a rush of strength and speed he pushed Percy forward, just in time to avoid him getting struck.

But he could not escape from it.

A dull pain in his smokebox, a sharp scrape over his face and horrible shaking - Edward thought it would push him off the rails, but he managed to stay on his wheels. He grit his teeth to prevent himself from shouting out from the pain that burnt his frame, only then becoming aware of a strange, metallic taste in his mouth and warm liquid slowly trickling down his face. He spat out the blood - two teeth knocked out, he noted - and tried to fight the terrible dizziness that threatened to overtake his mind.

"Edward!" Percy's shouts seemed to come through a fog, but they eventually became clearer and louder. Edward just noticed they had stopped, "Edward! EDWARD!"

"I'm fine." he said, his speech slurred somewhat and he bit back a groan, "And you? Percy?!"

"I-I'm o-okay... J-just a few b-burns and scratches..."

"Alright, Percy, let's... go on... there has to be a warehouse close."

They pumped their pistons again, a stabbing pain alerted Edward that one of his rods was slightly bent, but not enough to prevent him from continuing the journey. They had to reach that small siding, that had an old warehouse, they would be out of sight and safe there. The dizziness returned and washed over him in waves along with the throbs in his smokebox and the world was constantly fading into blackness, but Edward fought to remain conscious. They finally left the fire behind them and the distant building of the warehouse came into view just before Crovan's Gate.

"It's there, Edward!" Percy exclaimed, but whimpered again when a plane rushed over the sky. Edward looked up, panic gripping him again, but saw that both it's shape and the direction it was coming from were different from the Nazi bombers - and finally, a small smile crept its way onto his lips.

"It's ours..." he whispered, "That plane is ours!"

"D-Does that mean w-we're attacking back?"

"Yes... the German flyers will be taken care of." he took a deep breath, the dizziness had blissfully started to fade, "Don't worry now. We'll stop at that warehouse... and rest. This train can wait. Calm down, Percy. It's over."

For now, he added to himself, but it didn't matter now. The British Air Force was making a counter attack and for the moment, they were safe. It was the second bomb Edward had narrowly avoided. Someone was definitely looking out for him from above, but his thoughts wandered to all the others, all the villagers whose homes were destroyed and were heading towards the woods to take shelter there... and he didn't even want to think about what could have happened to any of the other engines. He just hoped they had found a safe place in time.

He shuddered, but they finally reached the warehouse and he felt his driver apply his brakes. He even forgot about that in his musing and they slowly came to a halt in the shadowy depths of the building.

"Percy! Edward!" he heard a feminine voice cry out and a moment later realized it was Rachel's. When they had settled down, he saw the two siblings stand side by side, staring at them with wide eyes that were filled with horror. Rachel now breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing her colleagues, "Thank God you made it!"

"Edward, what happened?" Daniel asked him with a worried tone, "You're injured... it got you?"

"Just... debris." Edward murmured. Now that they stopped, he was gulping in air from the exertion of the run, sweat running down his face, he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes again as the pain and dizziness returned with full force.

"Edward, my engine, are you okay?" he heard his driver's voice, and opened his eyes to look down on the worried faces of his driver and fireman. They seemed to be unharmed, but shock was evident in their expression and Charlie, his driver, climbed up on his footplate to wipe his face with a cloth.

"I'm fine." the tender loco whispered, "It's nothing."

"It seems to be a rather deep wound." the man muttered, "It's needs to be taken care of. And your smokebox..."

Edward took a deep breath, letting his frame tremble from the rush and his vision swim for a moment before he averted his gaze to Rachel and Daniel again, "Do you know... anything about the others?"

"No." Daniel answered, the siblings looked at each other. Rachel wore an anxious frown and bit her lips, Daniel continued, "We were just leaving Crovan's Gate when the sirens turned on."

A quiet sob came from Percy as both his crew and Rachel were trying to calm him down. It must have been the most horrifying experience he had ever lived through in his short life, but at least he was safe and unharmed - for Edward, that was enough at that moment. He did not feel the strength to soothe him any more, unconsciousness was pulling on his mind and he now really considered letting himself pass out.

And that was just what he did.

"That was... the closest I ever got to a bomb. Percy, too." Edward murmured, his gaze still fixed on the blue waves of the Sudrian Sea, "I still can't thank the heavens enough that we managed to escape further harm. It took some time for me to realize just how close we came to death that day. It was... shattering. For poor Percy, it was even worse. He was just a child back then... it was just like with Thomas in the first World War."

He stopped for a moment, but went on quickly, "But luckily, no other engine was injured that day and we were there for each other. I think I would've gone crazy, especially after all the things that happened later, if my friends hadn't been there for me."

Anthony listened in astonished silence, he even forgot to speak for a moment, "Wow... that must have been dreadful. I can't even imagine what it must've been like."

"Hopefully, you will never know what it was like." Edward said with a wise little smile on his lips.

"And your face... I can't even see any scars!"

Edward chuckled, "Well... these teeth are not my original ones, and they managed to heal my face to the best of their abilities, though it can still be seen faintly if one looks close enough. And they couldn't do anything about my left eye... my vision is totally blurred there. But it's fine. I received all the help that could be given."

Anthony did not say anything, and it was the old engine again who eventually spoke, "I think it is time to finish for today. I see my driver and fireman coming."

The young man looked down, "Can't we stay a little more? I mean... your story-telling is really good and I don't have any more lessons today."

Edward laughed softly. "But I do have work to do." he said, "Don't worry, we can continue on another day. Saturday, perhaps?"

"Erm, I'm... going back to Toryreck tomorrow, so I'll be home for the weekend."

"I see. Well, we can meet even at Toryreck, we have a station there. Small and quiet and there's a valley close by. Perfect for story-telling, if you want."

"Alright, I'm in!"