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I blame my current mood and music choice for this, along with my unbelievably overactive mind. Deora, I'm blaming your ass for this.
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He'd heard of an engine being fire-blind before, heard the stories of engines running themselves so hard for so long that they went blind or worse. He'd heard one of the worst stories from Whiff, who had seen an engine run so hot his face turned bright red, while his eyes and mouth leaked steam and water. Gordon couldn't get the image out of his smokebox. "What in the world would make engines do that to themselves?" he wondered as he rested, eyes closed and trying to fend off the imagery.
He nearly growled aloud in irritation, looking up with a heavy-lidded scowl. He'd never sleep at this rate. "Me and my blasted curiosity. Bah!" he thought with a soft huff, staring out of the shed at the tracks. He blinked after a moment, watching curiously as a plume of steam rose up in the distance. He squinted, trying to see better.
He heard the engine before he ever saw it. Gordon had no way of knowing who it was, but from the sound of it, they'd be lucky if they didn't crack a cylinder, as hard as they were going. He started to wonder if they had their crew with them as they barreled closer, coming into view before too long.
The big engine's eyes widened in shock. He had no idea who the engine was, but his face was a vivid red, eyes and mouth frozen wide open. He could just make out thin plumes of steam emanating from his mouth, the eyes leaking water too fast for it to just be tears. He charged closer, whistle blowing so hard that it overblew, shooting up higher in pitch than it should operate at. A long, oddly staticky scream mixed in with the whistle as it approached, the engine actually disappearing in a rising mist up and out of sight before it had gotten to the shed fully.
Gordon was frozen in horror, eyes wide and mouth slack. It slowly dawned on him the engine didn't even have eyes to begin with. He blinked, shivering almost unnoticeably as he realized he'd been withing rolling distance of a spectre. The big engine shut his eyes quickly, knowing he wouldn't sleep for hours, and wishing in vain that he would.
"G-Gordon?"
The big blue nearly jumped at the whisper, relaxing with a long sigh as he realized it was only Percy. "Yes?" he breathed, glancing at him sideways. The little engine was shivering, eyes wide. "I-I thought ghosts were just... Stories?" he asked shakily, quite literally a few shades lighter. "That's what I'd thought..." he replied quietly, shivering so lightly it couldn't be heard by the other engine. "That engine... It must have... It was fire blinded..." Gordon thought, closing his eyes to will himself to sleep, Percy trying to do the same.
"Gordon! Gordon! Wake up, boy!"
The engine groaned groggily at his driver, blinking and forcing himself to look up. Morning had come too soon for the spooked engine. "'Bout time you wake up. Did you stay up and chat for once?" his fireman teased as he got his fire going, earning a "Hmph!" from the pompous Gresley. "Hardly!" he retorted, earning snickers and laughs from his crew and some other engines alike.
Gordon kept the ghost engine in the back of his smokebox as he worked. Maybe there was something to note, maybe it was just a repeat in time that he'd never seen before. There was really no way to know with these things.








