What's this the Jagdpanther has updated this story has the world come to an end? No I've just gotten up off my butt and worked on it. Sorry about the long wait, but I had a job this summer and I also was doing a lot of other stuff. I hope you all enjoy the chapter and I'll tell you all more at the end.

Lightning streaked across the sky before fading only to be replaced by the rumble of thunder. Rain smashed against anything out in the open from buildings to cars to even engines soaking them all in the water from the sky. The island of Sodor had been like this for three straight days now and Sir Topham hat grew worried that he would have to shut down most of the lines to prevent accidents. He turned away from his window and walked back over to his desk before sitting down in his chair. He had been very happy after seeing that Erna's stories had convinced some of the engines to forgive Spencer even if the silver engine himself couldn't do the same, but now with this foul weather his mood had begun to mirror it. He took out his pen and began to write on a piece of paper before another flash of lightning illuminated his office only to be followed by the boom of thunder that shook the building. He sighed before trying to write again only for the same thing to happen, but this time his light went off. The head of the railway groaned before pulling on his lamp only for it to stay the same. Growling in annoyance he got up and walked out of his office and to the platform.

Looking out across Knapford station he saw that many people were starting to go home even though Gordon and James were waiting with their coaches for passengers to embark. He hummed to himself before making his over to them. Looking around he saw that a good amount of rain water was in between the tracks, but what made him reach a decision about closing down the lines was when he looked at the signal tower and saw that it wasn't lit. 'That's it he thought to himself there are way too many dangers for all of my engines to be roaming the island. I'll need to send most of them back to their sheds and reschedule some of their jobs for tomorrow it may cost us some business, but as I always say safety comes first on my railway." The stout man nodded before speaking, "Ahem! I'm sorry to inform you all that in light of recent weather conditions all passenger trains will be suspended after the next trains depart until such time as weather conditions improve. Again I'm sorry to inform you of this, but safety comes first." Many of those in the station groaned and protested, but he was unmoved.

James and Gordon however were shocked by this news, but were grateful that they only had one more trip through this dreadful storm. Then they saw the Sir Topham hat turn to the two of them, "Once you are done with your trains you are to return to the sheds is that clear?"

"Yes sir!" They both exclaimed glad that they would be out of the rain.

"Very good then be sure to let anyone else you see as well especially Erna I don't care if she has been through worse I want everyone inside and out of this foul weather."

"Will do sir."

He nodded before going back into his office to see if he could get his phone to work.

At the docks Erna and Molly were waiting for Cranky to finish unloading their train as the storm raged around them, waves splashed against the edge of the docks with a few of them going over, small boats and large boats alike were thrown around by the waves and the screaming wind. It was taking a while for the train to be unloaded since Cranky had to deal with the roaring wind so Erna decided to talk to them about her therapy, "She's very nice and is a lot like the last one, but something's different about her that I can't put my buffer on."

"Has she gained your trust?" Salty asked over the wind as he pushed some trucks into a storage shed.

"Not fully, but she's getting there. I just feel that there's something she's hiding. I know that my previous views that no one does something without a hidden reason aren't as solid as they used to be, but I can't help but feel that way about most humans."

"We understand lassie once something's set in your mind it's hard to get it out."

"Thanks for understanding guys." Erna smiled before she heard a familiar whistle. "Hmm what's Edward doing here." She thought to herself as her favorite blue with red stripes colored engine rounded the corner ahead of her.

"After noon all." Edward said as he came to a halt the rainwater making his wheel's screech slightly.

"Afternoon Eddie what brings you down to the docks?"

"Sir Topham hat has ordered that all jobs aside from those at the shunting yard are to be suspended and that all engines are to return to their sheds even you dear." Edward told her. Erna frowned at hearing the terrible news, but she understood why Sir Topham hat had made his decision.

She sighed before looking at her boyfriend and nodding, "Alright then let's get back home." Then she turned towards the dockside trio, "I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow."

"Of course lassie."

"Have a safe trip home."

Erna nodded before she Molly and Edward made their way out of the docks and towards home. However, they didn't go far before they ran into trouble. They had traveled through the pouring rain and whipping wind for a few minutes only to come across a trio of trees that lay across the tracks blocking their path. Knowing they couldn't get through this way they decided to backtrack and try the other way.

They returned to the docks and saw Spencer talking with Salty and Porter underneath the shelter. "Hi Spencer what are you doing here?" Molly asked since Spencer's shed was on the other side of the island.

"I was coming to the docks with a line of trucks when I was told that all jobs were canceled, so I brought the trucks here since I was close enough. However, when I was coming here some lightning struck a line of trees causing them to block the path back."

"What about the coast track?" Edward asked worriedly.

Salty shook his head, "Not a chance the wind would knock you straight off the tracks before you got more than a mile."

"Guess we're staying the night here then." Erna said voicing everyone's thoughts.

"It would appear so, but at least we all have each other." Molly said as she got comfortable.

"And we also have the shelter to keep us dry." Edward said settling down next to Erna.

"Well that's just great for you guys, but what about me!? I'm stuck into the ground with my head in this storm!" Cranky yelled this was one of those times he didn't like being a crane.

"Oh I'm sorry Cranky I wish I could help you I truly do." Erna said she truly did wish she could help him, but she was just a steam engine she couldn't control the weather. Then she had an idea it wouldn't change his situation, but it would make him happier. "But if you can just weather this storm I'll tell you a story tomorrow morning while we wait for the tracks to be cleared."

This seemed to have the desired effect on him until he spoke again, "What kind of story?"

Erna sighed Cranky reminded her of a small child right now despite his sheer size, but it made some sense to her. She was a lot older than he was so he might as well be a very large child to her. "I'll tell you a very special story Cranky plus the two I'm going to tell the others tonight."

"Ok then, but don't forget." He yelled back through the storm.

"Don't worry I won't." She chuckled before turning back to the other engines who were waiting expectantly. "Very well let me think of a few." She sighed as she thought to herself, 'Honestly my stories are like cake is to human children for these engines.' Truthfully she didn't really need to think of the right stories she had been wanting to tell a pair of particular stories for a while now. She had noticed that Edward was starting to warm up to Spencer again, but he was still distant despite her telling him that she was just as much to blame for the accident as he was. Anyways now was the perfect time for her to make him see why he should forgive Spencer. "Ok I think I have them. They're not about me, but they are ones that I feel are appropriate in light of recent events."

She took a deep breath in before letting it out, "These both take place in the war that I fought in back in the 1940's. The only thing I will say of it is that it was long, brutal and fought for the wrong reasons, but despite all of this not everyone lost their humanity even when facing those who wanted to kill them and this is what these stories are about. This first one takes place in late 1943 on the western front. On one particular day the American air force sent a fleet of bombers to attack us. However, one of them was seriously injured by flak and had to break formation in an attempt to get back to England. They thought they were safe, but unknown to them they had flown over a German airfield and a Luftwaffe ace had seen them. He got into his plane and flew after them intent on shooting them down. Besides the fact that it was his job to shoot them down he also had another reason. He had lost his brother earlier in the war to the allies and he still wanted to pay them back. When he caught up to the plane he saw how badly they had been hit all their guns were knocked out and most of the crew had been injured. Disregarding that they were American and the fact his brother had been shot down he came up next to them in an attempt to help them. When he came up next to them all of the Americans that could see him were frightened they thought he was going to shoot them down and they would all die. However, he nodded to them and assured them that he wasn't going to hurt them. He got into formation with them to ensure that no one else would try to attack them since we had some captured bombers that were flown at times. He escorted them to the North Sea and they made it safely to England. So you see even enemies can put aside their differences and help each other."

"Arr that was a boiler warming story lassie, but where did you here that from?" Salty asked.

"One of the times I was taking supplies to a station near an airfield and one of the pilots told me about it, but he made me promise not to tell it to anyone until the war was over." Erna answered. She looked to see Edward in thought she smiled seeing that her story had gotten through to him, but she had one more story to tell. "And now for the second story we move to the ground. This one takes place in 1942 in the deserts of North Africa."

"Now at this time German and British forces were fighting back and forth across the rolling sand of the desert with neither having a clear advantage. Now this story is one of how revenge turned into compassion even in the horror that is war. During one particular battle a platoon of tanks encountered another platoon of tanks led by one of my friends Anton Zapero and I will be telling this story through his eyes."

"We woke up that morning and did our usual duties before we were ordered to move up to a small ridge and to watch the valley below for British tanks. We headed up there with about 5 tanks and stayed there for a few hours until at around 1030 we saw dust being kicked up in the distance we instantly knew that this meant that tanks were heading our way so we got ready for them. Soon enough we heard them rolling toward us and just as quickly we saw them closing on us. Once they got closer we could see that there were about ten British tanks heading towards us 3 were Matilda medium tanks, 4 were Covenanter light tanks and the other 3 were Crusader light tanks. We knew that the Matilda's would be trouble, but my one Panzer 3 carried a 50mm cannon with and if the Matilda's got close enough we could take them out. We also saw that below us were a few rock formations that they could hide behind if they got close enough, so we had to prevent them from reaching them. At about 1000 meters we opened fired on them and managed to take out two of the Covenanter's. After this they began to open fire on us, but they either missed or bounce of our armor. We continued to fire on them and managed to take out one of the Matilda's and one the Crusader's, but we ended up losing one of our tanks in the process. They then came to within 500 meters and we knocked out a third Covenanter, but then they reached the rock formations.

We knew we had to take care of them so while two of us moved down to deal with them the other two stayed on the ridge to cover us. While they were doing this they managed to take out another of the Crusader's, but they got us back by knocking out one of the tanks on the ridge. Our two tanks reached the rock formations and we began to make our way through them side by side. We got to the second formation without seeing any enemy tanks, but once we got around it we ran straight into the enemy Matilda we were shocked for a second before we both fired and knocked out the tank causing the crew to jump out and flee. We didn't fire at them because they had already lost and we had more pressing matters. We continued to move through the rocks when suddenly the final Covenanter rolled out from behind one of the rocks and took out my partner before pulling back. We checked on them and found that all of them were alive, but one of them had one of his legs blown off. They fixed him up and began to take him back to the ridge. We moved to where the Covenanter was hiding then suddenly he rolled out to take us out, but my gunner fired first. The shell slammed into the tank then a few seconds later there was an explosion and the turret of the tank flew off onto the ground 5 feet away. We all looked at each other having never seen a tank explode like that. However, we knew that we had one last tank to take care of. We moved through the formations when we heard a shell hit the ground near us. We looked to the front and saw nothing, but when we check the rear we saw the Crusader firing at us. We quickly got into cover before we started to return fire. Then one time they fired they hit our gun and destroyed it. Then they fired again and our tank began to burn. We got out of tank and began to run back to our comrades.

Then suddenly I tripped and felt a sharp pain in my leg I yelled, but my comrades had already run too far to hear me. I sat up and saw that my leg was at a weird angle and blood was coming out of the back. I began to try to set the leg and stop the bleeding when I heard the sound of someone coming. My comrade's I thought, but then I had another thought what if it was the enemy? I quickly got out my sidearm and pointed it in the direction of the footsteps. A few seconds passed before a British soldier came around the side of our tank with his gun trained on me. We both were still for about a minute before he looked down and saw that my leg was injured. He took a step towards me, but I yelled at him to stay where he was or I would shoot him. Then to my surprise he began speaking in German. He told me that he was a medic and that he wanted to help me. I was skeptical for a second, but then a sharp pain shot through my leg. I lowered my sidearm slightly and told him that he could come help me, but that he couldn't call any of his comrade's over. The Englishman agreed and got out his medical kit before he knelt down to help fix my leg. While he was working on my leg he suddenly began to speak and he told me that when he had come around the tank he had intended to kill any Germans he saw to get revenge for his brother. I was confused for a second, but then I just figured that his brother had been killed earlier in the war. The medic saw my expression and explained that his brother had been in the Covenanter that my tank had blown up. He told me that he had seen it happen and that he wanted revenge on us, but that once he had seen that I had been hurt that he realized that his brother would not have wanted him to kill an already wounded man and that it would have gone against his honor. I was surprised by this turn of events, but I felt for him all of us in the tank had been sad to see the tank go up with no survivors. I told him this and we talked for a bit while he worked on my leg. Then we heard footsteps coming from where my comrades had fled. I told him that he had to go or he would be captured. He understood and quickly finished with my leg before he got up and began to walk away then he stopped and turned around. He told me that even though I had killed his brother he still forgave me then he told me his name was Shon and that he hoped that I survived the war. I then heard my comrades coming and turned to meet them, but when I looked back at where Shon had been he was gone. I smiled as I was placed on a stretcher and carried back to base."

Erna took in a breath before she continued, "After that Anton was taken to a hospital to get better. He soon did and was even able to get back to his unit, but in early 1943 he was captured in Tunis. After the war he went back to Germany where he still lives today."

"Wow what an intense story Erna it was like that one you told about the planes that tried to attack you." Molly said.

"Yes I thought so too when Anton told me about it. But not only is it intense, but it also holds a similar lesson to the first one. No matter who you are or what you've done you still deserve forgiveness weather or not people give it to you."

Edward heard her words and began to think of the last few weeks. The rest of them praised Erna on her story and her story telling capabilities. They even asked for another story, but she told them two was enough and that it was getting late so they should turn in. They were all a little bit disappointed, but they agreed and soon enough all six of the engines were fast asleep.

The next morning Spencer was awoken by someone saying his name. At first he ignored it, but as it persisted he grew annoyed and opened his eyes. To his surprise he saw that Edward was next to him.

"Finally and I thought Thomas was hard to wake up." He sighed.

"What is it?"

"I need to speak with you."

"Right now?"

"Yes right now."

Spencer looked outside to see the rain had stopped, but that it was still dark out telling him it was early morning. "Ok, but what time is it?"

"About 5:30 in the morning."

"Why did you wake me so early?"

"So I could speak to you alone now come on." And with that Edward began to slowly puff away.

Spencer sighed, "Let's get this over with so that I can get back to sleep." He started up his fire box and began to roll forward after Edward. They didn't travel far before they came to a stop next to a line of covered flatbeds. "So what did you want to talk about?"

"Erna's stories last night got me thinking especially about the last few weeks. A lot has happened in such a small amount of time first you arrived and caused trouble then you got better, a while after that there was Thomas's accident, then we had Erna's story at the docks and now we have last night."

"What are you getting at?"

Edward sighed, "I've been stubborn lately a lot of other engines have forgiven you for what you did even Erna. I thought that you didn't deserve to be forgiven after what you had done." Spencer looked down in shame, but then Edward continued, "But I was wrong if Erna could forgive those fighter pilots for trying to kill her, if a German pilot could spare a B-17 crew despite his brother being lost to the allies, and if a British soldier could forgive a German tank commander for killing his brother in front of his eyes then I guess I can forgive you for what you did to Thomas and Erna. I know that you may never forgive yourself for what you did, but know that I forgive you for your crimes."

Spencer wore a shocked expression never in a million years did he expect Edward to forgive him though since Erna had been one of the first to forgive him he shouldn't have been to surprised. "Really you forgive me?"

"Yep don't worry I can hardly believe it either, but I've seen that you're sorry and Erna forgives you so I felt that if she can do it then so can I."

"Thank you Edward."

"No problem Spencer."

"What scares me the most though is what will happen when Emily and Thomas come back?"

Edward sighed, "I don't know Spencer, but what I do know is that all you can do is tell them you're sorry if they choose not to except it then that's their choice."

"I guess your right thanks for forgiving me again."

"Like I said no problem. Now let's get back to the others before Erna comes and drags me back to bed."

Spencer laughed, but agreed. The two engines soon made their way back to their companions. When they arrived everything was as it was when they left, so they settled down and soon drifted off. Everything was still, but then once she was sure they were asleep Erna opened her eyes. She looked at the two engines and smiled before shifting her eyes to the rising sun in the distance, "I'm proud of you Eddie you forgave Spencer in spite of what he has done. I guess you really are my noble knight in blue armor. Good night love." The Bavarian steam engine looked at the two once more before she let sleep over take her once more.

How was it? I know it wasn't my best or longest chapter, but with my writing this is what I was able to do. Now just to let you know I fully intend to finish this story, but it maybe a little shorter then what it was going to be. Now I know this may make some of you sad, but to cheer you up I'll tell you that next chapter something extraordinary will happen. Also sorry about both of the stories being military ones, but at the time I couldn't think of any other ones and I was also listening to Sabaton so blame them for making such great music. While we're on that topic if you enjoyed them check out the first one in more detail because it is 100% authentic and it will help restore some of your faith in humanity. And finally before I forget I'm in college now as a Freshmen so I will be very busy for the next few weeks so don't expect a quick update, but I'll try my best. Also go check out Aaroncottrell97's stories they are really good and much better than mine. Why are you still reading leave a review then go check him out!