Part Penultimate

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Master Fob paused in his elegy, choking back an unexpected tear. The rest of Fob looked at him in horror, knowing that the prophecy was true. Tolkien Boy looked smugly at the others--they could have listened to him, but now--

Now it was over.

Master Fob rushed out a few closing words and sat down, burying his head in Foxy's lap and wept. Before he could recover, the rest of Fob moved to the potato bar and made a brief plan:

Edgy: But--

Theric: I'm sorry, Edgy, but you know I'm right. Master Fob has cried for the slain Fob! This is what that old man was blabbering about! Our best bet is to kill him now. What other choice do we have? We could have averted it--

TB(smugly): Could have. -snort-

Theric: --but we didn't. And now Master Fob will descend into that terror we know he is capable of.

Edgy nodded, slowly. editorgirl and Petra each took one of his elbows and led him to an orange chair. Melyngoch and Theric looked at each other and also nodded. They went out to their old weapon stash behind the church and selected bludgeons.

"Are you ready?"

Theric nodded.

"Harder than you expected?"

Theric nodded.

"Wuss."

Theric let Mel open the door for him and they walked back inside the church only to have the Queen grab them and pull them through the stage door.

"Now is not the time!" she hissed.

"But--" they tried.

"You can't kill someone during spring cleaning! I won't stand for it!"

"But--"

Queenie grabbed their weapons and handed them to another figure in the shadows. The voice of Tolkien Boy came to them.

"We had our chance," he said. "And we missed it. Let's not mix mourning with new sorrows. Capiche?"

"Capiche?" said Melyngoch. "You can't be seriou--"

But he was serious, and she and Theric acquiesced.