Ultimatum (version 4)

That evening, after the plagues were cast upon Egypt, Fievel walked through Egypt back to Noodles' temple. He looked at one of the cracks at the bottom right side of the left sphinx, which was destroyed by the plagues. He walked into what looked like an old hiding place where Noodles always went when they were younger. "Noodles?" Fievel called, knowing that particular room in the temple. "Noodles?" Fievel called again. "Oh, let me guess," said Noodles sarcastically. "You want me to let your people go." He took a drink out of a goblet.

"I hoped I would find you here," said Fievel, trying to keep himself calm. "Get out!" hissed Noodles, throwing the goblet at the ground near Fievel's standing point. Fievel flinched, but he was not ready to give up. "Noodles, we must bring this to an end." Noodles didn't respond. He just sat there angrily. "Noodles, please. Talk to me." said Fievel, willing to say anything to who he called his "brother". "We could always talk here." Noodles continued to just sit there, silently and angrily breathing, saying nothing.

Fievel sighed coldly. The memory of the very room he stood in brought something back to Fievel's mind. "This place... So many memories. I remember the time you switched the heads of the Gods of the temple of Ra." Fievel smiled. Fievel was about to leave, but Noodles spoke up this time.

"If I recall correctly, you were there, switching the heads right along with me," said Noodles cruelly. "No, it was you. I didn't do that," said Fievel. "Oh, yes, you did, you put the hippo on the crocodile, and the crocodile..." said Noodles, just enough to get Fievel to remember it all again. "...On the falcon." Fievel smiled slightly. "Yes," said Noodles. "And the priests thought it was a horrible omen and fasted for two months! Father was furious! You were always getting me into trouble." Noodles angrily walked away, much further into the dark temple, but Fievel followed him.

"But then... heh... You were always there to get me out of trouble again." Noodles chuckled lightly, looked at his ring, lost his anger and suddenly looked very sad. "Why can't things be the way they were before?" Fievel could only give a reassuring smile at the memories they brought up again.

"Father?" said a voice. It came from a small slender mouse. He had brown fur, a peach muzzle, and underbelly, brown eyes, a pink nose small whiskers, and wore only a white kilt with a blue belt-like wrap, a golden brightly jeweled collar, and matching armbands. He was holding a torch in his left hand. His name was Sydney Schimmel, and he was Noodles' son. "It's so dark," said Sydney. Noodles noticed his son standing there. They moved closer together. "I'm frightened. Why is *he* here? Isn't that the mouse who did all this?!" There was a pause. "Yes," said Noodles, knowing the plagues that were brought to Egypt. "But one must wonder *why*."

Fievel started to look very angry. "Because no kingdom should be made on the backs of slaves." He said, "Noodles, your stubbornness is bringing this misery upon Egypt. It would cease if only you would let my mice go." But Noodles and his tortured youth were unwilling to succumb to Fievel's common sense. "I will not be dictated to. I will not be threatened. I am the Morning and the Evening Star. I am Pharaoh." "Something else is coming," Fievel replied, much angrier. "Something much worse than anything before. Please, let go of your contempt for life before it destroys everything you hold dear! Think of your son!"

Sydney became more frightened. Still holding the torch in his hand, he moved closer to his father. "I do," said Noodles, but he too was getting angrier. "You mice have been nothing but trouble." He turned to the hieroglyph that depicted Warren ordering the firstborn of Fievel's ancestors to be stolen by the Egyptians, thrown into the Nile and eaten by the crocodiles. "My father had the right idea about how to deal with your people." Hearing this made Fievel very angry. "Noodles!" Noodles was still not done. "And it's time I finished the job!" Fievel was furious. "NOODLES!!!" Noodles just about reached his breaking point by now. "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as never has been nor ever will be again!"

Well, these words were just too much, even for Fievel. He was horrified and enraged. He saw the painted likeness of Warren pointing at the Egyptians, ordering them to throw the babies into the Nile again, and turned to Sydney, who gasped in shock. He looked at Noodles, his father and then looked at Fievel, now on the verge of tears. Fievel shook his head in fear but soon got his courage and anger back as he said, "Noodles, you bring this upon yourself."

That night, some of Fievel's folk were doing some things thanks to Fievel's message from God. They marked the broken down quarters, their resting shacks with blood they got from lambs that they drew blood from and used them to mark the lintels and posts of every door of those quarters so that a difference would be told by something God might send, and they had torches so they could see what they were doing.

"God has come to me again, saying: take a lamb and with its blood mark the lintel and post of every door. For tonight, I shall pass through the land of Egypt and smite all the first-born. But when I see the blood upon your door, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not enter." said Fievel to Cholena, Tanya, and Tony uneasily, before allowing the straw blinds to roll back down over the window and before they went to sleep while Fievel awaited the next given moment.

When Noodles said "And there shall be a great cry in all of Egypt, such as never has been or ever will be again" in the temple earlier, he did not know, that his prediction was just about to come true, but not in the way he thought it would.