Mephiles walked behind Sonic and Tails on the sidewalk, looking around to make sure no one was following them.

He heard someone yell his name, turning to look.

Seeing the queen.

He widened his eyes a bit, turning back to see the other two looking back as well.

They stopped walking, standing to face the queen.

"You…" The queen started.

Mephiles looked at the ground after seeing the rest of the royals that were in the mansion during the dinner crowding behind Solaris.

"You did something to Iblis with that bite…" She said, walking closer. Sonic pulled Mephiles back a bit. Tails blinked, twitching his tails.

"Some kind of poison or potion of some sort….to kill him or change him into….into that thing…He can never be accepted into the royal family anymore..."

"What?" Mephiles blinked.

"Don't play dumb! It was only after that you bit him that he started looking like that!"

Mephiles looked at the queen, widening his eyes. "Are you kidding? I don't have rabies or anything like that!" "I never said you did, you could've had a potion or something on your teeth! Don't you listen when you're about to be killed?" The queen growled.

Mephiles blinked. "You can't kill me without any proof!" He yelled, taking a step back. "Watch me." The queen said stepping forwards.

Sonic blinked then stood in front of Mephiles. "You'll have to get through me!" He growled. The queen smirked before a green hedgehog tackled Sonic to the ground.

Tails widened his eyes.

He backed up, his ears flattening a bit.

Sonic pushed the green one off of him, growling a little. "Mephiles, Tails run!"

The hedgehog and the fox ran, hearing the crowd yell.

They blinked.

Sonic fought off the crowd, looking back every-so-often to make sure the other two had run like he told them to.

Tails led Mephiles into an alley, taking the back streets of the town.

He stopped dead at the sight of a fire colored creature. Rocks covered it especially on its chest. Tails blinked, stepping back. Mephiles squinted.

The creature looked at them, widening its eyes.

"What are you?" Tails asked it, blinking. The creature blinked. He stared at Mephiles, and then looked at the ground. "Hello?" Tails urged, not wanting to get too caught up in conversation to the point where they wouldn't have enough time to get far enough away from the place where the royals had found them.

Mephiles blinked, and then thought. He looked at the rocky creature's green eyes, and then thought about what the queen had said.

"Iblis?" He took a wild guess.

The creature's eyes shot up to Mephiles's. "How is it that you figure out that when my own mother doesn't even believe me after I told her…"

"It's the way you stand, the way you look, you know, that simple stuff." Mephiles said, walking over. Iblis blinked, backing up. "Don't get near me…you must hate me anyways…" He said, looking back to the ground.

Mephiles blinked. "I never hated you…Maybe got mad at you a lot, yes but I never hated you." He said, blinking a bit more. Iblis sighed. "That's a lie." He said, flicking his fire tipped tail. Mephiles sighed. "I wouldn't be standing here talking to you if I would actually hate you." He said, stepping towards Iblis.

Iblis glared at him. "Then maybe you'll hate me after finding out that I took this from you." He growled, pulling the green emerald out. He dropped it on the ground on purpose, glaring at the hedgehog still.

Mephiles widened his eyes. "Dad's emerald!" He nearly squealed, rushing to pick it up. Iblis stepped on it so it the hedgehog couldn't. Mephiles blinked, starting to tear up.

"Iblis…You took it?" He confirmed. Iblis nodded, looking to his right and away from the gray one. He sighed.

Mephiles blinked, thinking back to the time where the weasel had helped him look for it when he first lost it.

He shook his head a bit. "It doesn't matter now that you're going to give it to me, right?"

Iblis blinked. He took his foot off of the emerald, looking at the ground. Mephiles grabbed the emerald, instantly nuzzling his muzzle against it as he had done when he had it and was upset.

Iblis sighed, stepping back away from the hedgehog. He glanced at the fox to see him glaring at him.

He looked at the ground, sighing again. "If you guys hadn't escaped from the dungeon, you could've died from suffocation of the smoke that made its way down into the dungeon." He said.

Mephiles looked at him, blinking a bit.

He thought for a bit, and then twitched his ears.

"Would you have thrown me in there if you had known that ahead of time?" He asked.

Iblis widened his eyes a bit. He shook his head. "I don't think I want to be the cause of anyone's death anytime soon."

Mephiles blinked. "I would've died of…like some disease or some junk like that before I lived my full life."

Iblis blinked. In his years of planning in how to get the gray hedgehog thrown in the dungeon he had never actually thought of the consequences that would come with that. He looked at the ground, sighing.

"…I wish I had never gotten you in trouble all of those times…" He trailed off, purposely. He started walking away from Mephiles.

Mephiles blinked, standing up. He looked down at the green gem he deemed so important.

He twitched his ears at the sound of yelling.

Tails twitched his ears, getting anxious.

"We need to hide." He said, twitching his tails. He walked over to Mephiles who was staring at Iblis.

The hedgehog suddenly broke out into a run, catching up to Iblis. He stepped around the rocky weasel, forcing him to stop where he was.

Iblis glared at him. "Go away." He sighed, twitching his tail. "No." Mephiles said, smiling. He poked the rocky one's chest where the fur ran through.

Iblis twitched his rock tipped ear.

Tails rushed up to them, hearing the voices getting closer. "Mephiles we have to go now!" He said. Mephiles ignored him, poking the weasel more. Iblis glared at him, starting to growl. "Stop it." He said.

"You're it." Mephiles said, smirking. He pushed the other onto his rear, chuckling. Iblis grumbled, tail flicking in frustration. He got up, seeing the hedgehog start to run.

He narrowed his eyes before taking off after the gray one. "Get back here!"

Tails widened his eyes. "This is no time to be playing games…!" He growled under his breath, running off after them.

Mephiles smirked, running behind a building.

Iblis stopped at the corner of the building. "Would you mind tellin-" He cut off as he rounded the corner, seeing an aged orange weasel holding the hedgehog by the quills.

He widened his eyes a bit, blinking a few times. The other weasel was panting from running after the hedgehog. She had a gash on her forehead from where the blue hedgehog had kicked her before another similar hedgehog knocked him out.

Iblis twitched his tail.

Mephiles squirmed a bit, losing his grip on the emerald from having reached up and grabbed the queen's arm.

Solaris smiled. "Hey Iblis, I got the little trouble maker for you." She said. Mephiles widened his eyes.

Iblis blinked before stepping forwards, eyes darkening. Solaris ignored the change of shade in her son's eyes. "Maybe if he dies, you'll go back to normal." She said.

Iblis widened his eyes a bit.

He looked at the gray hedgehog then at his mother. Solaris smirked, pulling out a knife she had pilfered off of one of the royals. Mephiles turned his head a bit to see the gleam of the metal.

Iblis's eyes narrowed. He stopped a few feet away from his mother, twitching his ears.

Mephiles squirmed under the queen's hold, blinking. Solaris brought the knife over the gray hedgehog's forehead, pressing it against the skin a bit.

Iblis growled, charging at the two. Solaris blinked before the rocky weasel grabbed the knife and threw it. "Leave him alone!" Iblis growled. Solaris blinked, twitching her ears.

The rocky weasel pushed the older one onto the ground, making her let go of Mephiles's quills. Mephiles blinked, looking at the queen from where he had been released. Iblis twitched his tail, looking at Mephiles. He saw a small cut above the hedgehog's eyes but that was about it.

He sighed, looking back at his mother. The female was sitting wide-eyed and facing Iblis and Mephiles. Iblis growled. Solaris bit her lip, growling back a bit. "You want to remain in that hideous form?" She yelled. Iblis glared at her. He shook his head but helped the hedgehog to his feet. Mephiles blinked but looked around.

Iblis looked at him, blinking. He saw the other kneel and pick up the green gem before standing back up and frowning. Solaris blinked as she noticed the gem for the first time.

She shook her head a bit, standing. Iblis looked at her. Solaris started to run back the way she had came, disappearing from the two's sight quickly.

Mephiles blinked, looking at Iblis. "..Thank you." He said, smiling a bit. Iblis looked at him with a half glare. "You wouldn't have been in this situation if you hadn't provoked me." He growled. His eyes returned to their normal shade of green. Mephiles chuckled. He wrapped his arms around the rocky torso of the other.

Iblis blinked, widening his eyes a bit. "What are you doing?" He twitched his tail. "You shouldn't be hugging me! I never treated you like a brother!" He said, trying to tear himself away from the other. Mephiles chuckled.

"Yes you have just now and when you first met me!" He said. Iblis blinked, shaking his head. "Mephiles you're a fool…" He muttered, tearing up a bit. Mephiles tilted his head a bit at the other's statement but felt the other hug back somewhat tense.

He smiled. "We're brothers, right?" He stated more than asked. Iblis blinked but nodded. "Brothers…" He smiled.

The yellow fox had been watching from a distance, blinking.