Iblis followed Mephiles and Tails to a house that they had reached from the alley.
"…So who's house is this?" Iblis asked, spotting flowers in the window sills. He twitched his ears.
Tails turned to look at him for a second, glared, and then returned to looking at the house. "A friend's." He answered. He knocked on the door, twitching his tails.
Iblis twitched his tail, noticing the fire catch a bit of newspaper on fire. He blinked and stomped on it, trying to put it out.
He noticed the fire didn't burn his feet. He twitched his ears, thinking a bit. The door to the house opened to reveal a pink hedgehog. "Tails you're back!" She yelled.
She received a hug from the yellow fox as she looked back at the two behind him. She blinked.
"Who are they?" She asked, blinking more. "You know Iblis and this is his adopted brother; Mephiles." Tails answered.
"The same Iblis that got you thrown into that dungeon?" The female confirmed, seeing the weasel stomping on another paper he caught on fire.
"Yes. He came along with me and Mephiles after the queen kicked him out." Tails said, releasing the other from the hug.
"I can see why she threw him out…he's hideous." The hedgehog whispered to the fox. Tails laughed a bit, catching the weasel's attention. "What's so funny?" He asked. "Nothing." The fox said, stepping inside of the home. Mephiles followed while Iblis stayed standing outside.
The pink hedgehog sighed. "You might as well come in."
"…I'll burn the house down." Iblis responded, looking at his feet. The pink one widened her eyes a bit. "Is that a threat?" "No, the tip of my tail is on fire. It'll catch onto things and catch them on fire as well." Iblis answered, sitting on the ground and setting his tail behind him.
The pink one blinked then went in, leaving the weasel to sit there alone. Mephiles walked back out. "She won't let you in?" "No, my tail will catch everything on fire. I'm getting tired of explaining…" Iblis said, sighing.
Mephiles blinked. "Oh right the fire-tail-thing you have going on...um..." He trailed off, thinking about how he could prevent the other's tail from catching things on fire. He thought of the obvious. "What if you throw water on it?" "It comes back." Iblis stated. Mephiles blinked.
"How is that possible?" He asked. "You've tried?" He confirmed, looking at the pink hedgehog who had a pot of water.
Iblis glared at her when she stepped out of the house with the pot. "I swear if you dump that on me..." "It'll put the fire out...?" Iblis growled a bit. "It will not put the fire out. No many how many pots of water you throw on it. It always comes back and I will never be allowed to step inside another house again. Now leave me be, I'll sleep out here on the pavement." "But Solaris will attack you if she finds you and she probably will..." Mephiles said. The pink hedgehog stepped back into the house, still carrying the pot.
Iblis sighed, twitching his tail which was causing the current problem. Mephiles sat next to him. "Maybe you could stay in the basement? If they even have one..." He trailed off in thought. "For a prince?" Iblis sighed. "Ah, ah you're not a prince anymore, Iblis." Mephiles teased. "At the most you're the town monster to the royal family." He added, noticing the other twitch his ears. "Don't call me that." Iblis said, looking at the ground. Mephiles blinked. "I didn't mean it Iblis, you know that." He said. Iblis sighed. "Yes I know."
The pink hedgehog came back out with the pot and a cloth, Tail following behind her. The pink one knelt with the pot and cloth, setting them beside Iblis. Iblis stared at them for a moment then looked the pink hedgehog. "What are you going to do, give me a bath?" He asked.
Tails blinked. "Well if your tail won't stay out when you just throw the water onto it, maybe keeping it submerged will keep it out." He said, kneeling beside the pink one. "Amy here had the idea...for once." He added the last part quietly. Iblis tilted his head a bit. "I guess that makes sense..." He muttered, twitching his tail. "Now don't move your tail or you will burn Amy." Tails said, twitching his own two tails. Mephiles blinked.
Iblis kept his tail still, sighing. Amy dumped some water over the fire then as the fire died down she wrapped the wet cloth around Iblis's tail around where the fire usually stayed.
The four waited a few moments, all of them staring at the rocky weasel's tail.
After a full minute, Mephiles smiled. "Hey it works!" He said. Iblis smiled a bit. "Now you won't have to stay in the basement." He teased. Iblis rolled his eyes. He got up carefully as not to throw the cloth off of his tail. "It's going to go dry..." He stated. Tails chuckled. "Just throw more water on it when it does, it'll be fine." He stated, walking inside the house. Mephiles walked in with the pink one. Iblis followed, somewhat constantly watching his tail to make sure it didn't relight or anything like that.
He looked around the house, seeing a few pictures of the pink hedgehog, that Tails had called Amy, and the blue hedgehog, that he had seen at the royal dinner, together at various locations. He blinked.
Mephiles gazed over the photos, eyes widening at one of them. The pink hedgehog walked over to him. "You look a lot like Shadow, kid." She said, chuckling. Mephiles looked at her. "You knew my dad...?" He confirmed. Amy blinked. "He was a family friend...though I lost touch with him shortly after hi- your mom died...by the way why didn't they ever tell us about you being born? You would think that they would..." She said. Mephiles sighed.
"I wouldn't be able to answer that for them...the only way would to ask them yourself but I have no idea where Dad is and Mom ...as you know is dead." Mephiles growled. Iblis blinked, looking over at the two. "What's going on?" He asked.
Mephiles shook his head, grabbing the picture frame. Amy blinked before Mephiles slipped the photo out of the frame. He set the frame back onto the stand, walking off with the picture. Amy widened her eyes. "You can't just take that." She growled.
"It's his father." Iblis said. Amy looked at him. Mephiles blinked. He tucked the picture away in his quills before Amy could think about tearing the photo out of his hands.
"Didn't Mephiles attempt to steal from your family before? Why are you protecting him now?" "Because technically that picture is his, his father being in it and all."
