#zepf

His silence was interrupted by a gentle knock on the door, with the sound of muffled Christmas songs drifting through the air. He flinched at the sound, but went to open the door as quickly as he could, hoping that it was someone bringing good news at the least. They sounded… jolly enough. “Hello?”

Looking up at him was a man, with light blue skin, green hair, wearing a red flannel robe over a black suit, with a red tie, black scarf, and black santa hat. He smiled, a large back slung across his back. Standing by him was a girl, with three small skeletons.

“Greetings! I have come giving gifts during this dark and worrying time! “ The man spoke up, his voice full of joy and excitement. Zepf cocked his head to the side, before sitting down so that he was at least on a more even level with his current visitor.

“Ah, thanks? Heh, sorry, you managed to catch me in the middle of… thinking.” His gaze drifted quietly towards the other three skeletons, hoping to see someone he recognized… although the chances of that were, honestly, slim.

“Oh my deepest of apologies my friend! My name is Chanter, I am a Character, like yourself. I’m protecting Miss Aliana here, a member of the Council of Creators. “ Chanter digs into his bag and pulls out a red and green colored box “here you are! A gift for you!”

Zepf took the box carefully, looking it over before carefully opening it.

“I’m curious, what is it?” Chanter asked with a smile “each box is specific to who it’s given to, I don’t know what’s in any of them!”

He lifted the gift out of the box, his breath hitching briefly before he let out a long sigh. It was a picture of his family- the one he… still had? Although didn’t really see very much within Creationaria. The limit of four creations per creator really made that one difficult, and… well, it had been a while since he and Toast were on good terms. “I… thanks, for this, it’s what I needed. You, uh… who’s are you? I know you aren’t Alaina’s, I’ve seen enough of Toast’s own admiration and following of her to recognize your differences, but I’m afraid I’m not quite familiar with many characters yet…”

“I am Chanter! I am a creation of Mr. Fernlom’s. I represent his emotion, morality, and light!” Chanter happily replies, “and I am most grateful you enjoyed the gift. As I told you, each gift is special for every person who receives them”

“Excuse me, but are you alone? I don’t know if you heard the news but Characters are gathering together with Creators for protection. “ Aliana looked past the tall skeleton into the empty home. “Do you know where your Creator is? Or would you like to just come with us and be assigned a Creator to stay with?”

Zepf didn’t fail to notice that Chanter was another of Fernlom’s creations, but at the same time… he couldn’t really fault him on that. Especially considering where he had come from in his own stories. However, he looked up at Alaina’s questions, before turning away, clearly not very happy to have to think about his own answer. “Yeah, I’ve heard. Being with my creator isn’t a great option for me though, considering they…”

A thought seemed to strike him, and he looked back towards Alaina, hope sparking briefly in his sockets. “You said you were part of the council? I know one of the creators that have been causing problems around here- it’s not just Fernlom, and I can bet there are others I don’t know about. I can’t stand doing nothing like this though- please, I want to help.”

“You do?” Aliana’s eyes widened. “Then please, come with us. We will call a Council Meeting and you can share what you know, and we can find you a Creator to stay with”

Zepf smiled, gliding through the ocean beneath waves sparkling with sunlight, watching the reef farther below him. It felt so long ago that he was running from Wisecrack, chased from his previous home out into the open ocean. The salty water was still awkward sometimes, but nothing unmanageable, and he had managed to find a nice spot to rest that so far had been a good hiding spot from anything else that might attack him. This place seemed like a whole different world to him, with unrecognizable fish still surprising him and a much clearer view of the world than the murky rapids had provided.

A sudden school of fish rushed past him, and he turned to look at them for a moment before turning back to where they had come from. He didn't understand what was going on. All of these fish of all different types were trying to swim away from… something… But he couldn't figure out what it was. Along with that was a loud noise coming from above him, one that he didn't recognize and didn't like. So like any sensible person he began swimming down and away from it, towards the lower sections of the ocean.

Once he was at a reasonably safe depth he looked back up. Two unrecognizable shapes passed overhead, black silhouettes of something that didn't look right, but that seemed to be the source of the noise. They were going very fast, and were probably what the fish were running from. Well, they hadn't seemed to notice him at least, which was better than nothing. What were they though..?

Zepf's train of thought was interrupted as a sudden shape seemed to flow all around him, scaring him quite a bit considering they seemed to come out of nowhere. His surprised lasted for just a moment, before he felt something hit his back and push him forward through the water. It was like a wall, but it wasn't solid like any wall should be. There was also a lot of fish around, and they seemed just as confused as he was. He was trying to move away from the walls but there wasn't much room, and it was going a lot faster than made sense. It was surrounding him, moving around and getting him more stuck than he had started out. His bones were getting caught on the material more often than he liked and he couldn’t do more than struggle.

After a few moments, he realized that he wasn't getting pushed to the side anymore. He was getting pulled up, towards the surface of the ocean. Too many fish were getting pushed up against him and he couldn't move enough to create any substantial push downwards against the wall. He was becoming aware of an acute lack of water around his tail, and in moments he had been fully raised out of the water and into the open air.

It was loud, sounds that he didn't understand flying through the air, confusing him even more along with everything else in this situation. He couldn't move much at all, and the longer he was away from the water the more uncomfortable he was getting. There was more motion, swinging him towards some of the noise, before he slowly felt himself getting lowered again. Was he going back to the water? Thank goodness, he…

His back hit something hard. What? Where was the water? His motion was less restricted and he tried to turn to see more, but the flat hard thing was all around him. The noise seemed to come mostly from tall things that moved around him, moving whatever he had been wrapped in, as well as pushing the things around them and making more noise than they had been before. Zepf tried making some noise back at them, which did make some of them quite down for a moment, before seemingly more noise started than before. He didn't understand what was going on, but didn't they know he was supposed to be in the water? Why did they take him out like this? Now that he had more movement, he started trying to move in any sort of direction, hoping that similar to rocks this hard flat thing would end as well and he could get back to the ocean.

After a bit of struggling, a lot of noise, and a lot of movement from the things around him he was out of the net. However, soon after getting out of that, hands were put on him, especially his tail, holding him down against the hard thing. Zepf tried to shake them off, attempting to move both his powerful tail and his arms free of them, but they weren't letting go. Once some of them had been shaken off his tail more seemed to appear, helping to hold him down as well. Zepf cried out, both at being restrained like this and the fact that his soul had begun to ache. He needed to be in the water, it hurt. The air hurt, the hard thing hurt, their grip on him hurt. No one would come to help him, but he cried out for someone anyways. He cried out hoping whatever had him would let him back to the water. It was to no avail.

He could feel himself getting lifted. They had wrapped around him, restraining his movement almost more than before, being nearly dragged in a different direction. At first he was hopeful, since it was possible that they were going to fix their mistake and put him back. Instead, the brightness got darker, and the hardness continued, going down instead of just flat. He struggled again, trying to break free and go up again, but they only held on tighter. Bringing him farther down, somehow farther from even the water or the light he had previously been in.

Everything was foreign to him but the smell. It still smelled like the ocean, and almost tasted as good, but was despairingly dry. He could hardly see anything from the light change and what he could see was more hard things, sharp and irregular, too flat and even to be anything he knew. It was crowded, and there wasn't much room for him anywhere, and the noise continued even more despite the change. More pushing until eventually they must have been satisfied, since they were back to holding him against hard things again. Two hard things maybe, some of him was on a wall-like thing and the rest on the bottom hard thing. He wasn't sure.

There was noise and one of them went off somewhere else, leaving him and the rest of them for a moment. Zepf struggled against them again, failing to push them off and becoming more distressed as the time passed. When the one came back they were holding more things, which he couldn't quite make out and probably wouldn't have understood if he could. They were passed closer to him, given to someone who was helping to hold his hands after more noise. Maybe they were communicating with each other with the noise, considering noises seemed to be followed by them doing stuff. One of the objects were put on his hand, and he tried to look up to see what was going on. What were they doing up there?

The two of them stood before The Council, and his only saving grace right now was that he wasn’t standing alone up there.

The Character next to him nods. CQ taps her mic gently “thank you everyone for coming to this emergency meeting. Mister, Zepf was it? We understand you have urgent news to deliver us”

Jass yawned and stretched on Eclecious’s shoulder “oh? We’re in a meeting now?”

Alaina rolled her eyes in good nature, before turning back to the three of them, apparently. “Yes, Zepf had told us he had information about what’s been going on- go ahead, Zepf.”

The tall skeleton nodded, and then he began to share what he knew. “There’s- I have very good reason to believe that my creator is causing problems. I can’t say for sure if they’re actually working with Fernlom or if their acting on their own, but, they’re… it’s, there’s more than one person stirring up trouble.”

Multiple council members sigh, or place their faces in their palms.

“Tell us about your creator” Xed leaned in. Zepf hadn’t liked that mix of reactions, but he had no idea what they already had on their plate- he suddenly felt a wave of apprehension, but swallowed it as best he could so he could continue. He thought for a moment, remembering the picture he had gotten from Chantler, and then continuing.

“They go by French Toast, and they’ve, well. They don’t necessarily seem bad, or intimidating, but it’s on purpose. They’ve brought at least one monster into creationaria, and, at least one villain… that’s been here for a while. I’m sorry for not sharing that there was a villain here sooner- It just didn’t seem important until now, especially since French Toast had been keeping a close eye on them. In hindsight, I doubt that’s what it was.”

CQ nodded knowingly, before sighing and leaning back, wincing slightly. “This is bad, just one creator is a lot easier to handle than… well, more than one. And if a villain’s been active for a while…”

“Dis is bad- think we should increase protection for all da peeps?” Yugo looked between all of them, raising a brow with curious worry. The other creators thought for a moment, before Jakei spoke up from her own spot at the table.

“This is all good and stuff… but how do you know??”

Zepf sighed, turning away to look at the ground instead of facing them. “Because Toast’s been summoning me to do this. Not me, me, Just me from my past, or from an alternate timeline where I never ended up getting saved. Where I stayed “A villain,” or became something worse.”

“An alternate version, essentially a fan character, easier to summon, exempt from the five character rule. “ Xed turned to her fellow council members “guys, this is bad”

Chanter, who was standing at Alaina’s side, leaned into the mic “Mister Zepf, who are you loyal to? Are you loyal to your creator, or to the Council?”

The tall skeleton looked back up towards them, searching their faces for whatever hint at their feelings he could find. He knew his answer immediately, but even still, being here was making him more nervous than ever. “The Council- why would I have been telling you any of this otherwise?”

“Simple” Eclecious looked up to him, “you have told us that the villain your Creator is using, is an alternate version of yourself. It is only natural to hold some suspicion of your allegiance after hearing such information.”

“Thank you Eclecious” CQ turned to Zepf, “now tell us, do you know if this villain is still loose? Can you feel it?”

He nodded, readjusting slightly, and deciding not to worry too much more about that particular train of thought. “I know that they’re around and active right now, but I couldn’t tell you exactly where they are now unless they did something drastic. We’re not directly connected, since we’re… still separate? He’s still experiencing his own side of Creationaria, and since we weren’t made for this universe it’s not like I can look into my past and see what he’s doing. And, even if I could… it may be a worse idea than waiting for him to surface.”

“Although, I can feel it whenever French Toast brings a new alternate into the universe. It’s a much stronger feeling, so if they make another one of… me, I guess, I’ll know. I’d be able to tell you where I felt it.” Zepf hoped that, at least, it would be enough of a help for them.

The various creators nodded, still processing that quietly apparently. Xedra stood up, sighing, before they too continued. “Well, I’m not sure if there’s much more we can do now then. We-”

“Wait, I uh-” Zepf froze for a moment as the attention was suddenly redirected towards him, shaking his head and then continuing. “I feel like I should warn you, my past… He’s probably stronger than I am at this point, and I was already very powerful in my prime. Please, don’t send any creators searching for French Toast’s creations. I would never forgive myself if…”

“Oh, yes please! I would love to explore a bit farther, we haven't gotten to before.”

“What about me? Can I come too?” Seriph had swum up to his father, smiling up towards him as well. He tried not to approach from above anyone anymore, since he had been told that it was a bit scary to other people, but he couldn't reign in his excitement.

“No, you have to stay here with Marlett, ok?”

“Aww… Ok, well, see you when you get back ok Zepf?” Seriph turned to Zepf, hoping that maybe when they got back he could have a turn and go farther down.

“Yeah, ok! Hope I’m not gone too long, I just know you’ll get into all kinds of trouble without me!”

“Oh sure, we both know who actually gets in trouble here!” Seriph watched as Web and Zepf left, starting down the river with the flow of the current. After a bit of swimming around he turned to his mom, still disappointed.

“Hey mom? Why can't I go with them?”

Marlett sighed, then turned and gave Seriph a gentle pat. “If your dad ended up running into something dangerous, he wouldn't want to lose both of you.