Loyal Servant (Crossmare) (Rewrite)

After Arcs Oneshot: Adventures in the Anti-Void

Okay guys, this is a little ridiculous. Why? Its 7150 words long. Like this is a huge chapter, with a lot of character development for certain characters. Good luck getting through this bad boy in one go. If you read it all, I'll be impressed.
...

The tree leaves rustled overhead, the odd and unpredictable winds of the Anti-Void picking up their pace. Branches creaked and the wild grass whistled far louder than it had a moment ago. Despite all these disturbances, Paperjam didn't budge from where they leaned against the trunk of the floating island's tree. They had their sharp pinpricks fixated to a spare page, upon which they eagerly finished jotting down a plethora of excess notes. They knew a lot of their writings were pointless information they'd scrap later on, but right now all they cared about was documenting absolutely everything; Every single detail of the scene before them.

"Okay," Paperjam said, looking up towards the other skeleton who watched from the center of the field. The dark hooded figure met Paperjam's gaze with a touch of shy nervousness. It was such an odd trait to see with a skeleton who once tried to erase an entire squadron's worth of guards and gods. "So you can quite literally select multiple souls with that screen? Then drag them wherever?" Paperjam went to confirm, pointing their pencil at the green tablet hovering alongside Gradient. He gave them a shallow nod in return. "We're lucky you didn't figure that one out sooner. You'd have dragged us all over the battlefield."

"I was brand new. I didn't understand most of my magic," Gradient replied, his voice soft. He used his stylized pen to draw on the screen. He sketched a quick picture of a simple flower. The drawing easily came into existence at his side, suspended in the air. "I definitely wasn't expecting to be capable of making something alive," He added, cupping the soiled base of the flower he had made. With that the flower became real, affected by both gravity and the winds. The petals started to fall on the breeze, causing a bead of sweat to form on Gradient's skull. "M-mostly alive, that is. It's all very delicate. Ink- er- I mean, dad, believes I'll get better over time," Gradient then told him, stumbling a bit.

Paperjam couldn't help but feel a twist of jealousy upon hearing his words. They once believed their magic would become more powerful over time as well, but that soon proved to be a pointless hope. No matter what they tried, conjuring anything more complex than art supplies or portals just wasn't possible. Gradient was already better at it then they'd ever be. Well, he was hand crafted to be the superior version of me. I'm just some void spawn. If Ink ever cared to train a successor, it would be Gradient or perhaps the son Dream's due to have within the next month, not the weakest link. They didn't let their hidden resentment show. They instead nodded in agreement. It was the truth. Gradient would only ever improve...

Paperjam nearly lost their loose notes thanks to the wind. With a sigh they closed their notebook and tucked it safely into the satchel around their waist. "Alright, it's time for you to go home," Paperjam told Gradient, who was trying to neatly plant the weak little flower. It probably wouldn't survive. Gradient blinked up at them while they shook apart their outline. This messy technique was the only one they had for making portals. Just splattering a bunch of loose ink on the ground.

"Why just me?" Gradient began, pushing his red glasses up a hint more. He didn't exactly give Paperjam a chance to answer before standing and bombarding them with even more questions. "Where are you going then? Is it someplace far? Can I come with you? Would it be just us?"

Paperjam grew less thrilled at the prospect of having another brother by the second... Gradient had been fun to teach the multiverse to at first, but sometimes he never stopped with his consistent questions. Even when he had a whole copy of the Book of a Thousand Souls to read, he still wanted his answers from them instead. Paperjam stifled a sigh. They'd already gone and whined at Dream about it once before. She told them to be patient, and that siblings often had little spats even if they loved each other very much. I'm not really sure if I should take her advice on sibling dynamics though... I mean, her current situation with Nightmare isn't the best reference.