Nothing More

As Chancellor of Chalcopyrite, Steven constantly found himself mulling over legislative decisions that- while sometimes rather difficult to make -almost always conflicted with his moral compass. Today was not any different, for he and the Chalcopyrite Parliament were going over whether or not to declare war on the Colton Empire after it had just conquered Metallicat territory. One of the Parliament members, Kyanite, had suggested sending their army over here as a means of scaring them straight; on the flip side of the coin, Chrysocolla wanted to wait until Colton made its next move. To be honest, however, Steven had always thought of the empire as rather benign; either that or it was trying to keep itself isolated from the others as it was wont to do. Both scenarios seemed possible.

As Steven sat at the meeting and listened to Kyanite and Chrysocolla get into a heated argument, he couldn't help but notice the white Gem Queen Pearl suddenly walking in. He figured she must've decided to join in and give her two cents on this whole political agenda; she was, after all, a strategist and very logical philosopher.

"Oh, good evening, Pearl." Steven perked up while simultaneously erecting himself in his seat. "What are you doing here?"

"I just felt like dropping by to see how the meeting's going." she answered monotonously. "Have we made a decision on whether we should go to war with the Colton Empire?"

Kyanite and her rival hadn't noticed Pearl making her presence until then, so hearing her speak caught them off-guard.

"We're sorry, Your Divinity." Chryscolla chuckled nervously. "It's been a long day."

"Well, a day here does last three months, so yeah it has been a long day." Steven also laughed.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes right now. What do you suggest we do here?" Pearl asked, now a bit miffed for some reason.

"Sorry to inform you, but we haven't decided on anything yet." yet another Parliament member, Chrysoberyl, spoke up. "Come back soon and maybe we'll tell you then."

Pearl let out a brief and frustrated sigh at that comment. It was hard to believe anything the Parliament decided sometimes; as a matter of fact, it seemed as though Steven was the only one who knew what he was doing. But maybe that was just favoritism at play here. Sure, she adored him like he was her son but she didn't love him as much as she did her precious babies Oberon and Titania.

Anyway, the white Gem Queen left in a huff and everybody in the room was instantaneously speechless. Having taken notice of this, Steven abruptly got up, excused himself and left to catch up with her. He eventually made his way to her at the throne room and confronted her alone. (Garnet had left earlier with the twins to personally attend a local solstice festival.) At first, Pearl didn't know what to make of this situation but she calmed down a bit when she quickly figured out why he followed her here.

"It's Dad, isn't it?" Steven suddenly asked her.

For a second, Pearl was stunned, speechless. "...what?"

"You're angry because of Dad, aren't you? What's he done now?"

"He...he..."

"What, Pearl? You can tell me."

"...he's decided to destroy himself."

At that revelation, Steven's eyes narrowed. He couldn't possibly have heard that right, could he? Yeah, Greg had hurt himself lots of times in the past, but not like this. Come to think of it, he never thought he'd ever resort to doing drugs or even trying to kill himself.

"Destroy himself? Why?" he asked as his voice trembled with fear.

"Well, he found out he had prostate cancer that was inoperable..." Pearl answered, trying to keep her composure without weeping or letting her voice crack. "...and he was so devastated by this that he decided he was going to start taking heroin and methamphetamines..." She stopped to wipe away a few tears. "...and now he's going to die soon. I'm sorry I had to tell you this..."

"How'd you find out anyway?"

"Do you remember when I had to leave to visit our friends?"

"Yeah, I remember. You told me so, why?"

"Well, while I was talking about memories past with Tanzanite and Jade, your father came in and asked me to do him a favor."

"What favor?"

Pearl pursed her lips a bit and looked up to the high heavens. "He asked me to try and heal him with love like your mother would've done all those years ago." she sighed.

"You mean you guys...?" Steven started to ask.

"No! It wasn't like that!" Pause. "He just wanted me to use my magic to dissipate the cancer cells. It was actually very hard not to pity him; I mean, he's the one who made you while Rose disappeared, never again to be seen. So I did as he said..." Another pause. "...but I couldn't do it. It seems it just wouldn't go away no matter how hard I tried, so I gave up. It may've been a lost cause for him but at least when he dies, they'll be together again."

"Yeah, but are you sure that's all he wanted you to do?"

"What are you implying, Steven?! That he wanted me to make love to him before he died and left Kristina as a widow again?!" By now, Pearl was bright cyan in the face. "Dear God, Steven... I just can't help but worry about him anymore. I don't know why that is, but I know I haven't felt this way since Garnet and I first fell in love centuries ago." She started weeping quietly. "I think your father's the same way for me. He must be wondering what the hell I'm doing right now and why I'm not back with him, trying to do something to stop the pain."

"Pearl..." Steven spoke softly. "It's okay. You've got me, you've got Garnet, and you've got your kids. It's not going to be the end of the world if Dad dies, got it?"

"I know, Steven, but I'm still going to have to live with it."

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, are you and Garnet going to be my mothers when Kristina's gone? It's Mother's Day after all."

Pearl couldn't keep herself from crying any further, but she still answered, "Yes, Steven. We always have been and always will be."