Peridot was awoken from the thing Steven called "Sleep", when a bright glow emitted from the Barn Warp Pad, indicating she had a visitor. The bright light died down as Steven stepped off of the Pad. He looked the same, but there was something different. He was wearing different pants.
She looked at the new feature on Steven's body. The pants were much longer than his blue ones, and they were a very deep shade of purple. Two cute little buttons were on the bottom, like little eyes, looking at Peridot.
"Oh hey Peridot…" Steven began, but something was off about his voice. It didn't seem like the usual happy go lucky voice that Peridot knew, It was more of a sad voice, he seemed kinda down for some reason. "Steven, why do you sound so...uninterested?" She asked, curiously, in an attempt to cheer up her friend.
Steven looked up and let out a long sigh, tears beginning to form in his eyes, which only made Peridot even more curious of why Steven was so...down. "I'll tell you when we get inside...It's just...ugh It's hard to explain" A single tear ran down Steven's cheek as they walked inside the Barn.
Inside the barn, Steven and Peridot sat down, Peridot's eyes burning with curiosity. "Now Steven, what is making your eyes rain?" Steven looked up a bit, still seeming rather down. "My eyes aren't raining! Oh you must mean crying. It just happens when people get sad sometimes.".
Peridot's eyes watched Steven's eyes water a bit more, another tear drop falling down onto the hard barn floor. "And what is making you "sad"?" Steven let out another sigh, as he rubbed his forehead. "That's what I'm getting to. I'm not sure you know this, but humans only live once" He said though a few dry sobs.
Peridot's mind nearly raced with anxiety as soon as Steven said this. Humans only live once?! Then if Steven dies...he's gone forever! "No!" She screeched, making Steven jerk his head up. "You can't die on me yet! I thought you were going to live forever!" Peridot said, as she began to hyperventilate.
Steven put a calming hand on Peridot's shoulder, making her look up in surprise. "Oh Peridot, you shouldn't have to worry about me...I'll be with you, always" Peridot wiped away a few teardrops of her own "Promise?" "Promise". "Good, now get back to telling me why you're sad!".
Steven continued with his story, looking more down by the second. "W-Well, I recently lost a good friend due to C-C-Cancer-r-r…" He barely got the last part out before he broke down, crying onto the hard floor. "Steven!" Peridot was over there in a millisecond, by his side trying to calm him down, just like he did for her, a few minutes ago.
"Steven! Calm down it's ok!" Steven looked up after hearing that and hugged Peridot, tears streaming down his eyes, and onto her back. Peridot wanted to get the Clod off of her, but knew It wasn't happening. A few minutes later, Steven stopped crying and released himself from his vicegrip on Peridot.
"Sorry about that, I just needed to get it out" Steven said, sheepishly. "It's fine, anyways, what is Cancer? Is it a weapon?" Peridot asked, intrigued to know more about this Cancer. "Not really, no. Cancer is like a illness. It infects people and hurts them badly, and some die from it." Steven said, looking down at his shoes.
"Oh, right… who died anyways?" Peridot asked, hoping to help Steven in some way or form. "Oh, well remember me talking about the Big Donut?" Steven began, as Peridot nodded in response. "Well, I was good friends with one of the workers there, her name was Sadie." Peridot became more and more intrigued as the story went on.
"Well, she's been missing work for a while, and a few weeks ago, a few weeks before she died, I learnt she had cancer, and was going to die…" Steven and Peridot looked up, only to see the setting sun. Had he really been there that long?
"Well, I got to go Peridot, but if you're wondering why I have new pants, well, they belonged to Sadie, and I just decided to wear them, in her memory. See you soon Peridot!" Steven said in his usual happy tone, had the gem managed to cheer him up somehow?
The warp pad flashed white, as Steven warped back to the Crystal Temple, to be with his family. Peridot looked up, seeing Lapis flying to her in the distance. Lapis had to know that humans didn't live forever. Oh man, the freak out she would have.