Steven Universe

***Steven Universe*** is a Human Gem hybrid, and one of the main protagonists in the Star-Crossed series. He is the son of both human Greg Universe, and the Crystal Gem leader, Rose Quartz. When first arriving at the Bajelous Jungle, he becomes adopted by Alexander and his family of wolves during his stay, and later becomes a member of the Bajelous Tribe. He is the main healer of the Crystal Gems, and also considered to be the heart of the team due to his naturally kind nature, compassion, and resourcefulness.

## Appearance

Although over 100 years old, he's still biologically in his mid-teens thanks to his gem DNA affecting his growth. He stands at about the same height as a fully grown wolf like Alexander and Raksha, with a sturdier build. His hair is dark brown in color along with his eyebrows, with pure black irises. His default outfit consists of a salmon-pink, short sleeve shirt with a large yellow star on the center, along with cuffed blue jeans. When he was younger, he is shown stockier in built, and with no visible neck.

### Volume 01. Arrival

Throughout most of the first volume of Star-Crossed, Steven is shown wearing a loincloth outfit which was forced on him from his time at the Human Zoo. This outfit consisted of a blue vest, a long white loincloth held by a brown belt around the waist, and purple earrings used for communicating their daily routine. On his escape though, the earrings were discarded. By the final chapter of the first volume, after reuniting with the Crystal Gems, this outfit was discarded entirely.

## Personality

Steven himself is a naturally kind-hearted individual, compassionate and caring for those he considers friends and family greatly, sometimes more so than his own safety. Although in his teens, he does have a sort of child wonder about him, as is shown when he first comes across a titan Hollowhorn for the first time. He holds a heroic and compassionate side to him much like Kimba, him protecting and caring for his close friends and family and doing what he thinks is right even if some (or many in some cases) don't agree with his point of view. Due to his pacifist nature, and unwillingness to resort to violence however, he isn't as voiceful nor as stubborn in comparison to Kimba in his beliefs, and he sometimes doesn't fully think through situations first, as shown in "Homeworld Escape" when he willingly gives himself up to Homeworld to rescue his friends but doesn't think through how to actually escape the Human Zoo.

## History

Steven is born under the Crystal Gem leader Rose Quartz, and grew up under the care of Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl. At one point, the Gems end up captured and Steven is told to stay where it was safe. However, wanting to rescue them, Steven willingly gives himself up to Homeworld and is taken away from Earth.

### Volume 01. Arrival

After an unspecified amount of time, Steven is shown put under custody by Homeworld, carried through the Human Zoo by a pair of amethyst guards. The whole time Steven tries breaking himself free of them, but he is unable to as he is dropped off inside a small chamber. He does try to get out, but he collapses due to a headache on his part, and them he moves through a tunnel while being prepared by Homeworld's machinery: scanned, cleaned up, and his outfit changing into loincloth. Steven isn't amused but he still questions what else Homeworld has for him, before he is dropped through a trap door and into a prison cell where he finds Ruby. He tells her he's very happy to see her although he didn't want her to be in jail and is ready to escape and find everyone else. However, he is told to not touch the gem barriers, him gladly agreeing as to not get hurt. There he meets Campion (his first encounter with a Homeworld Hare), but he suffers yet another headache once the general is brought up in conversation, leaving him lying against the wall. Later on, though, he is found by Holly Blue Agate and is put under serious threat when she orders the jaspers to "poof her". Steven narrowly avoids getting killed by Jasper, and rushes right through the barrier, learning that he isn't affected by the gem field like true Gems are. Now free, he grabs Ruby's gemstone, and makes a run for it to find the others. This run eventually leads him to Sapphire's cell, where he is quick to let her out. However, he also reluctantly lets Envy out of his cell after Sapphire tells him to. He does end up doing it, albeit by mistake, and is absolutely shocked after Envy attacks the oncoming guards for no reason. He and Sapphire eventually rush off to find the others.

Steven manages to escape with the other Gems through means of the Red Eye, but after the red eye crashes into Earth, he is later found unconscious by Kimba and Dodie. He is then brought back to the Wolf Den, and the following morning he wakes up to the sight of Bhoot sitting in front of him. He is pretty calm at first, but immediately freaks out when Bhoot talks to him, Steven wondering how he can speak, and also wondering if they're going to eat him. Steven is caught up with what happened last night, leaving Steven wondering what was going on. It wasn't until the rest of the family return (and Steven seeing a talking Dinosaur in the form of Bravo) that steven concludes he's only dreaming everything and decides to just play along with them. This goes as far as him trying to eat raw meat with them, which horrifies him, until Kimba tells him he doesn't actually have to do so much to his relief. Later he is asked about what the Red Eye was, but while he did know, he wonders if he even should tell them since he doesn't think any of this was real at the time. As they continued talking, he is soon brought back inside the wolf den after they all hear distant roaring close by. It wasn't until after being in the back of the den, and being told about Shere Khan, that Steven accidentally admitted to his "dream", yet he still requested someone to bite him in order to wake him up. Tango volunteered to do it, and it wasn't until after that bite did Steven realize it was all real. After Shere Khan left, he tried leaving to find the others, but both Alexander and Raksha make him remain with them so things won't get worse from there.

For the next few days, Steven remained with the Bajelous Wolf Pack, quickly settling into the family and becoming liked by much of the wolves and raptors in it. As time went on though, Steven started to become a bit "stuck" in the den, so when the family went out, he decides to go with them on the parent wolves' permission. As such, he went with them over towards the local creek, playing games with the children along the way.

Once arriving there, Steven stayed quietly by the creek, thinking over everything that has happened already, and how much has changed since he last been there. During this, he and the others sighted a titan hollowhorn arriving, Steven being especially bewildered on seeing it come over to him, and even letting him pet its snout. Steven remains excited about it until he spots that the hollowhorn had a gemstone with it, particularly Peridot. Seeing this, Steven tries to reach it, only to be stopped by Raksha and Alexander. This leads to Steven begging them to letting him go, him going as far as to try and force pass them just to reach them. He does end up allowed to go, so long as the rest of them follow. This leads him over to the Savannah, where he splits off from the main family in order to reach the gemstone, hoping that she'll be alright. Steven reaches the hollowhorn, and manages to get Peridot but not before making the hollowhorn shove him aside, catching the attention of the herd. Soon, he finds that the family are also having trouble in form of a hungry Werewolf. Believing that it's his fault for putting them in such danger, he quickly rushes over to help them: using his bubble shield to protect Alexander from the werewolf and using his healing powers to fix Bhoot's broken back legs. After this, he is found by the other Crystal Gems, and fully reunited with them, only then finally able to leave the jungle after saying goodbye to the animals.

It doesn't take long for him to return though, as that night he came back from his old home in Beach City. He and the others explain that their old home is completely gone, Steven scared by the fact nobody was there at all and left him very shaken. This just got worse once the wolf pack shared with them the story of "Human's Folly", leaving him on the verge of fainting until Kimba told him humans might still exist somewhere. He and the others decide to try and join the Bajelous Pack, Steven being the first to fully speak to the council during the springtime gathering even if it was only a few sentences. Lucky for him, with the help of the other council members, he and his fellow gems got to join the tribe.

## Abilities

* **Human / Gem Biology** - Being a hybrid between both an organic and inorganic creature, Steven shares similar strengths and weaknesses to both species. He still has an organic body but is capable of using a number of gem-based powers and abilities.
* **Superhuman Durability** - As half Gem, Steven is more durable than what his human physiology and stature would lead one to believe with his body more than capable of taking punishment and damage that would otherwise be fatal. In "They Came from the Sky", Steven not only is barely scratched from his crash into the plateau, but he also fell from the top of it, hitting an Imp on the way down, and onto the hard ground while still being able to survive with minimal injury, only having a small concussion.
* **Bubble Shield**: Steven can summon an incredibly durable bubble, one of which encases both himself and those nearby him.
* **Healing** - Steven is capable of healing animals, Gems, and plants through means of his own saliva being placed onto an injury. The full extent of his healing ability is unclear but is good enough to heal an otherwise fatal wound, like healing Bhoot's broken back legs in "New Kind of Day".

## Trivia

* He is the first character to speak, and appear, in the Star-Crossed comic series.
* The way Steven's bubble shield appears and disappears differs from how it does in its original franchise: while in the *Steven Universe* franchise, the bubble shield just appears and disappears like an actual bubble, the shield has a more artificial appearance in *Star-Crossed*, almost disintegrating when appearing and disappearing.