The Crystal Gems (chapter)

* Not to be confused with the group. For that, see Crystal Gems (group).

## The Crystal Gems

***The Crystal Gems*** is the fourth chapter of the first volume of Star-Crossed.

## Summery

The chapter opens by a pond. Tabaqi appears nearby Ruffle's nest, complimenting her on her eggs and wanting to share some information to her. At first, he leads her on a bit, but he soon reveals that a "real human boy" is living with the wolves, shocking Ruffle. Tabaqi continues to say how crazy it is for the Bajelous Jungle Wolf Pack to do this, and that any human would cause bad luck due to this, leaving Ruffle concerned for Alexander's safety. Tabaqi soon leaves after that, gloating on how easy it is to spread this information. It's revealed that he already shared this news with Farthing Wood, the Savannah, and the main jungle as well. After thinking, he rushes off to tell the local warren about it.

By a river, Kimba, now healed of his previous attack, is shown fishing. During this, Dash comes by to see him and check on him since she last saw him, remembering how his injury resembled that of a sharptooth. Kimba promises another race with her as soon as he is fully healed, but as he collects the fish, Dash decides to bring up a question to him. She asks him if he's keeping a human in the den, leaving him shocked and basically revealing it to her because of it. Before fully confirming it, Kimba asks her where she got the information from, Dash revealing that Farthing Wood has been talking about or for half a week now. Reluctantly, Kimba confirms the rumor to be true, explaining his promise to Raksha to keep it all quiet, and how he doesn't actually believe Steven deserves to be driven out due to being good with the family. He also explains how worried he is for the rest of the tribe to figure it out, though Dash thinks it would be easier in terms of introduction. As they discussed, Dash hears a distant voice, and after asking Kimba about Steven once more, she quickly rushes off and urges Kimba to follow her.

They both come across a clearing in the jungle, Dash telling him she found the answer to his problem. Looking through a nearby bush, they both find the Crystal Gems passing through. As they did, Pearl asks Garnet again if she found anything of Steven. Garnet claims that he went through this way already and that they should keep moving. However, Pearl slowly starts to panic, recounting how the Red Eye lost power on their way back to Earth and how they woke up in the middle of the wild. She freaks out soon after that, but Envy zaps her to keep her quiet. The others criticize him for it, but Envy claims he didn't kill her and that they weren't doing any better than he did (mocking Amethyst by calling her "pipsqueak"). Meanwhile, Kimba tells Dash to rush back to the den and get Steven, believing that it'll make the encounter much easier. Reluctantly Dash agrees, giving a small jab on being faster than him anyway before rushing off.

Unfortunately, Garnet sees Dash running off and demands whoever was left in the bush to come out to them. Kimba does so, being as calm as he could as to not provoke any of them. The Gems question what he could be, but the moment he spoke to them, Pearl draws out a spear and demands to know how he could even speak. Kimba states in a panic he wasn't there to fight, and Garnet was quick to calm Pearl down before anything could happen. Kimba explains where Steven was and how Dash is off to get him, asking them to just wait a minute until they come back. Garnet first asks Kimba what he looked like, Kimba getting it right, but then he's asked what his "full name" was. Kimba refers to him as "Steven HUMAN", as Steven never told him what his last name was.

Unfortunately, Garnet quickly attacks him after that, convinced that he is lying to them and that he was some sort of "gem hunter" sent by the general from Homeworld to bring them back there. Kimba exclaims that he's not a gem hunter, but the Gems call him a liar and continue attacking him. The fight escalates as Amethyst and Envy join in, Kimba pointing out how Amethyst was fine with him, but Amethyst says that she doesn't want to be put in space jail again and that she'll be quick. The fight continues until Envy grabs him and shocks him in the back, making him bleed. Only then did they realize he was a real animal, and Garnet grabs Envy before he could kill him. Envy thrashes in her grip so much, it sets off his collar, knocking him out. The Gems check in on Kimba, hoping that he'd be alright, but before they could do anything, Fox arrives with his patrol to the situation, demanding that they leave him alone and leave the jungle before they make them. The Gems ask what he was talking about, but as Amethyst tries waking Kimba up, Fox attacks her and forces her away. Garnet explains that they don't know anything about what they were talking about, but Fox just demands them to leave again, feeling that he doesn't have to explain anything. In the end, Kimba gets up and yells at him to stop and that everything's ok. Dash soon arrives, snapping at Kimba for getting himself hurt again, but she informs them all that she actually couldn't find Steven. She tells Kimba that at the den, Bravo told her that he went out with the rest of the family, leaving them to wonder where Steven went to.

## Features

### Characters

* Ruffle
* Tabaqi
* Kimba
* Dash
* Raksha (mentioned)
* Steven Universe (flashback)
* Alexander (flashback)
* Bhoot (flashback)
* Grey (flashback)
* Tango (flashback)
* Akela (silhouette) (vision)
* Garnet
* Amethyst
* Pearl
* Envy
* Rose Quartz (indirectly mentioned)
* Shere Khan (vision)
* Woundwort (indirectly mentioned)
* Fox
* Rusty (non-speaking)
* Husky (non-speaking)
* Trip (non-speaking)
* Bravo (flashback)
* Bagheera (background)

### Objects

* Gem Collar
* Red Eye (mentioned)

### Locations

* Earth (mentioned)
	+ Bajelous Jungle
		- Farthing Wood (mentioned)
			* Pond
		- Savannah (mentioned)
		- Watership Down (mentioned)
		- Wolf Den (flashback)
* Homeworld (mentioned)
	+ Human Zoo (indirectly mentioned)

## Trivia

* During production of this chapter, the artist's revealed that his computer had to be replaced during the process, marking this as the first chapter completed on a new computer system.