Hey everyone! glad you enjoyed the first chapter, here's the next, gotta say I was having a lot of fun planning this one of many plotlines (hopefully I'm not overdoing it but we'll see.) Also I learned that writing blue diamond is hard when you have written very little from her pov. anyway, I hope you like this chapter! see you all monday.

Tigers Eye Facet 4H5K Cut 7YN

She had stumbled upon a meeting between Blue Pearl and Jet and nervously scrambled for her communicator when she saw two pearls brandishing weapons. Blue Pearl had smashed her gem and swept the shards into a crevice in a panic. That had been early in the rebellion, early enough that Blue Pearl hadn't even remembered the gem until the message appeared anonymously in her inbox.

Ammolite Facet 7Y1O Cut 4OH

A musician who was found to have written about the final attack on Earth in an unfavorable light. Blue Diamond didn't often take it upon herself to shatter traitors but she had been so full of grief after Pink's shattering that she crushed the opalescent shards below her feet.

Emerald Facet 1W2T Cut 0HC

The commander of the 8th sector within the Blue District. Jet had blown through there in a transport with enough explosives to level every building there. Thankfully for the 8th sector, there was only one spire she wanted destroyed. But the emerald had tried to stop her, and Jet had not gone through all this to be stopped.

Chrome-Diopside Facet 3D1G Cut 4XK

Yellow Diamond blinked blankly at the name on her screen, she had no idea who this was. Given the pattern of the last ten, it was probably someone she had shattered, but... She shook her head and deleted the message. If someone was trying to intimidate her they would have to do a better job than that.

Jet interrupted Blue Pearl's thoughts on Tiger's Eye as she stormed through the door into the Homeworld Governing Council's workroom.

"And another one! Sent anonymously to each of the diamonds, run through six relays all originating from an abandoned personal transport ship in orbit around an asteroid in the beta quadrant." Jet furiously tossed the holofische towards the center of the table where they caught mid-air and righted themselves to project the messages the diamonds had received.

Blue Pearl calmly closed her screen.

"Jet, I don't believe the intention was for you to monitor all three diamonds' communications." She said, though she knew it was useless to complain.

"Pink's busy and I might as well just add Yellow Diamond's communications to my radar. After all, you're the one that says I need to get a hobby." Jet mused, sliding into a chair.

"This isn't what I meant, but if you're happy..." Blue Pearl thought she caught a glimpse of a smile on Jet's face before the pearl once again turned serious. Blue worried about Jet, probably more than she ought to, considering the gem was capable of surviving on a hostile planet in the middle of the rebellion for nearly a year. But still, Jet isolated herself more than usual and didn't always seem present during their meetings.

"The suspect would have to have access to all the relays used, as well as the shuttle to plant the message in the first place, and presumably has access to the shattering records." Jet paused, and then sighed and gently rubbed the setting of her gem. "And of course, that list was a lot shorter until someone opened up public records of the last era and a half's worth of shatterings."

"Domina meant well" Blue said gently.

"She always means well," Jet grumbled, she collapsed the various screens, sleuthing over. "I don't think it can legitimately be accepted as an excuse anymore." Blue hesitated before deciding to ignore it. Jet didn't like Domina, and that was something that, despite their best efforts, wasn't going to change.

"So why?" Blue Pearl asked, finally asking the question that had been weighing on her mind since these messages had first started arriving. "What do they want? What's their motive?"

Jet shrugged.

"Attention? Power? Maybe just to keep the diamonds on edge?" Jet was dismissive but there was an underpinning uncertainty. "Not that I can blame them, they deserve it." Blue Pearl looked back at her screen, empty except for the background of her, White, Yellow, and Pink. The message was still minimized and she could just barely make out the words in it. She deleted the message and forced a smile.

"You're not wrong about that."

Major changes in power did have a way of sparking creativity within the blue court. Blue Diamond enjoyed the Cosmic Jubilee, which was to be expected. She remembered when balls and events extended weeks on Homeworld. Yellow had left early which was also to be expected. But the fact that Domina had even shown up was... interesting. White was never one for parties and Blue really didn't expect to see Domina, who generally seemed more comfortable on a dusty far off planet than anywhere on Homeworld.

The hybrid was charismatic, Blue Diamond had to give her that.

When she entered her quarters on Homeworld, she deleted the note with the reminder about Ammolite 4OH. Of course, like everything, it brought up memories of Pink, there was one of 4OH's songs that the young diamond had been particularly fond of and so Blue put it on, and reclined in her chair, staring at the ceiling and trying to let Pink go.

It didn't work, it never did, but it was nice to close her eyes and let the notes wash over her and dredge up memories of Pink's delight the first time she heard the tune.

All of that was broken by a chime from the door. Blue Diamond pressed her hands to her eyes for a moment then checked the door cam. It was Domina. Which the fact that she knocked was a good sign. If Domina didn't knock it meant that she was beyond anger which Blue had to admit was just as terrifying as White Diamond's, despite the vast reduction in apparent power. Blue hesitated to let her in, she would rather not deal with the present for the evening. As if sensing her hesitance, Domina stared straight at her through the camera, arched an eyebrow and gave her a two-fingered wave.

Blue Diamond opened the door.

"Blue Diamond, good evening." Domina strolled into the main room, her movements as stiff as her greeting. Blue Diamond couldn't tell if she was trying to imitate her mother or simply keeping herself closed off. Despite Blue Diamond's misgivings about Domina and the role she was trying to push herself into, she did regret betraying her trust.

"Domina," Blue Diamond nodded to her and raised a platform somewhere closer to eye level. Domina rarely flew in her presence anymore and Blue was not going down to her level. "I thought you were leaving for P- for Earth."

"I am, in six hours," Domina said pulling up her screen and opening a series of notes. Blue resisted the urge to roll her eyes. White had made a mistake entrusting a being with a moldable personality to Yellow Diamond. "Is the Holik system one of yours or Yellow's"

Blue Diamond felt the center of her gem go cold. "Mine," She said hesitantly and rapidly opening her own screen searching for reports, or status updates. "Why do you ask?"

"Well haven't you seen the..." Domina began, looking at her confused before staring back at her open screen. "Oh, it hasn't been posted yet. Here," Half a second later there was a Mission Resource Status update posted for that attempt at reigning in the outer colonies that Domina's pearl was on. A report file on Holik-9 that she skimmed in the course of a few minutes. That didn't bring her any more comfort

"I... I had nothing to do with this," Blue Diamond said quickly, though Domina's tone didn't seem to be blaming her for anything. "I assure you." She didn't agree with a large number of the changes made to the empire's legal system but for a colony to flagrantly disobey one of the core principles that her fellow Diamonds were trying to enforce was inexcusable. Something White would have corrupted a colony over.

"I believe you," Domina waved her off. "If you had, I'm sure Jet would not have hesitated to inform us." She certainly would have not. That piece of nacre was as good at her job as she was infuriating. Blue would love to have a batch of sodalites with half that pearl's drive. "I just wanted to know if you would take it to the legal committee so that it can be flagged to be processed as a landmark case.

Blue Diamond raised an eyebrow. "You think that's wise?"

"I think it's a decent place to start, to give us precedent later," Domina said. Blue Diamond nodded, making herself a reminder. That was apparently all Domina had to say considering the awkward silence they fell into after that. Blue Diamond bit her lip a moment before probing.

"How did... the memory realignment with Sapphire 7NZ go? You were able to locate her?"

"I was, thank you, and sorry again that finding her took so long," Domina said, she didn't meet Blue Diamond's eyes. "My mother was apparently very thorough about covering her tracks." Blue Diamond thought about some treaties and trade deals she had discovered. White Diamond had broken them off so completely that there were few records of them even existing in the first place.

"She was, within and without." Blue Diamond said. Domina nodded and pulled up another screen, this one showing a ship manifest.

"The next one will be in a few months, one of mine thankfully, one that I know, on a scouting ship," Domina said with a small smile creeping onto her face.

"I thought you recalled all the scout ships?"

"Just ones looking for new planets to colonize, general exploration is fine," Domina said, closing her screen and lowering the platform. "They found a toroidal planet on the scanner, should be interesting."

For certain definitions of interesting, Blue Diamond mused. Though... something about a toroidal planet stuck with her like it was something that was important and she should remember.

"Thank you, Blue Diamond," Domina said as she stepped onto the floor.

"Of course, enjoy your time on Earth" Blue Diamond replied, reclining once again in her chair as Domina exited with a final statement.

"I always do."