Zircon continued her argument, far more composed than earlier. "Rose Quartz is flawed, I grant you. A shallow strata-gem who turned against her own kind out of a misguided attachment to a planet and creatures like these."
With a snap of her fingers, the Lars reappeared, babbling something out in surprise.
Blue Zircon ignored him, and continued to speak. Everything fit together enough to refute the idea that Rose Quartz had shattered Pink Diamond…for now at least. While she did not have a conclusive idea of who actually shattered Pink Diamond, she could tell some things from the incident, and identify suspicious players.
"It's indisputable that as the Diamond overseeing Earth, Pink was Rose Quartz's enemy. Rose had everything to gain by shattering her. But even though she may have wanted to shatter Pink Diamond, could she?"
For this purpose, Blue Zircon would need to present some visuals. "Blue Diamond, for the purpose of this argument, may I present your palanquin?"
Yellow Diamond grumbled, "Is this necessary?"
Blue Diamond countered, "Isn't it?" With a wave of her hand and a curtain of the light, the palanquin appeared. "Please, proceed."
Zircon approached the palanquin, mounting the first few steps. "Now, as the records show…Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this. Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front!"
Blue Diamond's shoulders hitched. She let out a quick gasp before turning away. Yellow Diamond's eyes flickered to her fellow Diamond, monitoring her condition.
Zircon continued, adding a bit of eloquence to her argument: "But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how?""
Her rhetorical question did not go unanswered. Blue Diamond uncovered her face from the refuge of her sleeve, replying, "I've been asking that question."
Blue Zircon stammered out in reply, not bothering to correct her Diamond's misunderstanding, " A-a-a-and right you are to ask, My Diamond! B-because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years."
"There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl?"
Yellow Pearl and Blue stopped their respective tasks. Blue Zircon marked them down for interrogation in the future. While their reaction was wordless and relatively discreet, Yellow Diamond's reaction was bold and angry. She slammed her fist down on her throne, shoulders beginning to hunch over. Yellow Diamond was losing her temper rather quickly. "They were with her, of course, they saw the whole thing!"
Zircon argued back, not stopping to realize that she, a Zircon, was arguing unrespectfully with one of the Matriarchs of the Gem World: "But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off?"
The Steven/Rose chipped in, "That is strange!"
Blue Diamond was beginning to catch on-she seemed very alarmed and surprised; alarm from Blue Zircon's argument (or so Zircon hoped), and surprise at her fellow Diamond's reaction.
Yellow Diamond snapped, "She must have slipped past them!"
Zircon shot down Yellow Diamond's argument quickly. "Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!"" She tried to emulate Pink Pearl's voice as best as she could, locking her arms behind her back, despite never having seen or heard anything about said Pearl.
Blue Zircon snapped her hands back down into a more comfortable arguing pose. "No, whoever did this was already close to Pink Diamond. Someone her guards would allow to get near her, someone she would listen to when asked to stop her palanquin and step outside, and someone with the authority to cover it up afterwards!"
Blue Zircon then said the most logical deduction she could think of without actually thinking about the ramifications of saying it. "Someone with supreme authority...! Someone... like one of you!" She jabbed her fingers at Blue and Yellow Diamond.
Blue Diamond gasped, face contorted in horror. Yellow Diamond's face smoothed out into one of slight disbelief. She stood up, and the import of her words crashed down on Blue Zircon, infusing her with fear. She didn't even hear the words she spoke as Yellow Diamond took her first step towards her.
Nary a few seconds did pass before Yellow Diamond crossed the space between her throne and Blue Zircon. With a flat expression on her face (even at this moment, Zircon wondered what Yellow Diamond felt to look so calm), Yellow Diamond bent over and, like a human would crush an ant, brought down her index finger on Blue Zircon's head.
Yellow Diamond brought down a force like the a thousand Gem Crushers at once. Zircon felt her form give only a moment's of resistance before she could stand no more, and poofed, fading into a temporary blackout.
Eventually, Zircon realized she could regenerate again. Huddling inside her Gem, she had limited sensory abilities, but could discern her Gem sat upon a cushion. Zircon supposed that she had been recovered from the courtroom, and that no one wanted to shatter her at this moment. Otherwise, why would she be resting on a cushion like this?
After a moment of further hesitation, she pressed herself against her Gem, and felt the upsurge of energy as she projected her form out into space. The whole process took only a moment, and Zircon rejoined the rest of the world.
Immediately upon regaining her physical form, Zircon looked around, eyes darting everywhere. She did not recognize the room in which she was contained. The room spanned 20 by 30 feet; Zircon sat upon a small cushion, perched atop a desk. The pastel gray walls were lined with file cabinets and holders. Several medals hung on the walls. A picture of a hand smoothing the shiny hair of a proud-looking Gem piqued Zircon's interest for a moment. The Gem's expression…she looked supremely smug, with a hint of adoration towards whomever had that hand. It made Zircon a little embarrassed to look at it, as if she had intruded upon a private scene.
She slid around, off the desk, nudging a swivel chair aside. She was in an office; however she did not recognize to whom it belonged to. Approaching a medal, Blue Zircon scanned it for the name of the Gem onto whom it was bestowed. "…is presented with the highest honors to Rhenium Diboride, c-axis…" Zircon chewed on the name a little, before dimly remembering the Chief of the Diamonds' bodyguards had a similar Gem name.
A strange feeling overcame Blue Zircon then, and tears stung at her eyes. Confused, Zircon flicked them away. The feeling returned, a little more powerful, and tears began to dribble from her eyes. Blue Diamond is somewhere nearby… she thought as she crooked her head over the side of a wastebasket. Eventually, the flow of tears ebbed.
Blue Zircon had to wait only a minute or so before the door slid open. Blue Zircon advanced toward the open door, craning her head to see out. Row upon row of neat desks in a large open space greeted Zircon, along with a deluge of voices and noise. Blue Pearl entered from the side, flanked by several Agates and Topazes. Blue Zircon saluted her, and Pearl returned the salute.
One the door had shut, Blue Zircon bombarded the Pearl with her frantic questions.
"My stars, I really did accuse the Diamonds of shattering one of their own didn't I?! Blue Diamond's angry, isn't she? A-am I going to be shattered?" Blue Zircon peered around, not stopping, "Where's Yellow Diamond? And Rose? What happened to the case after I was poofed-?"
When Blue Zircon had finished, finally, Blue Pearl drew forth a scroll and spoke, "My Diamond has requested me to inform you that she was shocked when you accused her of shattering her beloved Pink Diamond. She has taken your allegation to heart, and needs time to process this turn of events. After such a time has passed, My Diamond will request your presence once more. She assures you that Yellow Diamond will not eviscerate your physical form in such a manner again."
Blue Pearl drew in a breath, and exhaled. "As for the war criminal Rose Quartz…she has escaped. You are to tell no one else of this happening. Your task has not changed. You have until the capture of the prisoner to lead your logic to its conclusions and unearth the truth. Any questions?"
"How did Rose Quartz escape?" asked Zircon, indignant. With Rose gone, Zircon had more time to research and prepare her case, but she would not be able to interrogate Rose either.
…Not that Rose seemed to know much. Assuming that form (Zircon vaguely recalled the Lars calling Rose 'Steven') must have excised all of Rose's memories. Not only that, Steven did not act as Rose should. Zircon wanted to know how exactly all of that came about.
"She used Blue Diamond's palanquin," the Blue Pearl said.
"…The same one I used in the Trial?" asked Zircon, her Gem starting to heat up a little.
"Yes," confirmed the Blue Pearl.
Zircon quickly ran through a mental list of suspicious people, witnesses and others she needed to question. There was no better time to get all the permissions she needed to do her research than now. Blue Zircon did not want a repeat of the Court Coordinator's Office to happen again.
She had something in mind-a particular emblem, given to agents of Blue Diamond, her sigil. "I have only one more request to make of Blue Diamond," she began.
"And that is? I'm not really in the position to grant request, however…"
"Simply, to give me a sigil of hers that will grant me the access I need to research this case fully."
"A sigil?" asked Blue Pearl. The tone of her voice had changed; Zircon realized this would take some persuasion.
"That's right," confirmed Zircon. "I wish to access to Royal Archives, for a thorough historical background of the events occurring during that period; I would like to be allowed to question all of the witness on this list"-here Zircon drew out a hologram of her classified case files, holding witness testimony-"and I would like to be given the permission to question others involved in the incident, whether they have been issued a court summons or not."
The Pearl seemed a little bit stunned. "Some of those permissions have already been given to you, just by virtue of being a court defender…"
"Not every Gem will just trust my words. I'll need good hard proof to persuade them into telling me what I know." Zircon countered, forcing her voice to come out without breaking.
The Pearl shifted her feet. Zircon continued, "Pink Diamond is a Diamond! Those who may have witnessed her shattering won't just talk to the first Gem who asks them about it! Doubly so for the Royal Librarians! The types of battle plans I'll be asking for…they'll need a sigil! To fulfill my Diamond's request, I need that-!"
Blue Pearl cut off Zircon by whipping her hands up and crossing them. "I don't have the power to just give you something that important. I will relay your request to My Diamond." With that, she quickly turned around, and opened the door.
"What-!" began Zircon, but the Blue Pearl hurried off. Zircon glared at her back, before calming down. It was not truly the Pearl's fault; Zircon believed her when she said she could not grant such a request. Even so, Blue Zircon needed that sigil. Any Gem not directly named in her case files had every right to refuse her request for information. Zircon needed to know motives…and for that, she needed to take a trip to the Royal Archives, those tasked with chronicling the lives of the Diamonds.
With Blue Pearl gone, a tall Gem entered the small office. She stood tall enough to brush against the roof with her hair. Her irises glinted metallically, like her hair; her skin was dark black, like the powdered metal from which she came. She was garbed in the dress of a Diamonds' Guard; their insignia was emblazoned on her chest. Her eyelashes and eyebrows were shiny, like polished metal.
She chortled out, "That Pearl looked spooked. What'd you ask her for, permission to interrogate White Diamond?" Laughing at her own joke, the Gem flopped back down in her seat. Zircon laughed along with her as best as she could, but the 'joke' was right on the money, and thus very hard to laugh to. With a wave of the Gem's hand, the Agates escorted Zircon from the office. The second the door closed, Zircon gave the Agates an excuse to linger behind, and sat down immediately at one of the empty benches by the office.
The Agates shuffled back to their stations around the office, a few casting curious glances at Zircon. Zircon summoned her many holograms quickly. Before knocking on that Gem's door, she wanted to get a few things straight.
First, her basic case files. These came to her first; with the gift of hindsight, these files now read like propaganda. Reports on Rose, basic background information of the murder site, how it occurred, and forensics. Zircon lay them aside. She did not want to rely on them at all.
More important-her classified case files. Zircon mused these were created almost immediately after Pink Diamond's shattering. Even these seemed to be incomplete; Zircon nodded to herself. This was indicative of someone, most likely one or all of the Diamonds, covering up Pink Diamond's death. Still, a Diamond could only cover up so much. The truth needed to be transcribed somewhere. These classified files were a chunk of the truth; Zircon would collect these until she could thread her thoughts through every piece of the truth, knitting them into a clear whole.
The first part of those files contained a far more detailed forensics report, testimony of multiple witnesses, and all calls, telegrams, and forms of communication to and from the base near Pink Diamond's death on that day, several telling of the great destruction Pink Diamond brought when she was rattled. Included in this were writings directly taken from Pink Diamond's progress reports, in her own hand. The second detailed the movements of the rebels a week before and after the day of the murder. The third and final part detailed Pink Diamond's actions upon the Earth-all her Kindergartens, her actions and movements on the Earth, interactions with the rebels there, and so on.
From a hurried reading of these files, Blue Zircon pieced together a basic timeline of the events. Pink Diamond arrived on Earth for some reason, all her guards in tow. For another unknown reason, Pink Diamond ventured into the no man's land only a small distance from the nearest Gem base. They halted. A visitor (the records did not specify who; indeed, this visitor was presumed as unimportant) left Pink Diamond's palanquin first. As Pink Diamond herself exited the palanquin, a figure believed to have been Rose darted towards the two, and rebels attacked instantly, pouring forth from the ground. Notes on the material discussed the possibility of a traitor leading the rebels into that area, but no mention was made of who the visitor was, nor why Pink Diamond would leave.
Furthermore, the rebels had rarely been to that area. It was an area presumed to be safe. It was then that the witness accounts became jumbled, and contradicted each other. Apparently, something happened, and Pink Diamond was led far away from her guards, the visitor following. Her guards were prevented from following, and when they were able to fight off the rebels, they pursued. The guards' testimony wrapped up with a point upon which all agreed: something knocked all of them out. When all came to, Yellow Diamond had arrived with hers and the other Diamonds' troops; a military investigation was underway.
Blue Zircon combed through the witness reports. She wanted more information on the visitor, and how Pink Diamond was separated from her guards. Zircon slid out one report, the report of a Lieutenant in the Diamonds' Guard, by the name Rhedicax. Blue Zircon recalled the name of the Gem on the awards in the office: Rhenium Diboride, c-axis.
Zircon took a moment to collect herself, and to tidy up. The sigil was a token of power-whomever had one had been commanded by Blue Diamond to do something. To defy the wearer would be to defy Blue Diamond. Rhedicax was a witness named in the reports. She had to talk, even without the force behind the sigil impelling her to.
Rising up, Zircon spun on her heel and knocked on the door to Rhedicax's office. The Topazes who stood guard didn't move one inch. After all, no one had told them that Blue Zircon couldn't be there. Rhedicax opened the door within a few seconds.
"Ah, it's you," she laughed. "What're you doing here? Shouldn't the guards have escorted you out?" She leaned towards Zircon with a disinterested expression.
"Er…yes, but I have some questions to ask you!" She whipped out the testimony Rhedicax had given so long ago. Rhedicax accepted the hologram from Zircon, and scanned it. Her eyes flashed across the first few lines, expression slowly darkening. The ends of her mouth turned down slightly, and the skin around the top of her nose wrinkled. Zircon estimated she'd read about three paragraphs before Rhedicax lowered the hologram.
"You're the defending Zircon, yeah?" Rhedicax jerked her chin towards the exit. "Had a Yellow Zircon visit me some time ago. She didn't wanna know much. Just who shattered Pink." Rhedicax shrugged. "As you can tell, she didn't use my testimony."
Zircon perked up. A thread of questioning that prove fruitful! Unlike the Ruby, Rhedicax did not seem to be overly angry that Zircon was on the Defense's side. "I have only a few questions! They won't take very much of your time-"
Rhedicax's eyes flickered between Zircon's own, and then her gaze settled on her Gem. She stretched her lips across her cheeks. "That's great. Go ahead and ask. I just wanna ask some question of my own after this. That sound fine?" decided Rhedicax.
"Of course! So the Yellow Zircon wanted to know who had shattered Pink Diamond?" Blue Zircon queried.
Rhedicax hummed. "Right."
"So then, why was your testimony not used at trial? Why do you think?" asked Zircon. From Rhedicax's testimony, the former Lieutenant had been dueling a rebel at that moment, and had just knocked her opponent down when out of the fog, a figure with long curly hair and a ruddy-pink complexion had struck Rose.
Rhedicax shrugged. "I didn't see Rose all too well. So…"-here the Commander ushered Blue Zircon into her office, collapsing back into her swivel chair-"I was fighting a rebel, right? I was very close to my Diamond, only about, what? 20 feet or so? And so I heard this shuffling noise from behind me. I'd just struck this rebel down, and so I turned around. I saw Rose, with lots of curly hair and the biggest sword I have ever seen, go sprinting towards my Diamond. She swung her sword at Pink…"-here she let out a sigh-"and Pink fell down. I didn't see my Diamond get up. I suppose she did…her remains weren't found near the palanquin. I…I had to fight that rebel. I didn't see anything besides that." Rhedicax sighed again, muttering an antiquated Gem curse.
"Right, right," said Zircon. With that out of the way, now Zircon could discover what she really wanted to know. Zircon scrolled up to the beginning of Rhedicax's testimony.
"So…you fought with a Rebellion soldier. Could you over the events of that day?" asked Zircon, summoning a hologram on which to transcribe notes.
"Right…" the Rhedicax hooked two fingers behind her lip, and tilted her head away. It took a few moments for her to recall that day, so many years ago.
"We were at the Base, far from the Beta Kindergarten, near one of the poles. Pink Diamond and we, her retinue, had warped there. Nothing happened that morning…I stood by the side of her palanquin within the Base, all morning long. Then a visitor came."
"Can you describe this visitor?" asked Zircon, hoping she did not sound desperate. This visitor may have been a Diamond, or some other important figure, important enough that Pink Diamond and her retinue would leave the safety of the base, to venture outside, and then actually stop her palanquin and leave its safety. Though the area where Pink Diamond had been shattered was believed to be safe, Zircon did not think a Diamond, especially Pink, would take such a risk on enemy territory.
"Not really. Looked like they wore a sheet over their head. The thing was black, and long. It trailed on the floor, couldn't peek underneath. N-Not that I'd ever think of peeking underneath, of course-"
"How tall would you say this visitor was?" asked Zircon.
"Only a little smaller than Pink Diamond," said Rhedicax, crossing one leg over the other, face still solemn.
"So," said Zircon, scrolling through Rhedicax's testimony. "So, so, so…" After a second, Blue Zircon asked her second question: "Let me skip to after you all beat back the rebels."
"Right."
"It says in your testimony that you felt like-"
"'Some Gem drove a red-hot pickaxe into the base of my skull', right? Yeah. That's how it felt. My men and I were running up the ridge to our Diamond, and there was this…pink flood." Rhedicax waved her hand in front of her face. "I could just see pink for a second, and then came pain. I must have passed out."
Blue Zircon finished scribbling down the Rhedicax's testimony. While helpful, it seemed the Captain was too far to really get a good gander at 'Rose', who struck Pink Diamond. The information on the pink flash was helpful, though…
"From your expression, you must not be finding me very helpful right now! That huuuurts my feelings, you know?"
Blue Zircon's head shot up, startled at the sudden exaggeration of her speech, to rapidly deny Rhedicax's words. As Zircon protested, she laughed and pressed forward: "Who assigned this case to you?"
"Well, I was-" Blue Zircon stopped slowly, drawing her last word out as she exhaled. After a moment, she realized what had happened; wrinkles appeared around Zircon's nose. "The Ambers of the Court Coordinator's Office assigned me to this job." It wasn't quite a lie-an Amber had filled out the form of assignment…under Blue Diamond's orders, of course.
Blue Zircon flushed, starting to grow angry. The Rhedicax took her questions to the table now. She jerked her chin at the files Blue Zircon still had displayed on her holograms. "How'd you get those?"
Resisting the urge to withdraw the files into her monocle, Blue Zircon attempted to parry the Captain's verbal lunges. "These came from the Court Coordinator's Office, of course. Why, do you think I stole them?"
Rhedicax executed her riposte: "Of course not. Only a cracked Gem would think of stealing files from the Court Coordinator's Office. But why you, on this very important case? You're certainly not a first pick of mine-I've never heard of you before."
"So, there's something going on that I'm not aware of. And if I'm not aware of something, then the Diamonds aren't either!" Rhedicax smacked her hands on the table.
Blue Zircon sat still in her seat, internally flinching, but externally frowning. "You have a very high opinion of yourself."
Rhedicax looked at Blue Zircon with disdain. "I am the Chief of the bodyguards. I have to see all threats before they come, otherwise some harm'll befall them…again."
Blue Zircon raced for a reply, thoughts scattered by Rhedicax's glare. Fumbling around, she chose her knee-jerk reaction to the Rhedicax's words. "That didn't seem to help Pink Diamond, did it?"
Rhedicax's scowl drooped into a flat expression. Her left hand rocketed into the air, abruptly stopping at chest height. Her hand jerkily settled on her cheek, slowly sliding off. She took in a deep breath, letting her head loll up toward the ceiling, and let it out, letting her face become calm.
Blue Zircon watched her carefully through her outburst. She had hit a soft spot, one which she honestly would rather not have disturbed. She wished that she had chosen a different wording, other than the first words that popped into her head, like back in the courtroom.
Rhedicax did not lower her head. "We're done here. I am going to inform the Diamonds of your investigations, and those of that Yellow Zircon, during my next debriefing in about three hours." Rhedicax waved her hand at Blue Zircon with a flick of her wrist. "Leave me now, so I can remember all my past failures in silence."
"Er…I didn't really mean to prod old wounds-" began Blue Zircon, hesitantly getting up from her chair.
"Just get going," said Rhedicax, kicking her desk half-heartedly.
Blue Zircon withdrew in silence, shutting the door. Outside, she rearranged her list of witnesses to interview. She still had a great many to interview, and files to check out from the library. Though the Captain had said her activities would be reported, Blue Zircon promised herself she would not worry that much. She had not given her Diamond away to her fellow matriarchs-a fact she planned to use when requesting the sigil she needed.
Zircon traveled up the nearest set of steps to Blue Diamond's chambers, drawing up a detailed plan of attack. She would lay everything bare before her Diamond-perhaps Blue Diamond knew why Pink Diamond had travelled to Earth. At any rate, she should be the first Diamond to coax a full story out of.