The escort of aqua quartzes whisked Zircon out of Cranberry Tourmaline's post with dizzying speed (she had a sinking feeling she would never be returned to their custody). She was dragged to one transport, then pushed through a processing chamber, locked inside one cell and then taken out to another transport. At some point — she wasn't sure when — a quartz fastened Zircon's hands in front of her with tight handcuffs, the metal buzzing with electricity. She knew enough about them to not resist; these were used on violent criminals. If she pulled too hard, the cuffs would act as a destabilizer and poof her instantly.

To add insult to injury, when she tried to regenerate her jacket and cravat, one of the quartzes told her to stop. Zircon wanted so badly to argue, but she was walking a thin line as it was. So she sat. Bare-armed, humiliated, docile. Somehow it was worse than being dirty and barefoot on the streets.

Stars. If Yellow were to see me like this, she'd never let me hear the end of it.

Fortunately, Yellow Zircon was nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, when the quartzes shuffled her off the transport and into an anteroom, Zircon locked gazes with a teal zircon. She'd had a cubby several rows down from Zircon's, and they didn't know each other too well, but the teal zircon's eyes widened when seeing her. Blue Diamond's immediate court might have been sworn to total silence in asylum cases…but the accessory court was not. By no means would it get out to Yellow Diamond; too many rules against that. But the zircons' cubby complex would have a lot to talk about tonight.

Zircon waited in the anteroom with the aqua quartzes for about an hour before an indicolite tourmaline pointed her to a meeting room. Then she was left alone.

The meeting room was freezing, cold, and large. Just like Cranberry Tourmaline's office, the ceiling and walls seemed to stretch out forever, but this place was blue. Zircon sat in a chair that seemed to have been manufactured for a slightly smaller gem, as it dug into the curve of her back and let her knees jut out over the edge. With no other sensory input, the constant vibrating of the destabilizer cuffs began to irk her.

She had just begun trying to plan what she would say when a pearl warped into the room.

"All rise for the lustrous — " Blue Pearl began, but then she stopped. "Oh."

"Heh," was all Zircon could say. She had begun to sweat again, but this time, there was no padded jacket to absorb the liquid. She tried to smile.

Predictably, Blue Pearl didn't smile back. "Okay," she said, and curtsied. A second later, Blue Diamond arrived behind her. She wore her cloak over her head and took it off when she stepped forward. The remnants of old tears stained her flushed cheeks.

Instinctively, Zircon stood and snapped into a salute — and then regretted it as her wrists pulled the cuffs and they shocked her dizzy.

She was pretty sure she fell, because the next thing she remembered, Blue Pearl was helping her up and leading her back to her chair. Zircon was blabbering without thinking. "I — uh — I'm terribly sorry, my Diamond, you see, though I'm sure these restraints are — "

"Pearl, take them off." Blue Diamond didn't look down at Zircon, only summoned a throne and sat. Obediently, Pearl tapped the cuffs on Zircon's hands and pulled them away, leaving her to rub her sore wrists.

"Th — thank you, my Diamond." Blue Diamond didn't ask Zircon to stand again, which was nice, because if she stood she might just keel over again. "I, um, I understand that you — that you accepted my request of asylum…"

"I did." Blue Diamond's voice was soft, reserved. No sign of guile or hidden anger. She met Zircon's gaze for a second before looking down at her clasped hands. "I...regret agreeing to your sentence. But Yellow insisted. It wouldn't be good to have another rebellion on our hands; she didn't want to risk it…I hope you understand my decision."

An execution to prevent insurgency; for the good of all gemkind and all that — what defense zircon hadn't heard it a thousand times? Zircon bit her tongue. "I understand, my Diamond."

"Do you?"

The question surprised both of them, as if unbidden. Off script. Blue Diamond's gaze flickered as the words slipped out of her mouth. Then, she seemed to silently decide, and continued.

"Do you understand," she whispered, "what treason truly means?"

Zircon hesitated. If she had her screen, she could pull up a definition, but that probably wasn't what Blue Diamond wanted to hear. "With all due respect, my Diamond, I'm not sure if I understand the question."

"It means that someone hated Pink Diamond," said Blue Diamond, her hands and voice trembling. "Do you know what that's like? To know that someone hated her so much that — that they would want to take her away from us forever? When she didn't deserve any of it? No. No, what am I saying? You couldn't know. Yellow was wrong; you could never understand."

Her eyes began to well with tears — and then, so did Zircon's. For a second, she was filled with a terrible, painful emptiness, as if the center of her gem had been carved out. Then the sensation faded. Blue Diamond met her gaze again.

"Do you really believe it?" she asked, almost timidly. "That one of us broke her?"

"N — no! I would never question you; I just got ahead of myself; I didn't really mean…" Zircon blustered, her throat tightening, but the hurt on Blue Diamond's face only deepened. As if she had expected to be lied to again, but just felt worse when she was.

Zircon tried to swallow, and braced herself for the worst.

"Yes," she said. "I do."

Blue Diamond blinked, letting another glistening tear roll down her cheek. She didn't say anything, but Zircon again felt tears forming at the edges of her own eyes and it was all she needed to know. She wiped them away.

"B — but it's only one theory," Zircon added hastily. "There are a lot of reasons why Rose Quartz would have been framed. There could have been infighting among the rebels, or even a rebel faction operating from Homeworld, perhaps wanting to deflect attention. And there's many reasons why those would be covered up. I...didn't think of any of those at the time. But with the information we have, the most probable suspect is someone Pink Diamond would trust, and someone who had enough influence to, ah, sweep this under the table until now."

Blue Diamond didn't respond, only stared. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, as if trying to form words that never made it.

Then she looked over at her pearl, and reached out her hand. Zircon flinched, but Blue Diamond just let Blue Pearl sit on her palm. "Pearl, how much time do we have?"

She set the tiny pearl on the armrest of her throne. For a second, Zircon wondered morbidly what would happen if Blue Diamond left Blue Pearl there, then forgot about her and tried to put her arm down. But she didn't bring that up. Blue Pearl clasped her hands.

"Three minutes remain, my Diamond."

"Then we don't have much time."

She looked down to Zircon again, the attention feeling very much like a spotlight. Sweat trickled down her neck.

"Zircon. Listen carefully. I have to go, but…" Blue Diamond hesitated, and glanced over her shoulder as if someone was watching. Then she shook her head. "I'm going to ask you of something that is very close to treason. But Yellow and I need this. I…I need you to spy on her."

"M — my Diamond — "

"Until we know the answer," Blue Diamond continued, "we need to keep this between as few gems as possible. We cannot afford to hire another undercover gem, at risk of her slipping this secret, but I am lending you my pearl and the captain of my guard to assist you. They will give you a disguise and take you as far as Yellow's office. I need you to find her, and listen while she is alone. Find out what she knows."

Zircon's gem had gone cold. Blue Diamond suspected Yellow Diamond? It was the last thing she had expected — and it went entirely against investigation and retrial protocol. "My Diamond, with all due respect," Zircon stammered, saluting hurriedly, "shouldn't we double-check the records first, or at the very least confer with Rose Quartz before starting any new investigations? Or — if it has anything to do with anything — could I, ah, be informed as to what happened with the one cranberry tourmaline who — "

Blue Diamond hushed her with a look, but her gaze wavered. "We don't have time," was all she said, before standing. "I have to leave. I trust you, my Zircon. I hope that you do not disappoint me."

And just as soon as she had come, Blue Diamond warped out of the room, leaving Zircon and Blue Pearl behind.


yeah blue diamond you're not acting suspicious at fuckin all. wonder why she's so tense hmmmmm

disclaimer a large part of the inspo for this chapter came from molded-from-clay on tumblr, in specific their zircon comic

ANYWAY! to business. there will be no new chapter next week because 1.) i'll be out of the country, hence completely offline, and 2.) i need time to catch up. i'm actually buffering this fic, i'm writing chapter 11 right now! still, it's getting a little close for comfort. so just to let you know. hoping on the next chapter being up around july 30/31.

as always i accept discussion, analysis, submissions etc on my tumblr! thx guys ur the best