CHAPTER II: SEARCHING FOR AN ANSWER

Meanwhile, on Homeworld:

"My Diamond!" Two quartz soldiers saluted, standing up straight as they saw Yellow Diamond approach.

The gem matriarch barely eyed the two sentinels, reaching the door they were guarding. As soon as she made a brief gesture with her hand, one of the two guards immediately opened the door. Yellow Diamond passed through the entrance ignoring the salutes of her soldiers, her mind elsewhere. They had Rose Quartz right in front of them, but she managed to escape her punishment, another time. And not only she did escape, but somehow, she stole a ship and left Homeworld alongside a group of defective gems who have been hiding right under their feet for who knows how long. It was unacceptable. It was unacceptable that Rose Quartz was still alive. It was unacceptable that she managed to find more allies. It was unacceptable that Emerald, a gem whom she regarded highly enough to trust her with one of the most powerful imperial warships on Homeworld failed in her mission to destroy them and let them get away. But most of all, it was unacceptable that since Rose Quartz's trial ended, Blue Diamond had spent every second of the last month segregated in the Royal Archives. A gigantic structure containing thousands of years of recorded gem history. Yellow couldn't understand it, there were tons of evidence that Rose Quartz was the one who shattered Pink Diamond, even eye witnesses, but Blue wouldn't have any of it. She was certain she could find the answers she was looking for, and that this was the place where she could find them. 'Insignificant pebble.' Yellow thought, remembering Blue Zircon's defense speech during the trial. How dared that puny imbecile accusing one of them of shattering Pink. If it wasn't for Blue Diamond, she would have shattered the incompetent excuse of a lawyer immediately. But no, Blue wanted her at her side during her ridiculous research. The gem matriarch pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to focus as she made her way towards main hall of the Royal Archives. Reaching a small desk, she noticed a short, skinny Apatite who was sitting behind it. Seeing how she remained with her eyes fixed on the holo screen in front of her, lazily swiping her finger left and right, Yellow cleared her throat, trying her best not to puff the small "librarian" right on the spot. The Apatite exhaled deeply, an annoyed expression on her face, before raising her face from the holo screen on her desk. Her expression immediately changed from annoyed to terrified. She gulped hard and hastily bent her arms in a diamond salute, lowering her gaze.

"A t-thousand apologies m-my D-Diamond! Please f-forgive-" Apatite tried to speak but was shortly cut off.

"Enough, in which section did Blue Diamond go? I need to talk to her." Yellow explained quickly.

"O-of course my Diamond! Her royal highness Blue Diamond went to the highly classified section, if I remember correctly, one month ago… I never saw her again after-" Apatite said but interrupted herself as she saw her Diamond holding up a hand.

"That will suffice." Yellow turned around and left for the elevator.

The Diamond Matriarch remained silent as the lift started to move, bringing her to the top floor. As soon as the doors opened, she stepped off and began to look for Blue. The highly classified section mostly contained records of the gem war and of the "Cluster" project, so it was rather small. Then, after a minute of searching, she began to hear voices.

"Have you found anything?" It was Blue's voice.

"No my Diamond, I'm afraid not." Blue Zircon replied.

"Keep searching, there must be something we forgot."

"There's nothing to look for Blue." Yellow Diamond said, coming into view.

Blue Zircon released a small yelp and took a step back, saluting her but not daring to look her in the eyes. Blue Diamond looked rather surprised, but only for a moment, before resuming her search.

"Blue…" Yellow called her, but Blue didn't look at her. "Blue…" She repeated, stepping closer, her tone of voice changed, it wasn't commanding or harsh, it was… sad, worried.

That got Blue's attention. It was a rare thing to hear that kind of tone coming from Yellow.

"You haven't talked to me for a month." Yellow could see a hint of shame in Blue's eyes.

"I've been busy." Blue answered, not raising her gaze.

"I know, but this isn't healthy, torturing yourself over something that you already have the answers to."

"I don't have any answer to my questions! That's why I'm here!" Blue cried.

"Why are you doing this?! Why now?!" Yellow yelled in anger.

"You know why! We don't know what really happened, we were so angry that we accepted the first explanation we gave ourselves, but that doesn't make any sense!" Blue shot back.

"Because of something an incompetent, insignificant zircon said?! You should have let me shatter her!" If a look could kill, Yellow Diamond's one would have shattered the poor zircon in an instant.

"Do not threaten the gems of my court! Especially the one who has been so brave to challenge our view of the situation, and turned out to be right!" Blue stepped in front of her zircon.

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do!"

"You're coming with me, we're going to leave this place and you'll go back to your duties as the Diamond you are!"

"I'm not going to sit tight and do nothing like you!"

Both Diamonds became silent. Yellow inhaled deeply before taking a step forward. She raised her hand, cupping Blue's cheek, who tried to step away for a moment, but only for a moment, before leaning in and exhaling a teary sigh.

"Look at what this whole thing is doing to us Blue. You haven't talked to me for so long. You stayed here for too long. I… I missed you." Yellow whispered.

"I missed you too, I'm… I'm sorry I yelled at you, you didn't deserve that…" Blue spoke quietly.

"I know you want to discover the truth Blue, I know you want to make justice for Pink, don't you think I loved her too?" Yellow asked.

"I… I know you did."

"Good. Listen to me now, we heard many gems say that they saw with their eyes Rose Quartz shatter Pink Diamond, do you think they would ever lie to us? To their Diamonds?"

"No… but-" Blue tried to argue, but Yellow interrupted her.

"And even if Rose didn't shatter Pink, wasn't she the one who started the rebellion?"

"Yes. Yes she did start the rebellion." Blue agreed.

"And it's because of her rebellion that Pink died, doesn't she deserve a punishment for that?"

"Yes, she deserves a punishment for that, you're right, you're always right. I'm sorry." Blue stepped closer and fell into Yellow's arms.

It was rare to see the Diamonds in a moment like that. They always behaved like they had no emotions, because of course, they had to act as they were above the rest. Only a few confidents had the privilege to witness these moments. Both Blue Zircon and Blue Diamond's pearl, who remained silent and on the sidelines for the whole time, lowered their gazes.

"I know you are…" Yellow whispered.

But the tender moment didn't last as the two quartz guards Yellow Diamond met at the entrance of the archives bursted out of the elevator's doors, panting heavily.

"What is it?" Yellow asked through gritted teeth.

"M-my Diamond… a group of gems with no authorization have been discovered while they were trying to infiltrate one of your asteroid mines!" One of the quartzes said aloud.

"Rose…" Yellow Diamond hissed.

"W-what are the orders m-my Diamond?"

"Call Captain Emerald of the royal fleet. I just might have the job she was searching for to redeem herself after her last failure."

And so here we are, at the second chapter of my new fanfiction. I know, I know. Where the heck is Steven's song?! I was going to write the second chapter about it, but then my mind wandered away, thinking about what the Diamonds may have been doing in the meantime. I know, I know. "Who the heck cares?!" Many of you are surely saying right now, but I promise to all of you that Steven's song will come in the next chapter, so soon you'll discover if he truly has the power to cure corruption. It's just that I have many ideas and since I'd like to write at least ten chapters for this story, I had to write a chapter about other characters. So, I guess you understood that Lars and the off colors are going to appear, but also many, many others, so stay tuned for the next chapter! I know, I know. "Give us that song moment. If you will, that'll be the end of it. If you won't, we will look for you, we will find you and we will kill you." I promise, tomorrow or the day after I will publish the third chapter, come on guys, is it not perhaps the wait for pleasure, pleasure itself? Also, thank you for all the kind reviews, all the favs and follows, geez, so many with just one chapter, I must be doing something right.