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Chapter Text

Blue Zircon was having a bad day. She was personally chosen by the illustrious Blue Diamond to represent and defend Rose Quartz, the same Rose Quartz that led the Crystal Gems in the Gem Civil War and shattered Pink Diamond, with instruction to perform well on pain of shattering. She could work with that, the gem should be able to recount past experiences and she could work from there.

And then two organics were placed in her room. One of them with Rose Quartz's gem no less.

Worst part was, the organic with the gem didn't seem to have any of Rose's memories, only knowing what they were told by others, and the lure organic was excruciatingly loud.

Stars, that situation fell apart at everything that happened.

The first part of the trial was an absolute disaster. The Yellow Zircon was tearing through any defense she could clamber together. Her nervous stutter was helping exactly nothing, and neither was the organic.

She called a recess to attempt to scrounge together some kind of an argument, to have those few extra moments of thought that might make this job even possible. None of it made sense. How could a Rose Quartz even get near Pink Diamond with intent to shatter in the first place? Wouldn't Pink Diamond have had an entourage of soldiers, some Sapphires to warn her, wouldn't her Pearl have done something?

Sure, Pearls aren't generally known for fighting, but in a pinch they can buy a few precious seconds.

A single Rose Quartz that was known for quick, hit-and-run destabilization tactics somehow managing to get through Pink Diamond's entire court without anybody noticing? Impossible.

But if not Rose Quartz, who shattered Pink Diamond? Who could have gotten close enough to shatter a Diamond?

She looks back at the organic, telling them her current thought process. They stretch their arms up in thought and the Rose Quartz gem glints in the light, but it looks slightly off. She's tempted to brush it off as a minor trick of the light, but no matter the angle she stands at, it still looks slightly off. A little too clear, a little too light.

She feels like that might be an important detail to note, so she grabs the nearest scanner and sets it on his gem. It's an old model, so it will take a little bit for any conclusive results to come through, but it should work. Maybe this organic is just a Kunzite that disappeared and was forgotten about, and is only claiming to be Rose Quartz because that's what everybody told them.

That would make this trial so much simpler, she sets the scanner to go through every possible gem type in the database to be absolutely certain.

Wouldn't that be something, this organic not actually being Rose Quartz.

Maybe she wouldn't be shattered after all.

Chapter Text

Steven has had a long day.

An Aquamarine and her Topaz guards came to Earth looking for a "my dad". Then she started kidnapping anybody on a list he accidentally gave Peridot a while back.

He was so tired of all of this Homeworld nonsense, he just wanted it all to be over with, so he turned himself into Aquamarine to the release of everyone else. She didn't release Lars, but she released everyone else, and captured him in the Topaz fusion.

The Crystal Gems were distraught, but it had to be done. He wanted to give them a chance at finally having some peace from Homeworld's constant pressures whether it be warships piloted by angry Jaspers, roaming eyes piloted by Rubies that are a little behind the ball, or narcissistic Aquamarines.

So, trapped inside the fused body of the Topaz guards, he was taken to Homeworld to be put on trial.

After a few hours, or maybe a day, the ship arrived on Homeworld. He was thrown into a cell with a gentleness only reserved for prisoners of the highest crimes and left in the room to sit in silence for who knows how long with a Blue gem he didn't recognize.

Lars was eventually thrown in with him.

The blue gem introduces herself as the Zircon in charge of defending him in this case being presented in front of the Diamonds and asks him for any information that would help acquit him of these charges. He tells her truthfully that he doesn't have any of his mom's memories and that he doesn't even remember the gem war.

The Blue Zircon's anxiety spikes at that statement.

Not long later, the gems were called into the courtroom where the trial would be taking place. Yellow and Blue Diamond appeared together and only then did Steven realize how bad of a position he had just put himself in. He'd be in front of two angry Diamonds with no Crystal Gems to help him. He's alone in the hungry lion's den, and he put himself in that position.

If he survives this, he's never going to hear the end of it from the gems.

☆◇☆

The first part of the trial passes with only several death threats from Yellow Diamond before a recess is called by his defending Zircon. When they are back in the waiting room/holding cell, the Zircon lets out an unintelligible scream that is riddled with anxiety that Steven finds relatable.

With pleading in her eyes, the Zircon turns to Steven and starts trying to figure out what might save their lives.

"Is there anything you can tell me about Rose Quartz at all?" She asks, desperate for some kind of break in the case, "Anything about the sword, any way she couldn't have shattered Pink Diamond?"

"Well," Steven stretches his arms up and his gem catches the Zircon's eye, "I spoke to the Bismuth that made her sword and she said it was specifically designed to not be able to shatter gems."

"I see…" The Zircon replies, distracted by the way the light glints off the gem lodged in his navel. She calls a scanner over and sets it on his gem without explaining anything.

"But if her sword was made to be incapable of shattering, how did she shatter Pink Diamond?" Blue Zircon asks, "Where was Pink Diamond's entourage? Where were her Sapphires and Agates? Why didn't her Pearl alert anyone?"

"There weren't even any Rose Quartzes in her court, so how was she able to get close enough to Pink Diamond to shatter her?" The Blue Zircon says, eyes widening.

"Because Rose Quartz couldn't have possibly shattered Pink Diamond."

Blue Zircon's eyes are wide open. There's no conceivable way for Pink Diamond to have been shattered by a lone Rose Quartz, skilled as she may be. It would have had to have been a set up, the evidence screams that Rose could never have shattered Pink Diamond.

But if Rose didn't shatter Pink Diamond, who did? Who had the ability to shatter Pink Diamond, as well as a motive?

It was then that the recess was over, and the trial continued.

☆◇☆

"Blue Diamond, may I present your palanquin as evidence?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you, My Diamond." Blue Zircon thanks, "Now, you may be wondering why I have that old scanner set to the Rose Quartz gem. In the waiting room, I noticed the gem would glint oddly in the light, and decided it would be best to be absolutely certain my client is actually a Rose Quartz at all, and not some Kunzite that has been forgotten and lied to for years."

"As for why I requested the palanquin, everyone has asked why Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond, they know it was a sword that shattered her, but are they really asking how it happened?"

"I've been asking!" Blue Diamond states, slightly offended at the notion.

"Of course, My Diamond," Blue Zircon stammers, flinching in fear, "But Pink Diamond had no Rose Quartzes in her court, none that would have been in her entourage at the very least. And according to my client, who has spoken to the Bismuth who forged Rose's sword, the sword was specifically designed to be incapable of shattering gems."

"The records of every encounter with the Crystal Gems shows minimal shatters under their belt, the seemingly preferred method of incapacitation being poofing and bubbling, so the idea that Rose's personal sword was designed to be incapable of shattering a gem is not far off."

"On top of that, what of Pink Diamond's entourage? Wouldn't her Sapphires have been able to warn their Diamond of the incoming rebel? Wouldn't her Agates have been able to stop or at least slow down the rebel? Wouldn't Pink Diamond's Pearl have said something?"

"How did a Rose Quartz, an extremely well known one with no business being there in the first place, get past every gem in her entourage, and then get close enough to Pink Diamond to strike her with her sword?"

Blue Diamond's eyes widen, the Zircon is right, how did a single Rose Quartz get past every gem in Pink Diamond's entourage without any of them seeing it?

"The only way Pink Diamond could have been shattered is if someone in a higher place did it, someone like-!" Blue Zircon is cut off by the scanner beeping with the results on who that gem in the organic is. She summons a screen with the results of the scan and immediately pales. 

"Th-there's no way." She whispers, "But, I ran this through every gem to ever enter the database, there's no way."

"What are you on about?" Yellow Zircon asks, wondering what her opponent could be going on about. As much as she hates to admit it, Blue Zircon was actually making some good points.

Instead of answering, Blue Zircon passes the screen over to Yellow Zircon and just looks at her, disbelief filling every single one of her features. Yellow Zircon takes a look at the screen and her eyes widen immediately.

Steven takes the confusion as a chance to slowly drag himself and Lars over to Blue Diamond's palanquin. They don't make it far before Yellow Diamond demands the screen, which Yellow Zircon hands up to her speechlessly. Yellow Diamond's eyes harden before she opens up the logs and scans through them, sure there must be a mistake in here somewhere, this has to be a farce created by that Blue Zircon to try and save her gem. Yellow Diamond poofs the Blue Zircon for good measure as she continues going through the list of database results, not noticing Blue asking what was on the screen.

Blue Diamond gets up and takes the screen out of Yellow's hands in her impatience, the two begin arguing over the screen and its contents and in the confusion, Steven bubbles his Zircon lawyer and sends her off to home absentmindedly before grabbing Lars and hijacking the palanquin.

Steven escapes from the courtroom with Lars in Blue Diamond's palanquin by bursting through the wall, plummeting into the caverns below.

Unlike how the story usually goes, Yellow Diamond never carves a hole in the wall and threatens Steven with the fact that he's on their world now.

In the caverns, they still meet the Off Colors. Lars still dies and is revived by Steven. Steven still returns home through Lars' hair and Lars still steals Emerald's Sun Incinerator.

But one thing is certain.

The road ahead of him would be forever altered by the little changes this world feels.