Author's Notes: Thank you to everyone who left reviews on the first chapter! The story is going to pick up a little more from here, so I hope you'll stay with me! Remember you can also find me on tumblr for status updates (go to my profile for a link!)

"Waiting for someone?"

Rose smiled as she slid onto the bar stool, across from where Trafalgar Law was seated at a dimly lit table for two. Despite the packed atmosphere of the Dirty Urchin, he had somehow managed to reserve a spot for her.

"Would you take those sunglasses off now? You look ridiculous. We're indoors and–" Law began to complain, but Rose cut him off.

"And it's after dark? Right, since it's so hard to see anything in here, why don't I just ditch my whole disguise? Gloves, hair wrap, tattoo-covering dress…"

"You have a tattoo?"

Rose would have rolled her eyes at the question; her tattoo was an enormous indigo butterfly, the mark of the Order, etched across the centre of her chest and frequently visible above her usual low-cut clothing. However, she was interrupted by two firm hands that grasped her sunglasses and slid them off of her face.

"That's better," said Law. "Now, maybe you can almost see my face when I talk to you."

"Can we please get back to the subject at hand? I'm not here to have fun, I'm here to set-up a take-down. Are you with me or not?"

After Rose had been dropped off at the Red Line and made her way to the arranged meeting spot, she was surprised to see that Begonia had not sent a formal member of the Order to retrieve her, but Loa. The tall, red-haired assassin was waiting outside a Marine outpost. She was armed with a rifle, and wearing her usual mask: round, flat, cream-colored, and punctuated by a single blood-red diamond painted over the left eye.

"No one was free, so they sent me to bring you home." Loa's coarse voice gave an edge to every word.

"That's a lie, and we both know it," Rose replied without a second thought.

Loa paused for a moment. "I have been wanting to speak with you."

"What's left to say?"

"I wish things had ended differently."

"Me too. But we called it quits for good this time."

'This time' was the third time Rose and Loa had broken up. Their passionate affair was first called off when Loa refused to reveal her face, rekindled when Rose saw it accidentally, and finally, called off again most recently when Loa had informed her that "as long as you're with me, there will always be some things you will be kept in the dark about."

"Let's not dwell on a sore subject, okay?" Rose said.

"You're seeing someone else already, aren't you?"

Rose shook her head. "No way," she said. "You know me, Loa. I'm the type to hang on to the memories I have. I'm not gonna bounce back so quickly. I just don't want to spend the whole two-day trip back talking about feelings."

"But you look different, Rose. You were working yourself to the bone. You haven't been sleeping or eating properly, I know. Now all of a sudden, you look like you've been revived from the dead. If it's not that you're seeing someone else, then what happened on this mission?"

"It has nothing to do with the mission." Rose looked away.

"Bullshit," Loa hissed. "You had to meet me on the Red Line. You were incapacitated, your glider is gone, and the island you were supposed to be on last was reportedly hit with a Buster Call. How did you get out of there? Who were you with? What the hell did you see?"

"Fine, fine! It might be related to something I saw… but I couldn't even begin to tell you the whole story," Rose replied, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "And the only person I have to report to is the Monarch. So let it be. I also don't want to spend the whole trip arguing, or following you in silence."

"That's too bad," said Loa, "because I have nothing else to say to you."

And so Rose and Loa's trip passed silently, for the most part. They sailed from the Red Line in a tiny dinghy that barely fit the two of them lying down. By day, Rose recalled the details of her meeting with her brother in her notebook. She scrawled down as much as she could remember, as though she would forget it in a moment if she failed to put it to the page.

Loa made no comment. Loa did nothing, in fact, but stare out at the sea (or so it appeared to Rose, for the other woman never removed her mask). By night, Loa would check the stars through the detachable scope of her rifle and make adjustments to their course. Rose slept away the nights, or closed her eyes and replayed moments from Sabaody when she failed to fall into slumber.

Finally, two-and-a-half days after they had set out, they landed at Cocoon Island. Rose immediately hopped out of the boat and bolted for the passageway carved into the cliff. This path allowed members of the Order to make it to the House of the Monarch without traversing the deadly jungle all around it. She heaved open the iron-and-thorn gates at the top of the cliff and passed through to the inner garden surrounding the manor. Then, she stormed up to the grandiose front door and strode through into the familiar stone entranceway.

"Agent Sw-"

"No announcement necessary, thanks, Begonia," Rose interrupted as she hurried past the servant.

She headed straight for her bedroom, pulled her notebook out of her drawstring backpack, and tucked it under her mattress. Then, she dropped the rest of her belongings and left the room as quickly as she had entered, making her way up to the fourth-floor library.

When she pushed through the doors, she found someone perched atop one of the desks, waiting for her.

"Rose! How wonderful to see you unharmed," rang the sickeningly sweet voice of Daisy the Monarch. "With all the chaos surrounding your destination, I had wondered if we would see you again in one piece!"

"I called with a status report after I escaped the Buster Call. You should have got it from Beg–"

"Ah, yes, of course I remember that. But I'm afraid I found your initial report to be… lacking. We can discuss that momentarily. But first…" Daisy held out her hand.

Rose came closer and handed over the small burlap sack, full of the Beli that she had earned from Law. Daisy held it up to her eye to check the bills inside.

"Very good. Now, you will also need to tell me the remaining details that you left out of your first report."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose rebutted. "If anything was missing from my report, it was probably because I barely survived to get off that island. You'll have to tell me what it is you think I forgot to mention. You know me;" Rose glared at Daisy as she spoke; "I don't have a great memory."

Daisy chuckled as she stared down at Rose. Seated on the desk, Daisy came up just a little bit taller than her subordinate. Were they both standing, she would have no choice but to look up, for even petite Rose had two inches on the 5'1" Monarch.

Rose was not intimidated by Daisy's gaze- merely impatient for the questions she knew were coming.

"Clearly, you made the transaction as arranged. Why did you not leave immediately afterward? As I hear it, the Buster Call came as a result of events that took place during the auction. If you delivered your information in a timely manner, you need not have been around for that."

Rose wracked her brain for a good, convincing lie, but nothing was coming up. It was no good trying to stall when talking to Daisy, so she found herself blurting out: "They asked me to stay."

"Who asked you?"

"The Heart Pirates. Well, of course, I got an invitation from the captain…" Rose's cheeks flushed as the truth continued to spill out. "To go to the auction with them. And I thought, since I was already there, why shouldn't I go? It was a great chance to get some inside information–"

"So you're telling me you deviated from the Order's neutrality policies in order to attend a live human auction on the grounds that you were invited by a pirate?" Daisy frowned.

Rose shrugged.

"Rule-breaking aside, it's quite a stunning revelation to learn that one of my own agents was present during a ground-breaking event for the age. You will have to tell me everything." As Daisy said this, she extended a hand, attempting to touch Rose's forehead.

Rose jumped back reflexively and tumbled into some chairs, knocking them over. She ended up tangled in a heap on the ground, between the many wooden legs.

"Why are you afraid, Rose? What do you need those memories for? I'm going to record them right away, so you'll be able to read them any time!"

"I don't have anything to hide!" Rose struggled to free herself from the pile of chairs as quickly as possible. "But I'd rather not have my mind wiped for the… whatever number time this is that you're trying to do it! I'll tell you anything you want to know if you ask!"

"Hmm," Daisy replied. "It's funny that you should feel my Wipe-Wipe Fruit powers are so invasive, if you have no memory from any of the previous times you've experienced them." Her face contorted, an eerie grin forming on her lips.

Rose closed her eyes. A feeling of dread was overwhelming her body. Her vision blurred and her knees weakened.

"Come here, darling," said Daisy. "If you're good, I promise it will be quick. Then you can even take a few days off and rest!"

Rose tried to speak, but found her lips could not form the words. She felt beads of sweat forming on her forehead. With nothing left to go on but instinct, she turned and ran for the door. But instead of heading down the stairs toward her room or the exit of the house, she ran up. And up. And up.

Daisy's room was on the highest floor of the manor, at the top of a tower eight stories above ground. The most valuable, top-secret information was stored up there, but it was rumoured that the Monarch also kept a record on every member of the Order up there. Rose ran up those stairs like she was running from death itself. Of course, the door was locked. But Rose wasn't interested in the door. In a moment of pure fear and adrenaline, she had come up with a better idea.

Above the entrance to Daisy's room was an elegant, ornate skylight. With all the force she could muster, Rose leapt off the wall and kicked into the stained glass. It shattered around her as the glass replica of the Order's butterfly emblem, a perfect match for the tattoo on Rose's chest, was broken.

Again Rose leapt up and pulled her body through the now-empty skylight. She had no care for the tears in her clothing or the cuts newly streaking her bare arms. Immediately, she slammed all of her weight into the roof above Daisy's room, a tiled, conical turret much weaker than the stone side-walls of the manor. It took her three tries, but eventually she crashed through the ceiling, bringing much of the roof down with her.

The commotion alerted the entire house. Daisy, who had just made it to the entrance of Rose's room, immediately turned around.

"All present, report to the eighth floor staircase!" she shouted as she ran. Her grin from before grew wider.

Upstairs, Rose was sifting through the books in Daisy's room as quickly as she could manage – Grey Terminal, Skypeia History, Joy Boy, damn! Rose thought. If only there weren't so many! If only I could read a little faster! She flung books and files everywhere, tearing up the room, until she heard the first knocks at the door.

"Damn Order servants! Got so many rules ingrained in you that you're knocking at the door during a burglary!" Rose laughed, a hint of desperation in her voice.

Then her hands settled on a thin, familiar volume. She pulled it out of the pile of books she had dumped on the floor. Flevance, the title glimmered.

Not quite what I wanted, Rose thought, but for now, it'll do.

A breeze blew in from outside the manor, cooling her sweat-soaked skin. Daisy had left the window open. The sound of voices reached Rose's ears, and she realized that servants and agents were gathering outside Daisy's door. Rose couldn't reach the ceiling to climb back through. Guess this is how it's gotta be, she thought.

Stuffing the book into the waistband of her pants, Rose forced herself halfway through the narrow window and glanced down. Daisy's window looked out right above the highest cliff on the island. If Rose fell now, not only would she fall the full eight stories of the tower, but she would likely continue right down the side of the island and into the rocky sea below.

Rose instinctively closed her eyes. She forced her body out of the window, and hung by her hands over that deadly drop. Cautiously, she opened one eye, then the other.

"Wait 'til I tell my crybaby brother about this," she mumbled. In one fluid motion, Rose pulled herself up to stand on the window ledge. She jumped upward, and with one hand, just managed to grasp the edge of the roof. Rose pulled herself up beside the hole she had made, and there she waited.

"Everyone, quiet please," came Daisy's ever-polite voice through the door. "Someone dangerous has broken through the skylight and likely used that to enter my room. Be cautious as you enter. The intruder will likely be violent!"

There was the sound of a lock clicking open, and a creak as the door swung in. The Monarch filed into the room, surrounded by her followers.

Rose waited until she heard no more footsteps, and then gingerly crept back down to the lowest point on the tower roof. If any of the members of Order Lepidoptera had thought to look up at that moment, they would have seen Rose's fingers disappear as she hung down through the empty skylight and let go, sliding down behind the crowd inspecting Daisy's room. Thankfully, their attentions were focused on the open window and the mess all over the floor.

And so Rose, free for the moment, held her breath and ran as quietly as she could down the stairs and out the front door. She didn't look back even once.

Rose hurried down the cliffside, to the beach where she and Loa had docked their dinghy just hours ago. She stepped into the tiny boat and reached over to untie it from the dock– when a gloved hand reached up and grabbed hers.

Loa was still in the boat.

"What are you doing here?!" Rose exclaimed. Her face was dripping with sweat, she was out of breath, and her hair was falling out of her ponytail on all sides.

"Taking a nap," replied Loa, taken aback by Rose's appearance and her sudden decision to speak to her again. "I didn't sleep well on our trip."

"Well, get out of the boat! I have to leave, now!"

"What could possibly be the rush?" Loa asked.

"Just get out! Please, Loa, can you do me a favour? Just this once?"

Loa paused for a moment, her hand still touching Rose's. Gently, she squeezed Rose's hand, then let go.

"I don't know what this is about," she said, "but for all the secrets I've kept from you, I guess I owe you one. Just this once."

"Thanks," Rose exhaled as Loa climbed back onto the dock. "Maybe if I live long enough for us to meet again, I'll explain then."

Loa shook her head. "Don't be so dramatic." She reached into the cleavage of her dress and pulled out a small, flat knife. With it, she slashed the line that Rose had tried so desperately to untie. Then, Loa kicked the dinghy off into the waves.

Without speaking, the two women watched each other as the distance grew between the boat and the island. Eventually, Rose could no longer make out Loa's figure on the shore. She pulled her tiny, personal snail phone out of her boot.

"Now would be a good time to call me, Surgeon of Death." Rose watched with hopeful eyes as the tiny creature slept in her hand.

"So, what you're telling me is: you wrecked your boss's house, stole classified information, and ran away from the Order without any survival supplies, navigational equipment, or planning whatsoever? I guess when I called you after that, it was just pure luck that you could even answer." Law closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "How are you even here right now? Where did you get these clothes? How have you been eating?"

"Whoa, whoa, who cares about that stuff? We have more important things to discuss now that you kn…" Rose cut herself off when she noticed Law's glare. "What do you want me to say? I stole stuff. I went to bars and traded information for food, or a trip one island over. You're lucky a nice old woman let me take a shower at her house before I came here, because I hadn't washed up since…"

"Alright, I get the point. You're as good as a pirate already, where morals are concerned. So what do you want to do? The Order is probably going to come after you, right? That makes my offer to help you out a lot more troublesome to orchestrate, you know."

"I wasn't planning on letting the Order come to me. I figured we'd just go straight back to them, and end it once and for all… maybe after stocking up on weapons and supplies."

"You're telling me you have no plan at all. You had no plan for any of this! Here I was believing you were a competent information broker, a skilled fighter, and possibly a useful ally. I thought by dropping you off like you asked, I was allowing you to set up a trap or collect some necessary intel, but clearly I misjudged your foresight!"

Rose didn't reply. She lifted one gloved hand off the table and slowly lowered each digit until only her middle finger was sticking up.

Law pushed her hand aside. "Regardless of the disaster of a story you just told me, I don't really have a choice other than to help you."

"And why is that?" Rose asked.

"Well, I'll lose my best surgical assistant if I don't."

"You mean Ross." Rose frowned. For a moment, she had forgotten one of the most important reasons she had come back to Trafalgar Law for help.

"Yeah. Listen, I could sit here all night and complain about what a disastrous waste of time your return to the Order was, but the fact of the matter is, we have no time for that. We're back where we started when I first asked you to join. The Monarch is going to–"

"She won't come after me personally. At least, not at first. She'll need time to regain her composure. And if we're lucky, she hasn't discovered my intentions or allegiances yet. I didn't offer her a full report on what happened at Sabaody, which is part of the reason I ended up running away on such short notice, and…"

Suddenly, Rose gasped. "I left my notebook under the mattress!"

Law frowned. "I take it that notebook might give our plans away."

Rose looked down at her hands. She rubbed at her recently-acquired leather gloves.

"If that's bothering you, take them off," commented Law. "Like I was trying to say before, you didn't really need to come in disguise, anyway – she's not going to find us that quickly. Look at me, I'm not in disguise." He gestured at the Jolly Roger printed on his sweater. "Anyone who could have recognized us probably would have found me suspicious already."

"You really have no clue. Agents of the Order could be anywhere. Most of them are way better at waiting and hiding than I am."

With a sigh, Rose removed her gloves. As she did so, Law caught sight of the rough, red scars on the palms of both her hands.

"Are those…"

"I don't remember. Don't ask me anything about my past – I won't remember. There are things about my own body that I don't know. When did I agree to get a huge butterfly tattooed on my chest? Where do these scars on my hands come from? Who cuts my hair – has it always been this long? The fact that I don't know these things is just one example of why I need to defeat the Monarch."

"Because she's responsible for causing your memory loss?" asked Law. "Not that another reason is necessary, but…"

He watched in surprise as Rose removed a thin, worn book from one of her boots and held it up close to his face. Flevance, the title read. Law reached out to touch it, but Rose pulled the book away and held it to her chest.

"Daisy doesn't just wipe people's memories. She can wipe on whatever she wipes off. How do you think she manages to keep a record of everything that's currently happening in the world? No one person could handle all that knowledge. So she doesn't. She wipes the memories of her agents, and records them in books like this." Rose held the book out for Law to take.

"We were never allowed to have knowledge that would affect us personally. I guess my past would affect my ability to work for the Order. But I can't remember why. And I know that somewhere, she owns the only record of all the information I'm missing, just like she owns that book – a secret I'm guessing you thought only you should know."

Law had flipped to the middle of the book, near where the record ended; the thin volume had many pages left blank. He said nothing, but traced the words on the page with one fingertip.

"Of course I want revenge." Rose sighed. "You probably know how that feels. But more than revenge, I want my life back. And I want to make sure that no one has to suffer what I did, ever again."

Law nodded, still engrossed by the book.

Back at the House of the Monarch, Daisy sat on Rose's bed, looking over her room. Rose's drawstring backpack was still lying where she had dropped it in a hurry. It rested on a pile of worn clothing, beside the desk Rose often used for taking notes. Even though she was gone, much of the room still felt like the former Agent's property. One curtain was dusty, permanently closed, while the other hung open day and night. A pile of pillows remained on one corner of the bed, because Rose never took up much space on the double-sized mattress. The bed was slightly unmade – not unusual for Rose, but she hadn't slept at the castle for several days, and…

Daisy got up. She slid one perfectly manicured, aging hand under the messy covers and beneath Rose's mattress. Slowly, she pulled out the notebook that had been stashed there a few days earlier.

She thumbed through the notes. Rose's barely-legible handwriting was punctuated by terrible drawings. Typical notes that the agent would make before departing on a dispensing mission. But as Daisy neared the end of the book, she found the handwriting becoming a scrawl, and the drawings disappeared. Even the Monarch's well-taught eye could not make out every word in a sentence.

My brother works… the Surgeon… assistant… pirate. Remember fighting side-by-side, no martial arts… crybaby. We… twins… dark brown eyes. His nose… he says… looks like mom.

"I see," said Daisy aloud, to no one in particular. "So you've found your brother. I wonder how much he knows. And the Surgeon… the Surgeon of Death, perhaps? Wouldn't that be interesting, Rose, if he agreed to help you? Do you think he can give you back your memory? You signed yourself away the moment you set foot on my ship, little girl. You are my property," the Monarch concluded as she slammed the notebook shut, "and I am not going to give you away."

With Rose's notebook still in her hand, Daisy exited the room and locked it behind her. A familiar, blue-haired young woman with a blank expression was waiting outside.

"Begonia, take this to my room and leave it somewhere visible. And see if Relic has finished his adjustments to my quarters on the ship. Remember, no one is to be allowed on or off it once he's finished. Please remind him of that as well."

"Yes, Mother," said Begonia.

Daisy frowned. She pressed her thumb to the servant's forehead. A shock of blue light rippled through Begonia's body.

"I thought I instructed you never to call me that. You do not remember your parents. You know only your life at the Order. You live and die to serve the Monarch," said Daisy.

"Yes, my lady," Begonia replied.

"Do you recall your orders?"

"I will leave this book in the room at the top of the eighth floor staircase, in a place that is highly visible. I will journey to the docking cavern to speak with Relic on the status of the Masked Maiden. Everyone, including Relic, is to be reminded that they are not allowed in the docking cavern after he leaves, upon pain of death, until further notice from the Monarch."

"Very good. You may go now," Daisy said, and Begonia departed mechanically for the upper floors of the castle.

"I'm tellin' ya, I could'a done worse," Rose slurred. Law had her tucked under one arm and was dragging her out of the bar.

"I said it wouldn't hurt our cover to order some drinks," he scoffed. "I didn't say you should get completely hammered and start a fight in the middle of the bar."

Rose laughed. "I smashed those two guys' heads together like a couple'a bricks!"

"You sure did! We're lucky that with all the commotion, no one is going to see us sneak off right now!"

"Hey," said Rose, suddenly solemn, "we didn't pay our bill."

"Oh, piss off!" Law yelled. He dropped her on the ground, where she remained seated, knees splayed. "If you want to be a smart-aleck, you can walk back to the ship yourself."

"She's beautiful," said Rose, not paying attention.

"What do you–"

"The ship, Captain, she's beautiful. Bright yellow and sunny orange, I love those colors. I could see 'em in my dreams."

"Boy, your South Blue accent really comes out when you've been drinking, doesn't it?"

Rose frowned. "I don't know nothin' about South Blue."

"Sorry." Law offered her a hand. Rose grabbed it and pulled herself back to her feet.

"Rose!" Ross shouted, his voice echoing down the corridors of the submarine. "Y-you're back!"

Her eyes were heavy and her head felt fuzzy from drink, but the sound of her brother's voice woke Rose right up.

"Ross!" She got up and ran right into him, knocking them both to the ground.

"Your sister is a little… intoxicated," Law said to the pile of flailing limbs on the floor in front of him.

"When were you drinking?" Ross asked. He grabbed Rose by the sides of her face and looked right into her wide pupils. "O-oh m-my goodness. She's drunk, alright. Rose, are you okay?"

"Fine." Rose smiled. "'Specially now that you're here." She leaned into her brother for a hug, and promptly fell asleep.

"If you want to put her to bed, she can–" Law started, but Ross interrupted.

"She can sleep in my hammock for now. Y-you probably want to talk to me, d-don't you, Captain?"

With Rose safely tucked into Ross's hammock in the crew's sleeping quarters, Ross, Law, and Bepo gathered in the cockpit of the submarine.

"Did something go wrong?" asked Ross. "I wasn't expecting t-to pick her up… like this…"

Law sighed. "Your sister is not exactly the suave information broker we imagined her to be. She got caught hiding information from her boss, and had to make a run for it. So essentially, we're starting from zero."

"You mean, Rose couldn't get any information on the Monarch?" asked Bepo.

"Right," said Law, "and–"

"I'm sure she knows something that can help us!" Ross blurted out. "I-I mean... She might not have been able to get any extra information, b-but she has to know a thing or two, right?"

"You're right, Ross. She already gave away the Monarch's first name – Daisy. And she knows what island we're heading for, possibly even the coordinates. There might be more we can work out if we get Rose to talk about her life a little bit. So here's the plan." Law looked at Bepo. "We need to leave this island as soon as possible."

Bepo blinked. "But why, Captain? I mean, everyone's on board now, but this is a little unexpected."

"Rose started a bar fight, and I don't want to be around when they figure out we're responsible."

Ross and Bepo stared at Law, agape.

"Oh, yeah," the captain continued, "and we didn't pay our tab. Guess we'd better head for the next island. We can talk to Rose and make our plans when we get there."