A quick reminder that this chapter is a continuation from chapter 23. Chapter 24 is an overdue Christmas special and takes place between chapters 20 and 21.

Also Giriko is here, so there might be additional language or themes.

The huge golem of Darkness loomed over Rose and Misuto, holding a transformed Giriko above its head. With a loud grinding, Giriko revved his engine and his chains began to rotate.

"Now the REAL fun begins!" Giriko exclaimed.

The Encounter-Kingdom Hearts 2.5

Rose held her ground.

"Ready?" She asked, Misuto.

"Yep." Misuto said.

"SOUL RESONANCE!" They both yelled. Misuto's blade glowed with Light and lengthened.

The golem moved with surprising speed for its size and brought Giriko down in a fast arc. Rose blocked, their Resonance protecting Misuto from Giriko's teeth. Sparks showered down on Rose and the two Weapons ground against each other.

The Darkness that Giriko and his golem were giving off was almost overpowering. Rose could feel it encroaching on her. With a huge effort she managed to shove the golem backward. It stumbled, off balance, and Rose pressed in and swiped at it several times.

Darkness leaked out of the slashes in the golem, but the wounds closed within moments.

"I'm invincible!" Giriko shouted, and Rose was forced to jump backwards as the chainsaw descended. It hit the ground and made a huge crater and a cloud of dust.

Rose jumped out of the cloud. She almost couldn't bear being close to Giriko, so intense was the Darkness radiating off of him.

"Firaga!" Rose caste three huge fireballs into the cloud.

The cloud was blown away as the golem cut through her spells, dissipating the flames.

"Gravira!" Rose shouted, her hand outstretched.

Purple energy wrapped around the golem's feet, holding it in place even as it tried to step forward.

"Well that's no fun!" Giriko said, his voice manic. The gloem plunged him into the ground, which started shaking as though in an earthquake.

Rose lost her balance, and her concentration was broken. The Gravity spell lifted, and the golem rushed forward at blinding speed. Rose only had time to block its horizontal sweep.

Rose ducked and swept at the golem's stubby legs. Misuto severed the black appendages, but the golem remained standing. Again, its wound healed after a few seconds.

The golem slashed at her, and Rose dodged again. They traded lighting-fast blows, sparks flying in every direction.

Rose managed to shove the golem back again. But Giriko seemed to changing tactics. The golem stood still as a cloud of Darkness gathered over its head. The cloud grew and grew until it blocked out the rising sun. Dark rain began to fall, and it burned and stung wherever it struck Rose.

"That's not good." Rose said. "Protect!" But the Barrier spell did nothing to hold back the Dark rain.

The golem had planted Giriko into the ground and was holding an orb of Darkness in its hands. It pulled and stretched the orb into a large plat ellipse. Missiles of purple energy came flying out of the ellipse and started spiraling through the air toward Rose.

"Definitely not good!" Rose said. She started running in a wide circle, the missiles following close behind.

What she needed right now was a good Light spell. But with so much Darkness around it was difficult to concentrate. It would be easy, so easy, just to turn Giriko's Darkness back on him. But she felt an icy dread at the though.

But then she would a monster, no different than Giriko. She tried to dismiss the idea, but it wasn't so easy. She felt the missiles explode just behind her and was sent sprawling to the ground. She got back up, dazed. She gazed at Misuto's still glowing blade, watching the Dark rain sizzle off of him.

"Time to cut you up!" Giriko's voice snapped her back to reality as the golem ran at her slashing the air wildly.

She blocked and dodged frantically, looking for an opening. She found one and severed the arm holding Giriko. Then she jumped backward, trying to think.

"Wind!" She said. A funnel of swirling wind manifested around her, deflecting the drops of Dark rain.

With the pain gone and the Darkness lessened, somewhat, she found her thoughts clearer. She realized that she had become tired again, and he Resonance with Misuto was fading fast. She drew on her powers again to revitalize both of them, and their Resonance stabilized.

"Are you ok?" Misuto asked.

"I don't know." Rose said, watching as the golem regrew its arm and took up Giriko again.

She still couldn't focus on the Light, not with so much Darkness around. Then something clicked into place and she remembered that she was a Keyblade wielder. Misuto was a beacon of Light that drew in Heartless wherever they went.

"We need to raise our Resonance." She told him.

"Let's do it." Misuto agreed.

Their Resonance began to grow. Rose could feel their combined Soul Wavelengths swelling.

"Oh no ya' don't!" Giriko shouted. The golem stabbed forward.

Giriko's teeth sank into Rose' flesh. Blood sprayed from the wound as Giriko cackled sadistically. Rose just stood there, her face expressionless, her eyes closed.

It was strange. Rose had never been so close to death before. But she was death, wasn't she? She felt a rush of power that seemed to pour in through the wound. Not Light, not Darkness, not magic, but something more. Kidd had called it life-force. But until now, Rose had not really understood what that meant. Now she felt alive. The beings in the world around her all had a bright pulsing spark inside them. The world itself had a much brighter spark. Their energy was everywhere, and Rose plunged her hand in into the stream, and felt the pulse of a world.

In the other hand, she gripped Misuto's Light. A Light that drove away the Darkness. Not stronger, or weaker than the glow of the world. Just different. Then she brought her hands together, and with them came the two flows of energy. The new combination flooded into her Body, her Heart, her Soul.

Without warning, Light blossomed from her back. It stretched backward forming two glowing delta-shaped wings. The wings were streaked with blue and purple light that formed intricate, shifting patterns.

Giriko suddenly screamed in pain and the golem quickly withdrew him from Rose, leaving now sign of a wound behind.

"What the hell are you?" Giriko asked? Rose opened her eyes, which had become orbs of swirling color.

"I am life. I am also death." She told him.

She raised Misuto, whose glow was now so strong that the golem shielded its eyes. The Dark storm was fading, and Heartless were fleeing into the desert.

"I don't care how much Light you think you have, I'm still going to cut you into ribbons!" Giriko yelled. The golem advanced at lightning speed, Giriko raised high.

Rose raised Misuto and fired a beam of swirling white blue and purple light. The beam hit the golem it faded away almost instantly. Giriko screamed and reverted to his human form, sprawled on the ground. The Darkness had been exorcised out of him.

He started to get up, but Rose stabbed him through the chest. A look of pure terror was frozen on his face, as his body faded into dust. His red, corrupted Soul floated above the ground, almost impossible to see against the glow.

…

From the edge of the desert, Mosquito watched with mixed feelings.

"The fool was too weak to do what needed to be done." He said to himself. "No matter, my lady. In the end her was merely a tool of your revenge. He has laid the foundation. All that remains is for me to finish the job."

Rose is now officially an Anime protagonist. XD She was already, but still. Look, we've got cover art! Yay! UlixesEmotion is the artist, and I'm using with her very kind permission. Tomorrow the new upload schedule starts, which is Fridays and Sundays, as I'm too busy during the week with school to post on Wednesdays. So I'll post another chapter tomorrow.

Don't forget to check out UlixesEmotion's Kingdom-Eater tumblr for her artwork of this fic. And I'd still love a beta for this story, if anyone's interested.