Disclaimer - I do not own Kingdom Hearts. This is made by a fan for fans. No money is being made.

Author's Note - I needed henchmen. This chapter focuses mostly on them. Don't worry, I doubt you'll get bored. ;P
"Ethers wouldn't do you good, anyway," he taunted. "Magic doesn't work here."

The look on Sora's face was priceless. The look that shows you know you can't get out of the situation, and you're going to pay for it. The fearful look. The alarmed look. Axel called it the 'Oh, shit' look. It was nice to see it on Sora's face for a change.

If only Axel had been here to see it.

Roxas stood staring at the quicksand where the last spike of Sora's brown hair had just gone under. "Too easy," he muttered quietly. The wind picked up and ruffled his clothes, the only movement in an otherwise still wasteland. He turned to go.

"Did you do it?" a timid voice said from behind. Roxas turned back around. It was Namine. She was standing on the other side of the pit, fidgeting with her hands nervously. The last traces of a dark portal faded away behind her.

"Come on around, Namine," he ordered. She obeyed. Namine always obeyed.

Standing in front of him, she repeated her question. "You...did it?"

"Yeah. I did it."

"Kairi will be happy."

"But not you."

Namine turned away so he couldn't see her eyes. "What makes Kairi happy makes me happy," she said. To say anything else was equivalent to betrayal.

Yeah right. Roxas poked her in the forehead, pushing her back a step, and getting that cute little angry pout out of her. "They're gonna see right through you someday," he warned playfully.

"I don't want him dead!" Namine plurted.

Roxas shrugged. "You don't have a choice in the matter."

"But...but...," moisture formed in the corners of her eyes. She ran up to the edge of the sandpit. "We can save him!"

Roxas put a hand around her waist and held her, afraid she'd do something emotional and girly...like jump in.

"Even if we wanted to, we couldn't do anything. Magic doesn't work here, Namine. Not even yours. Come on. We should leave."

Namine started to cry. Roxas tried his best not to roll his eyes.

"You shouldn't try to take advantage of a young woman like that. Especially when she's so emotionally vulnerable."

Across the pit, where Namine had been standing only moments before, was a red-cloaked man. He had short black hair and wore the most ridiculous star shaped 'hip hop' glasses with glitter purple rims. The rest of his outfit was, thank God, hidden beneath the cloak.

Roxas blinked, truly surprised for the first time in years. That moment of staring stupidly cost him. The cloaked man pulled out a purple rod, glittering like his glasses, and struck at him, letting out an "Aha! Take this, villian!" as he did so.

Blue eyes narrowed as battle instinct kicked in. Roxas rolled away. The rod swished by, hitting nothing but air. Getting his footing, Roxas twisted himself back around, ready to charge at his enemy. But nobody was there. Nobody. Nothing. Roxas turned himself around in circles, ready for a surprise attack. It was dark still, and the moon didn't help him to see at all, but Roxas had lived in the twilight most of his life. He practically was darkness. He didn't need the sun to see Red Cloak work his way up a dune.

The cloaked man gave one last call, posing at the top of the sand hill, "It's too late, foul villian! Ye creature of darkness! Ye dirty garbage boy! Thou shalt not defile this fair maiden!!! Hahahahahahaha!"

Namine gave one terrified cry to Roxas, and then the two disappeared down the other side.

Roxas climbed the hill as fast as he could. He got to the top, looked around, and saw...nothing but sand in all directions. He forced his jaw to close, it had somehow dropped down in something akin to stunned disbelief. Only one thing could be said at a time like this.

"What the hell?!?!!!!"

Momka Grimna was old. For uncounted years she bit and clawed her way to the top, more often than not using trickery and deception to force down her rivals. Now, lying on her stomache in her private lair, lazily toying with her latest prey, Momka Grimna smiled at the memory of those days. In those days, many races of spiders roamed the caves, each keeping to its territory, each climbing to the top of its own chain, each getting eaten by its mother in the end. Yes. She remembered. Old mommy dearest didn't have as good of luck with her.

The clacking of spider feet on stone could be heard long before the messanger enter the room. "Mistress!" was its low-pitched cry, broken and uneven in tone. It must've been Dela Even. He was one of the few lower class imbecils who could talk.

Grimna lifted up her head. That part of her was humanoid, along with her arms, and everything down to her waist where skin melted into the mirror like body of a Black Widow. One of her wickedly angeled legs tapped in impatience.

"Speak," she commanded, too lazy to say anything more.

Evan clacked his teeth together in excitement, "Humans, mistress! Humans have entered our domain!"

Momka Grimna's mouth curled up in disgust at this statement. These lower class spiders made good minions, but they came up with such lies! She considered eating the poor messanger right there. A wicked smile came to her lips.

Even recognized the danger he was in immediately. He had seen many other spiders die moments after Momka Grimna made a face like that. He prostrated himself on the floor, as best a spider can, and said, "It is truth, mistress! It is truth! Look to the crystal. The crystal, mistress!"

Grimna had heard enough. She was quite prepared to eat him. Lifting herself up, she streatched her legs to their full length. The crystal mirror, ten feet at least in diameter and not any particular shape, reflected her image as she got ready to pounce. Evan was slowly backing out of the room. Now that the suggestion had been planted in her mind, though, Grimna found herself glancing toward the mirror. The surface shivered, and there, sure enough, was an image of two humans, newly fallen from the quicksand trap. She was pacified immediately. In a way.

"Humans!" she screamed. "Humans!!!"

The crystal mirror pulsed and a closer image of the two humans came into view, switching from one human's face to another as they talked.

Evan wisely made his exit while he still had the chance. Momka Grimna couldn't have cared less about the inferior creature. She smoothed her skin out, forcing her lower body into a humanoid shape, using an illusion technique that had been forgotten by most for millennia. She looked human now. She had even bothered to cloth herself, not that she felt she had to. They were males, after all. But it had been so long since she'd played the part. She smiled to herself and left her chamber. It was time to greet her quests.

It would be good to eat human again.

Author's Note - As always, I appreciate feedback. And thanks, everybody so far, for leaving me reviews. Oh! and thanks, FernClaw for pointing out my typo. I've fixed it. :)