#(seriously it kinda stinks by now. he ate some for dinner earlier and i actually had to try to not make a face)

[pengychan]

Te Rerenga Wairua - Ch. 5

Title: Te Rerenga Wairua Summary: Found by the gods drifting at sea, Maui always assumed he had been thrown in it to drown. When that assumption is challenged, there is only one way to find closure: speaking to his long-departed family. But it’s never a smooth sail to the Underworld, and he’ll need help from a friend - plus a token that fell in the claws of an old enemy long ago. Characters: Maui, Moana, Tamatoa Rating: K Prologue and links to all chapters up so far here.

“Hey. Everything okay?”

“Hu-uh.”

“You sure? You look kinda distracted. Didn’t even hit that Megalodon like you meant it, you know? Left all the hard work to me. I mean, I could handle it, so no worries! Got a cool tooth out of it. Not shiny, so no problem if I keep this one, right?”

A shrug, and no real answer. Maui frowned, then walked up to Tamatoa. He was resting at the very edge of a ravine, one of the many in Lalotai, but it was clear he wasn’t paying any actual attention to whatever was below. Maui sat next to him, letting his legs dangle into the abyss. He stayed silent for a few moments, kicking his legs. A piece of rock fell down into the darkness, making no noise as though it never reached any bottom at all.

“… You were thinking we would find someone of your same species, right?”

Tamatoa let out a small grunt, and for a moment it looked like he wouldn’t add anything. Then he did, idly scratching his chin with a claw. “I guess,” he finally said. “I mean, Gran went on and on about this place, you know? How this is where we were supposed to be, how we’d be coming back when I got big enough to fend for myself, and so on. So I just assumed there would be more of us here.”

More of you. Because she’s gone and now it’s starting to look like you’re the last.

“Yeah,” Maui said slowly. “I can see why you’d think–”

“And you assumed I was from Lalotai when we met,” Tamatoa went on, now turning to look at him. “You said you’d seen others like me here.”

He had, but only few times; Tamatoa’s kind had been rare already when Maui had been a boy and first went to Lalotai. Even rarer after he left it, as a couple of them had tried to turn him into their dinner and hadn’t lived to see the next day, but saying as much suddenly seemed a rather bad idea, so Maui kept that detail for himself.

“Not many, really,” he admitted. “The numbers had been falling for a long time. There were probably few left by the time you were born,” he said, and shot another glance upwards. Tamatoa was still staring into the dark; he didn’t look saddened, not really, but he was uncharacteristically expressionless and his antennae were limp. Maui knew that meant he wasn’t very happy, either. He sighed, and reached up to rub his neck.

“I should have taken you here sooner,” he finally said. Sure, he’d offered to do so before, but only as an off-hand mention until that day. If he’d seriously brought it up, say, a thousand years earlier, would they have found someone of his species still alive? “I didn’t think… I mean, you seemed pretty happy on your own. Never thought it would be important for you to meet someone else from your species. If I’d known–”

But I should have known, he thought. I should have known because it was the same reason why I wanted to return among men, wasn’t it? Because godly powers and all, I still felt I was one of them. I wanted to be.

Unaware of Maui’s thoughts, Tamatoa blinked and turned to look at him. For a moment, he seemed almost confused. “I am pretty happy on my own,” he said, then paused, as though going over the statement in his head a second time. “… Yep. I like my island and I’ve got my treasure there. Never really needed to come back here, you know? Would have been nice to meet someone else like me, but…” a pause, then he shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll live. Plus, we’re not that sure I’m the last, right? There might be a few more somewhere else. The ocean is pretty big. If I grew up away from here, then maybe someone else did too.”

It seemed unlikely to Maui, but it was still within the realms of possibility, and he nodded, reaching to give Tamatoa’s side a punch. “Oh, yes. Maybe a female, who knows? So that you can settle down, and become her fix of protein as soon as she has a clutch of eggs to look after.”

Tamatoa made a face. “Oh. right. That part.”

“I mean, not all of them do that, you know? Some wait until the eggs have hatched, so the dad gets to take a look at his brood before becoming her breakfast as well as their first mea–”

“I think I got the gist of it, thanks.”

Maui laughed. “Why so squeamish now? Pretty sure you said you ate your ma and grandma.”

“They were already dead, thank you so very much.”

“If I didn’t know you, I’d almost say you don’t like the idea of being killed to feed your brood.”

“Well, duh,” Tamatoa muttered, then shrugged again. “At least now I see why my species is mostly gone, though. No one with half a brain would want to breed at these conditions. Only idiots who beget more idiots who’ll probably die some dumb way very quickly.”

Maui raised an eyebrow. “… Wouldn’t that make you an idiot?”

Tamatoa shook his head. “Nope. I got Ma’s brains,” he said, and grinned. “I mean that literally. I ate–”

“All right, all right! Enough!” Maui cut him off, and Tamatoa laughed.

“Look who’s being squeamish now,” he sneered. Maui was about to retort when he heard something coming from the darkness below them. He peered in and realization as to what it was - claws scraping against stone as something climbed up on the almost vertical wall - hit him just one instant too late. He stood with a warning cry, but before he could lift his hook something emerged from the darkness with a roar, a huge mouth wide open to show razor-sharp, gleaming fangs.

Had he had a few more instants before impact, Maui would have realized said mouth and fangs belonged to a huge lizard with scales red as blood. But he was given no more time before the being slammed against him, knocking the hook off his hand, and tried to swallow him.

Tried to, because the moment it tried to bite down Maui reached up with both hands and caught the roof of the beast’s mouth, causing it to growl - gods, did that guy’s breath stink -  and try with all his might to bite down harder. The power in that maw would have annihilated any mortal, but of course he was no mortal; he had lifted up the sky, so of course he could hold up a some monster’s mouth open.

Except that it was really strong. Except that the roof of that mouth was so slippery. Except that if he lost his grip, even for a second, if his hands slipped–

“Hey!”

Tamatoa’s voice reached Maui’s ears only one moment before a loud thud, and the next instant it was as though all air had been knocked out of the monster in a gust of fetid wind that blew Maui out of its maw. He landed on the stone floor, immediately flipped in a crouch, and looked up - trying to ignore the disgusting slickness of saliva on his skin and gods, it was in his hair - to see that the thing who’d tried to eat him was a giant, red lizard. And that said lizard was currently snapping and thrashing, clearly furious, under the weight of a certain giant crab.

“Hey! A little help?” Tamatoa called out, trying to keep the lizard pinned down with his claws, the sharp teeth and claws leaving scratches on his carapace.

Maui grinned, and reached for his hook, which had fallen nearby.

Not a bad save, buddy. Not bad at all.

“Help coming up,” he called out, and his hand closed on the hook’s handle.

***

“… And that’s how I saved his life.”

“You did not.”

“It does sound like he saved your life…” Moana said slowly, and shrugged apologetically at Maui’s accusing glance. She didn’t see the smug look Tamatoa gave Maui from behind her, but she had no doubt that was precisely what he was doing, because Maui glowered at him before crossing his arms.

“I had everything perfectly under control.”

“Sure. Until your arms got tired, and then…”

“I could have snapped that lizard in two with both hands tied behind my ba–”

“No you couldn’t!”

Moana winced, because that raspy voice didn’t belong to either Maui and Tamatoa. She turned suddenly, hair whipping the air and hand reaching for her oar. Emerging from the water, illuminated by nothing but the moonlight, was something massive and scaly. Yellow eyes gleamed as though giving out a light of their own. It was the head of a… a…

… Really now?

“What are you doing here?” Tamatoa snapped, turning to face the newcomer just as Maui grabbed the fishhook. “I mean, I do agree that he couldn’t have gotten out of it in his own - that’s what I said - but–”

“Pilifeai,” Maui snarled, cutting him off. “Why did you follow us?”

The huge lizard shrugged, or at last that was what Moana judged it had just done. With all of its body underwater it was hard to tell, although every movement caused ripples. “I didn’t. I was just having a swim here.”

Maui raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Tamatoa. “Oooh, sure. Heard that? He was just passing by.”

“Of course. And I’m a red lobster,” Tamatoa snorted. He snapped his claws. “You know, I think I’m going to cut off that forked tongue this time around. Pretty sure you called me a bottom-feeder last time…”

“Fine, fine,” the giant lizard - Pilifeai, wasn’t that how Maui had called him? - conceded, taking a few steps back into the sea. “Maybe I was following you.”

“What for? I’m pretty sure you said something on how you knew better than getting involved in anything we’re up to,” Maui pointed out.

“I do. So I’m not getting involved. Just watching to find out who’s going to kill the other first.”

Maui blinked. “… Seriously?”

“Yes. You’ve been a bore so far, if I may add. I’d have expected the crab here to have lost at least another limb by now.”

“Hey!” Tamatoa protested, while Maui shrugged.

“You can blame her. She told me not to.”

“Maui!” Moana and Tamatoa snapped precisely at the same time. The lizard’s eyes paused on Moana for the first time since the surreal exchange had started.

“Oh. I didn’t introduce myself, did I? I am Pilifeai. And you’re the human who kicked the crustacean on his back, aren’t you? Leaving him all alone and powerless when his treasure was stolen…”

Tamatoa scowled, and Moana barely held back a groan. Oh, great, that was just what she needed the giant monster crab to be reminded of, just to make all of her efforts to be pleasant for nothing. “Actually, it was a geyser that knocked him back and–” she began, only to pause when she noticed a flash of white in the redness of Pilifeai’s scales - a grin. Realization hit her suddenly, and it was her turn to scowl. “Wait a moment. Are you trying to pit us against each other right now?”

Pilifeai sighed in clear disappointment. “Well, I’ll be. The human is smarter than both of– ow!” he trailed off with a yelp when the coconut Moana had thrown hit him between the eyes. “Seriously?”

“Scram.”

“I don’t take orders from a huma–”

Maui lifted his hook. Tamatoa snapped a claw shut. Pilifeai’s gaze moved between them for a few moments before he cleared his throat. “As I was saying, I don’t usually listen to humans…”

Moana smiled so widely that her cheeks hurt. “But you’ll make an exception this time.”

“Absolutely.���

“And you won’t follow us any further,” Maui warned. “Or you’ll be sorry.”

“Of course,” the giant lizard said quickly, and backed away; within moments, his head had disappeared under the water. A few moments of silence followed.

“… He’ll keep following us,” Tamatoa finally said, and Maui sighed.

“I’m ready to bet he will.”

Moana didn’t like the thought. Even though the lizard seemed to fear Maui and Tamatoa, at least together, he was huge enough to destroy her boat with extreme ease.

“Don’t worry about him, babe,” Tamatoa said, causing her to recoil. She hadn’t thought her worry had showed so clearly on her face, and most of all she hadn’t expected Tamatoa to pay any mind to her expression. “He’s not going to try anything with me upright and Mr. Mighty over here. I’d be more worried about the pig and the chicken if I were you. They’re not supposed to be doing that, are they?”

Moana turned to see both Heihei and Pua were hiding their head under the sand, and likely had been since first spotting Pilifeai. For Heihei, it was not unusual. For Pua… it was. With a sigh, she went to take the shaking piglet in her arms. “You really should have stayed home with mom and dad,” she sighed, letting him hide hide snout against the side of her neck.

“Yeah, about that,” Maui muttered. “I’ve kinda come to the conclusion your chicken is actually immortal, but I’m not so sure about the pig. Might be best to leave them behind with your boat a bit before we reach the Vault. There’s a small island just nearby, but far enough to be safe. We’ll pick them up on the way back.”

Moana blinked. “Wait. Why should I leave my boat there?”

“Because you don’t want to leave your anything unattended at the Vault,” Tamatoa filled her in. “They’re going to steal it from you the moment you blink. And believe me, it hurts when they steal from you,” he added before pouting. Moana kind of wished he’d stop doing that, but she did her best to give him what she hoped would come across as a sympathetic smile.

“Of course. So… who are they, anyway?”

Maui shrugged. “Monsters. Supernatural beings. Supernatural pirates. Sentients entities. A bit of this, a bit of that. The Vault is kind of a trading place for all kinds of guys.”

“All of them bigger than you, babe.”

“Thanks for pointing that out.”

“Anytime!”

“… Anyway. You think the beings who took his treasure have been or will be there to trade?”

“If they have half a brain, yes. They know Crabcake knows every piece of his collection. They wouldn’t want to be ever caught by him with the stolen goods.”

“Not unless they want to become a snack,” Tamatoa huffed, but Moana ignored him.

“Good point. So, how am I supposed to get to the Vault if I leave my boat elsewhere?”

“I’ll carry you,” Maui said, and Moana couldn’t hold back a shudder when realization sank in.

“We’re not going to fly, are we?”

Maui grinned.

***

The Vault, which Moana had imagined as an island, turned out to be something quite different. From up in the air, when she dared uncover her eyes, she could tell it had once been a volcano that must have sank into the sea long ago, forming a ring of stone not unlike the one around Te Fiti. But, in this case, there was no island in the middle: only seawater where the crater must have once been.

And, according to Maui, the Vault was right beneath the surface.

With a screech, Maui dove down towards the rocks, talons clenching harder around Moana’s arms. She had a few seconds to regret everything - most notably, not trying to swim to the place as opposed to accepting Maui’s quite literal ‘lift’ - and clench her eyes shut before Maui let out another cry and changed. The talons holding her up disappeared, but before she could scream or even open her eyes Maui’s arm was around her waist, and when the impact came it wasn’t her to take it.

“Aaand landed! It was fun, c’mon! Just admit you’re starting to love it!”

Moana opened her eyes to see the ground beneath her. Maui was back to his human form, standing on the rocks she was so sure they’d smash into only moments before, holding her under his arm.

“Put me down,” she croaked. Maui laughed, and was gracious enough to actually put her down on her feet as opposed to just dropping her. Not enough to keep himself from snickering when she leaned against a rock, legs shaking.

“You’ll get the hang of it eventually.”

“I really don’t think so. I’ll swim on our way back.”

Maui opened his mouth to say something, but he was cut off by a sound of splashing water telling both of them that something - someone - really big was coming out. Moana looked up to see Tamatoa emerging from the water, still chewing what she supposed had to be fish. Maui crossed his arms.

“I see you found the time to have breakfast while we waited.”

Tamatoa glared back at him, but made a point not to reply until he was done chewing and swallowing. Moana was kinda grateful for that. “Don’t even start,” he finally said. “You just got here.”

“And how would you know that?”

“The human is still green in the face.”

Maui paused, and turned to look at her. He stared for a moment, then he sighed. “Point taken,” he conceded. Mini Maui marked one point for Tamatoa, something the giant crab didn’t seem to notice.

“Can you walk, babe?”

Moana did her best to smile. “I’ll be okay,” she said, leaning on the rock in a way she hoped would look casual. But at least her head wasn’t spinning too much anymore. Tamatoa didn’t bother to enquire further either way, and nodded.

“Great. So, what now? We go barging in and grab all we can? ‘Cause I’d be down for that.”

“As much as I like the idea, no,” Maui said. “We can’t just barge in and take what we can. The guys in there would definitely fight back, and your said the hairpin we’re after is fragile. I can’t risk it being turned to dust.”

Tamatoa opened his mouth as thought to say something, but paused as though a sudden thought occurred to him, and eventually shrugged. “Fine. What are we going to do then?”

“I think it would be best to be inconspicuous for now. We’ll get in there without anyone noticing us and–”

“Right, right,” Tamatoa muttered, cutting him off. “Let’s get going.”

Maui glanced at Moana. Moana glanced back at Maui. They both turned to look at Tamatoa.

“… Crabcake?”

“Yes?”

“You’re waiting for us here.”

Tamatoa blinked, clearly taken aback. “What? No way! There’s treasure in there and I’m not going to stay out! Why should I?”

“Because we need to be - wait for it - inconspicuous.”

Tamatoa blinked again.

“… We need to go unnoticed?” Maui tried again.

A scowl. “I know! I heard you the first time,” he protested, causing Maui to sigh.

“All right, Crabby. Do you think you’re inconspicuous?”

Tamatoa opened his mouth, lifting a claw, then he paused and closed his mouth again. He looked down at himself, then his eyes shifted to Moana as though looking for a suggestion. She looked back at him - all fifty feet of him - and shook her head in silence. That caused the giant crab to frown.

“Aw, c’mon! I’m not even shiny anymore!”

“You’re still… rather noticeable?” Moana dared to say, and Tamatoa seemed to lighten up.

“Oooh, right! I still have some shinies! I can taken them off and–”

Oh, for Te Fiti’s sake. “You do realize you’re a fifty feet tall giant crab, right?” she blurted out, causing his claw to pause in the air. “You’re impossible to miss, shiny or not!”

Beside her, Maui shrugged. “What she said. Plus, they’ll know it’s you. It’s not like there are others. And you’ve raided this place plenty of times in the past, haven’t you?”

“Naaaah! It’s just been… five or six… dozen… times,” Tamatoa replied, his voice getting a bit weaker with each word.

Maui raised both eyebrows. “I rest my case,” he said. On his chest, Mini Maui marked two points for him. “If you show up there, they’re going to recognize your ugly mug in a heartbeat.”

“HEY! Who are you calling ugly?”

“You. Not shiny anymore, remember? ”

“Oh. Right. I mean– Human! Tell him to stop!”

Moana groaned, a hand pressing against her forehead. “Maui. Please,” she gritted out, fervently wishing she’d brought some fermented coconut milk along.

He chuckled. “Fine, fine. Anyway, you were doing one thing right, Crabcake. Get some of that stuff off your shell and hand it over. We’re going to need it.”

Tamatoa reared back as though struck. “What? No! Why?”

“Use what little brain you’ve got! We’re supposed to pretend we’re there to trade. Can’t really do that if we show up empty-handed, can we?”

“But–!”

“We’ll bring everything back,” Moana promised. “Plus some, if we can.”

Tamatoa crossed his claws. “You must. Your promised you would help me get my treasure back, and you’ve got to deliver! If you just come back with a bunch of hairpins for me to check out, I’ll… huh.”

“You’ll huh us? So scary,” Maui scoffed. “What is it, are you taking a break to think up some original threat, or–”

“All that fog wasn’t there before, was it?”

“… Huh?”

Both Maui and Moana turned to see that… well, he was right. A fog bank was moving in towards them from the open sea; it was still quite some distance away, but the fact alone it hadn’t been visible minutes before showed just how quickly it was moving. In such an otherwise clear day, it seemed to have come out of nowhere… and the sound of drums in the distance told them precisely what was hidden in it.

“Kakamora,” Maui hissed.

“Huh,” Moana said.

“Yeah, that’s what I said,” Tamatoa pointed out.

“But… didn’t we sort of destroy their ship? Ships? However you call that thing?”

“Don’t underestimate how quickly they can repair things. They’re resourceful little thorns in the side.”

“They must be heading to the Vault, too,” Tamatoa mused. “Which means…” he paused, and his face lit up in a grin. He looked down, and Moana realized Maui was looking up, matching it with a grin of his own. For one moment, it was as though she just got a glimpse at how things were between them a long time before.

“They’ve got to be loaded with treasure.”

“Your weight in gold that some of it is my treasure,” Tamatoa said, sounding all the world like an excited child. “Those sneaky little creeps hadn’t left Lalotai in forever and the Kakamora have a knack for finding valuables - I bet at least some of them were robbed blind as soon as they were out!”

“Yeah, if anyone could pull that off, it’s the coconut heads over there,” Maui agreed. “All right, new plan. Let’s take on them first. I’ll make them use up a few weapons.”

“Wait, wouldn’t it be best to have a real pla–”

“CHEE-HOO!”

Moana sighed, and just watched Maui’s hawk form fly towards the fog, and towards the dark outline of the huge ship - or ships, whatever she was supposed to call that trap on water. “All right then. No plan.”

To be fair, Maui didn’t seem to have any problem at first: he flew in and out of the mist, screeching, and avoiding everything - spears, darts, rounded projectiles Moana couldn’t identify - that was hurled towards him. If that kept up, the Kakamora would probably start running out of weapons really soon. “It’s working,” she sighed in relief.

“And I’m never going to hear the end of it,” Tamatoa muttered, something on his face that wasn’t too far away from a pout. He seemed about to complain some more, but he paused and squinted. “… Is the ship splitting?”

He was right: through the thick fog, Moana could see the outline of the ship beginning to split in two. It was nothing she hadn’t seen before, but it reminded her of a beast’s maw, and suddenly she wasn’t so sure about Maui’s brilliant idea anymore.

This is not good. They could have something up their sleeve. They must–

There was a cry, hundreds of high-pitched voices, and everything happened terribly fast.

With a screech, Maui shot upwards from the fog, up towards the sky, and he was almost, almost fast enough. For a moment, Moana allowed herself to give a sigh of relief. Then something else shot up, something that reached Maui and opened up in the blink of an eye. Moana had just an instant to realize what it was before the huge net closed on the hawk.

“NO!” she cried out, and tried to run into the sea, to get closer, but something huge and terribly strong seized her around the waist, lifting her up. Her legs kicked uselessly in the air.

“Hey, hey - what do you think you’re doing?”

“I’ve got to go and help!”

“He’s fine, babe. Just look.”

Moana did, and she realized that the net hadn’t been enough to bring down Maui: he was pulling against it with all of his might, and the rope that was clearly tethering it to the ship was pulled taut, ready to snap. And it would snap, any moment now… any moment–

Something else rose from the fog, like a swarm of insects, and there was nothing Maui could do to escape them.

Darts.

Under Moana’s horrified gaze, Maui suddenly went still. He stopped pulling. The net went slack. And then, the hawk form was gone; Maui fell back into the fog, and did not come out again. Moana found herself staring numbly at the empty sky for several moments before Tamatoa spoke.

“… All right, well. Not so fine,” he said, “I’m starting to think we should have sent your chicken.”

Moana scowled, and kicked again. “Let me go! Now!”

“What, so you can go swimming to your doo–”

Moana snarled, and turned to glare into Tamatoa’s closest eye. “I. SAID. NOW.”

The giant crab winced, taken aback. “All right, all right,” he said, letting her drop in the water. Normally she’d have protested that wasn’t quite what she meant, but it wasn’t the right moment for technicalities. She stood in the water, pushing her hair off her face, and looked up at Tamatoa.

“We must go help him.”

“Do we have to?” he all but whined.

Moana gritted her teeth. “You want treasure, right? It’s right there on that ship,” she snapped. “You take it, I take Maui, and we’re all happy.”

“Sure, but can’t we wait until they, say, cut off one of his limbs or–”

“We had a deal,” Moana cut her off, then made a terrible effort not to yell and to sound as calm and disappointed as possible. “I thought you were a crab of your word.”

He reared back as though struck, and scowled. “Are you trying to make me feel guilty?”

Moana held back the urge to scream at him that she wouldn’t need to try if he had any honor at all, and forced herself to stay calm. “Please,” she said instead. “I need your help.”

A scoff. “What happened to Miss I Restored the Heart of Te Fiti?”

“I never said I did it all on my own. I needed help - everyone needs help at some point.”

Tamatoa didn’t seem convinced. “I never needed anybody’s help,” he pointed out, a challenging note in his voice.

But you need ours to find your treasure, she thought, knowing better than saying it aloud. “Maui put you back upright instead of leaving your helpless, didn’t he?” she said instead.

Tamatoa lifted a claw and opened his mouth. Moana raised an eyebrow. Tamatoa closed his mouth and lowered his claw, snapping it shut. “… I guess,” he conceded, looking away. Moana hesitated for a moment, then she stepped forward and placed a hand on his claw.

“Look. Let’s just go get Maui back. You can keep whatever treasure we find there, and we’ll call it even. Also,” she added lightly, “you’ll get to remind him of this every time you want.”

Tamatoa’s eyestalks shifted back towards her. “That is a good point.”

“Imagine that - getting to remind him that you just saved his life,” Moana pressed on. “And of course I’ll be right there to point out how amazing you looked like while doing it.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You don’t really think I’m amazing. I’m not even shiny anymore,” he added, the whiny quality back in his voice.

Saying that she had found him anything but amazing when he was covered in treasure as well didn’t seem like the best possible move, so she didn’t. “Well, I do think you’re–“

"If you say crabulous, I’m out of here.”

“… Right. Well, if that’s what you think I think, this is your chance to change my mind. And get some treasure. And rub this in Maui’s face for the next thousand years. What do you have to lose? Unless, of course, you’re afraid of the Kakamo–”

“Fine, fine, enough,” Tamatoa cut her off. “You had me at ‘treasure’, anyway. No need to overdo it,” he grinned, and lowered himself to the closest they could get to eye level. “You make good points, human. Have I already said I’m glad I didn’t eat you?”

“Once or twice. So, are we going?”

Tamatoa nodded, and picked her up. This time, Moana let him, and moments later he had placed her right behind the top of his head. They both turned back to the fog; it was coming closer and closer, and they could hear the cheers and drumming coming from it. Celebrating the fact they had brought down Maui, no doubt. Holding onto the base of one of Tamatoa’s antennae - he didn’t seem to even notice her grip - Moana hoped with all her heart that they hadn’t done anything irreparable to him yet.

“You got a plan, Smart One?”

“I think I do.”

“Does it involve a song?”

“… What?”

“Your plan. Do I get to sing a song? Come to think of it, you never told me if you liked–”

“Let’s… just focus on the rescue part,” she cut him off, and glanced at the water between them and the approaching ship. “So. You know that thing you do to attract fish…?”

***

That, Maui decided, was not part of the plan.

All right, so he’d had no plan to begin with - but if he had, that wouldn’t have been part of it.

“Hey! HEY! That’s mine! Put that down! Put it–” he trailed off with a groan when the obvious happened: the bunch of Kakamora who had been trying to work together to lift his fishhook lost their balance and fell crashing down on the deck. Still wrapped in the net, unable to move thanks to however many darts they had managed to stick in him, Maui rolled his eyes.

“Just give up. It won’t work for any of you. Give it back, and I might be merciful - hey! HEY! You get off me!” he protested when a couple of Kakamora began bouncing on his stomach, causing Mini Maui to uselessly shake a fist at them. He tried to shake them off, but of course he could move nothing except for his eyes and mouth. And his tattoo, which were not very helpful at the moment.

Awesome. Absolutely awesome.

“GET OFF ME!”

The bellow had the only result of making a couple of them snicker, while a couple more approached with spears. Maui glared at them.

“Okay, this is the last offer. If you want to get away from here all in one piece– ow! Hey! Stop that! Ouch!”

More laughter, and a couple more Kakamora approached to prod him with their spears, but before they could come close enough there was a cry, and they all turned away from Maui. Under his perplexed gaze, they all rushed to the opposite side of the ship to look down, chattering among themselves and entirely forgetting about him. What were they staring at?

Well, whatever it is, it’s not me. I must make my move before they turn their attention back.

Except that he couldn’t move, and that made things all the more complicated. Maui bit back a grunt as he tried with all his might to move, but his body stayed limp and unresponsive, and he could only look helplessly at his hook, lying on the floor and forgotten about. Last time he’d been on the receiving end of one of those darts, courtesy of the Ocean, he’d been paralyzed for hours; now it would probably take even longer for him to recover any mobility, and the Kakamora wouldn’t be distracted for that lon–

“They won’t be distracted for long,” someone whispered above him, and the next moment someone was getting the net off him, or trying to, some seawater dripping down on him. Of course Maui knew who it had to be before he even glanced up, but he did all the same.

“How did you get here?” he mouthed, and Moana grinned down at him.

“I had a lift,” was the reply, equally silent. She pushed the net off him and lifted an arm over her shoulders, but of course she couldn’t pull him up: he was far too heavy. Back in Lalotai he’d been able to walk with her help, but now he was a dead weight she couldn’t move. She realized it almost right away, and leaned him down. “Okay. Plan B,” she said, and looked up, towards the Kakamora. They were still looking down into the water, mesmerized, when she called out.

“Hey!”

They turned back as one, of course, and immediately lifted the spears.

“… Whatever Plan B is,” Maui found himself saying, “It would be best to get on with it no–”

Moana smiled at the Kakamora, giving no sign of having heard him. “Hello again, guys. Meet my little friend.”

Wait. Wait a sec–

The entire ship rocked as though hit by a tidal wave, and the unmistakable crack of wood breaking filled the air. The Kakamora screamed. Maui was thrown against the side of the ship, while Moana managed to maintain her balance, snatching a spear from the hands of the closest Kakamora and kicking it away in the same motion. Not a bad move and probably one Maui would have cheered in other circumstances, but at the moment he was a bit too taken by the sight of a very, very familiar claw planting itself in the middle of the deck. The next moment Tamatoa was emerging from the sea to peer onto the ship, dripping water and… wait, why did he look so perplexed?

“Human?” he called out, the frown still on his face. The flurry of activity on the deck stopped. The Kakamora stilled and stared at him. Moana stilled and stared at him. Maui stayed still - not much choice there - and stared at him.

“What is it?” Moana finally said, breaking the sudden and confused silence.

“You meant me, right?”

“Huh?”

“Your little friend? That was the signal I was supposed to attack, right? Or was I supposed to wait for another cue?”

“Er… no, this was fine.”

Maui blinked. The Kakamora kept shifting their gazes between Moana and Tamatoa, completely silent, weapons down. Tamatoa shrugged, a claw still planted into the ship and seemingly paying no attention to any of them. “Oh, good. It was just kind of confusing, talking about a little friend, and I’m not little, am I?”

“Well… no, you’re not.”

“Why did you call me little, then?”

“It’s just… can we talk about this later?” Moana asked, gesturing to the whole situation - the Kakamora, Maui’s motionless form, his fishhook on the floor - with her free hand. “Possibly when we’re done here?”

Tamatoa blinked, then seemed to perk up. “Oh! Right! The rescue thing. Hey, Maui! I’m saving your life here! Are you taking note?”

“Believe me, I’m not forgetting this moment anytime soon,” Maui said drily. As chaos exploded around him again, the Kakamora clearly not willing to just surrender their ship to a giant crab, he sighed and closed his eyes, letting his head drop. He would never let him hear the end of it, would he? Of course he wouldn’t. Come to think of it, maybe it would be for the best to just roll into the water and drow–

CRACK.

The ship rocked again, this time a lot more violently, and Maui was thrown across the deck before he felt something beneath him shatter. Moana’s cry - “Maui!” - reached him only one instant before he fell.

Oh, come on! I didn’t really mean–

The thought was cut short by the impact against water, like a violent slap, and the sensation of sinking like a stone. He tried to move out of instinct, tried to swim, but of course he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t do anything except stare up at the surface, hold his breath, and sink.

***

[Back to Chapter 4]

[On to Chapter 6]

#moana #maui #tamatoa #oceania #disney