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cait-writes-stuff · 7 years

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How Far I’ll Go

A/N: Thanks to @memento-scribet and @uncpanda for encouraging me to go rogue and write this one despite having other fics to write. I’m glad I did!

Prompt: This one’s shamelessly based on ‘How Far I’ll Go’ and ‘Where You Are’ from Moana. The reader is Bruce’s half-Atlantean daughter who he keeps away from the ocean. The ocean has always called to her and she had no idea why until her father finally comes clean as to who she is.

“I thought I’d find you up here.” Dick said startling. You let out a shriek and almost fell out of the tree branch you were sitting perched on but Dick reached out and stabilized you.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that asshole!” You cried punching your brother square in the chest. He flinched and rubbed the sore spot that you had just created.

“Ow! It’s not my fault you were too in your own little world to hear me coming. I was calling your name for like five minutes before I spotted you.” He replied defensively. “What are you even doing up here anyway?” He asked.

“Just thinking.” You sighed and turned your gaze back out to what had your mind preoccupied. From high up in this tree you had the perfect little nook that gave you a clear view of Gotham City and the rivers surrounding the island that flowed into the wide blue ocean that expanded beyond the bay. You often stared at the sun’s blinding glint across the water’s surface and wondered what lay below it’s depths. The line where the sky met the sea seemed to call out to you but you never knew how you could answer that call. You were absolutely mesmerized by the ocean but it was the one place that alway seemed to be kept just outside of your reach.

“Earth to [Y/N].” Dick called waving his hand in front of your eyes. “You disappeared again.”

“Sorry.” You mumbled.

“Well anyway, Dad wants to talk to you. You should probably go inside.” Dick said before climbing down the tree. He stopped at the base of the tree and looked back up to you. “Are you coming?” He called up. You took one last glance towards the sparkling sea before descending from the tree.

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t get your panties in a wad.”

“You wanted to see me Dad?” You asked, peeking your head into the study where he was working on some paperwork. Your dad glanced up and smiled proudly at you. He set his paperwork down and rounds the desk before putting his hands firmly on your shoulders and gazing directly in your eyes.

“[Y/N], you are my daughter and I would stop at nothing to keep you safe but I think it’s time you knew the truth about our family.” He said leading you towards the tall grandfather clock.

You’re heart sped up, absolutely sure that this would be the moment that your father finally opened up and talked about your mother. For as long as you could remember he would always avoid talking about her and when you asked he quickly changed the subject. You loved your father but you had an undeniable desire to know about the missing half of you.

Your father reached out and opened up glass protecting the clock face and moved the hands of the clock to a specific time. The old clock rung once before it swung open to reveal a dark passageway.

This was not what you were expecting.

Your father motioned for you to follow him down the passage and you apprehensively stepped into the dark corridor. When you reached the end of the corridor it opened up into a large cavern that was covered with platforms that held everything above the water below. You took in your surroundings noticing everything from the supercomputer to the cars and the giant T-Rex. In the corner you saw a row of display cases that held costumes that were emblazoned with a familiar bat insignia that often lit up the night sky above Gotham without fail each night. Your father is . . .

“Batman.” You whispered. “You’re Batman.” You stated. Your father nodded once and placed his hand on your shoulder.

“I should have told you sooner, I know. I wanted to keep you out of this world for as long as possible but I think it’s time you are allowed to make your own choices.” He said. “You and your siblings are Gotham’s future, [Y/N]. Your brothers have chosen to walk this path with me and if you decide that this is what you want I will gladly teach you everything I know.”

“You mean I would become . . .?” You trailed off not really sure what this meant for your future and what your father was offering.

“What you become is up to you. I won't be around forever, I am just giving you the foundation to become the hero that this world will one day need.” Your father explained. Your heart swelled at the honor that was being shown to you. It was clear now that this was a rite of passage for your family, a rite that all your brothers had gone through. A swell of pride filled your chest to be trusted with the family’s greatest secret.

“I won’t let you down, Dad.” You promised.

“I know you won’t.”

“Did she say yes yet?” You heard a voice whisper from a nearby corner.

“I can’t hear if you keep talking dumbass.” Another voice retorted.

“Oh my god guys! Shut up! You’re going to get us caught.”

“-Tt- Amateurs.” Damian sneered at the corner where your brothers were clearly hiding.

Your training started almost immediately after being brought into the fold. After everything settled down again you felt disappointed that you were trusted with this secret but yet your father still refused to tell you about your mother. It felt unfair to you.

Being the newest family member to join the effort you were often relegated to monitor duty. You didn’t mind it so much because you soon figured out that the Batcomputer had classified files on just about anything you could think of. On a particularly slow night your curiosity got the better of you and you typed in your own name into the database. The computer pulled up your file which had just about anything you could know about you (you had hoped it would have something that even you didn’t know). Your eyes scanned for anything that could possible do with where you came from.

Mother: [REDACTED]

The words stared down tauntingly at you from the bright monitor. Frustration and anger welled up inside of you. Why didn’t he trust you with this? What was your father hiding?

Before you could do any more digging on the subject matter you heard the Batmobile roaring into the entrance of the cave. You quickly closed out of the files you were looking at and attempted to calm your expression so that you didn’t look as enraged as you felt.

“Slow night?” You asked as your father stepped out of the Batmobile.

“It’s the calm before the storm.” He grumbled.

After discovering that your mother’s name had been redacted from your file you later tried to ask your father about your mother again. He gave you a hard frown, not saying anything on the matter except, “[Y/N], in time you'll learn just as I did that you must find happiness right where you are. Whatever reason you have for pushing this, drop it. It will only bring you pain.” He then walked away, leaving it at that.

Your heart deflated at your father’s words and you resigned yourself to never finding out who you truly were. You had a family and a role here so maybe it was time that accepted things for what they were. Your mother had never been in your life and if your father was so resistant to tell you anything there must have been a reason to shield you from her. She would never be in your life and it was time for you to accept that fact. But then why did it still feel like you would never feel complete without at least knowing who she was?

“[Y/N], I want to show you something.” Your father said almost a year into your training. You were well on your way to stepping into the role that your father saw for you and you were eager to prove your worth. In the time since you had been relegated to monitor duty you honed your skills and carved your place by your brother’s sides. You were easily finding your future by your family’s side but you still could help but to feel you didn’t quite belong as well as you should.

“What is it?” You asked curiously.

“You’ll see. Suit up and follow me.” He instructed. You quickly dawned your mask, changed into your uniform and followed your father to whatever he had in store for you.

As it would turn out, your father was taking you to a place that very few ever had the privilege to even see: The Watchtower. You were completely in awe of the place, it was everything you imagined it would be and more.

“Oh wow. . .” You breathed looking out the observatory window that overlooked Earth. You were astounded by the sight. The oceans were a deep sapphire with scattered swirling white clouds obscuring the view of the surface. The continents you once thought large and expansive now seemed like small islands isolated in a sea of blue and white.

“Amazing isn’t it?” Your father said, admiring the view right alongside you.

“It’s funny, I’ve seen this pictures of this view countless times but nothing beats seeing it with your own eyes.” You said, not able to take your eyes off the sight. Even from this far away the ocean still seemed to enrapture you.

“My thoughts exactly.” Your father chuckled. “Come on, there are some people I’d like for you to meet.” Your father said guiding you away from the window. You looked back over your shoulder to steal one last glance at the sight before you turned your head back and allowed yourself to be led into the Justice League’s meeting chambers.

Your father spent a while showing you around the Watchtower and introducing you to various people. They were all kind and friendly in greeting you. You were quite honestly starstruck in meeting a few of the heros that your father introduced you to but none had you more starstruck more than meeting Aquaman in the flesh.

“Hello. It’s good to meet you again after all these years. The last time I saw you you were just a little guppy.” Aquaman greeted, extending his hand out to you. You took hold of his hand and eagerly shaked it.

“It’s such an honor to meet you, your highness! I think you are just amazing! What’s Atlantis like? Does the kingdom span across the whole ocean or is it just isolated cities? Oh! What are the cities like? I bet they’re just spectacular!” You said, talking a mile a minute. Aquaman chuckled at your excited line of questioning. Your father gave you a hard warning look which immediately resulting in the end of the questions you had wondered all your life.

“Sorry.” You apologized rubbing the back of your neck sheepishly.

“You’re curious, no shame in that.” Aquaman dismissed. Your father’s eyes narrowed at him. If Aquaman had been anyone else, your father’s hard glare would have reduced him to a puddle of fear. Aquaman looked at your father curiously. “You haven’t told her?”

“We should be going.” Your father said taking your arm and leading you out of the room. You looked back over your shoulder at Aquaman, you still had so many questions for him. Before your father could lead you out of the room, Wonder Woman stepped into his path.

“A word?” She requested. She looked at you briefly before clarifying “Alone?”

Your dad glanced at you hesitantly before nodding curtly. “Make this quick.” He said before disappearing with Wonder Woman. When your father was gone Aquaman reappeared by your side.

“Stubborn and prideful, as always.” He said shaking his head sadly. “It’s not my place to tell you what he should have shared with you all along but just remember when the time comes you are your father’s daughter. Mind what he says but remember if a voice is calling out to you to follow where your heart leads, that voice is who you are.” Aquaman said, placing a hand on your shoulder. His words resonated deep in your heart but how could he possibly know what you had never dared to tell anyone before?

“I-I don’t understand.” You stuttered.

“You will in time, young guppy.” He offered, patting your shoulder gently. Your father returned from his meeting with Wonder Woman, Aquaman excused himself and your father quickly led you back home. When you got back to the cave, your father pushed off his cowl and sighed. He braced himself with both hands on the table and bowed his head.

“How much did he tell you?” He asked, his voice sounding defeated.

“Nothing! What’s going on? Everyone’s talking in riddles around me and honestly it’s pissing me off!” You cried in frustration. Your father didn’t answer you and turned to walk towards the Batcomputer. He pulled out the chair from the desk and collapsed into it with a sigh. He hung his head in his hands and rubbed his face.

“It was stupid of me to think I could keep this from your for forever.” He said, leaning back in the chair and sighing. “You aren’t from this world, [Y/N], not entirely. Your mother was Atlantean. When you were born she left you on my doorstep and went back to the sea without ever looking back. I’m sorry I thought I could protect you if I kept you in the dark.” Your father confessed.

So there it was. After all these years, there was your truth.

The truth wasn’t as satisfying as you thought it would be. To come to find out that the reason you didn’t have a mother was because she didn’t want you in the first place? It hurt. And to find out that you didn’t even belong in the world that you had grown up in made your heart ache. So much about you made sense now but you wished your truth was different, you wished you could feel more satisfied.

You tried to search for the words you wanted to say but came up empty. You wanted nothing more than to run as far as you could and just keep running so that’s what you did. You got on one of the motorcycles stored in the cave and raced to the only place that had ever provided you with solitude. You raced through the city until you finally came to a beach on the outskirts of the city that overlooked the ocean.

You walked along the rocky beach looking out towards the line where the sky meets the sea. The glint off the water and the crash of the waves against the shore calmed you. You took your shoes off and threw them to the side and stepped up to the water's edge and let the cold sea water wash over your toes. You let your eyes slip close and just enjoyed the sounds of the water and the cries of the gulls.

You opened your eyes back open and looked longingly out to the water. Knowing what you knew now you wondered where your home truly was. Was it here with your family where you knew you would never quite belong or was it somewhere in the unfamiliar depths of the ocean that had always called out to you?

You had been standing at the edge of the water for as long as you could remember never knowing why the sea called out to you. Now you knew but if anything that only strengthened the draw. You wished you could be the perfect daughter, the human daughter, that your father hoped you would become. You desperately wanted to be the daughter he could trust would one day fill his shoes to protect the surface but doubt filled you. Would you always turn back to the water? Was that where you truly longed to be, even if you would be met with an empty ocean?

Everyone in your family had their role. They were happy with their role. So why couldn’t you find it within yourself to accept yours? Would you ever be satisfied in playing along when the voice inside you pulled you elsewhere?

“What’s wrong with me?” You sobbed dropping to your knees in the water. You dug your fingers into the sand below you as the water soaked through to your skin. Your tears flowed down your cheeks and dropped to mix with the salt water of the sea.

You were so confused. You had no idea what your place in this world was now.

Warm soothing arms wrapped around your shoulders and pulled you to a strong chest. You let out a sob and wrapped your arms tightly around your father, not ever wanting to let go. As you sobbed against him, he soothingly stroked your hair and rocked you.

“I’m so sorry.” He whispered, his voice thick with painful emotion.

“Who am I?” You choked out. You father smiled sadly and lifted your chin, pushing a lock of hair away from your face and behind your ear.

“Only you can answer that, [Y/N].” He said. He then pulled something out of his pocket and slipped it into your hand. You looked down at the object to see a wide gold bracelet that had intricate swirls and waves curling around it. At the top of the band was a silver shell imbedded in the gold. “This was your mother’s, it was all she left with you when she left you in my care.”

“It’s beautiful.” You admired, running your fingers along the gentle curves and turns of the design.

“You’re a part of both world’s, [Y/N]. As much as I always wanted to keep you safe here on the surface I understand if you feel the desire to go out there and find out who you are destined to be.” Your father said. “I was the same way when I was your age.” He smiled bittersweetly. Tears welled you up in your eyes and you constricted your arms around your father in a tight hug.

“If I go there's no telling how far I'll go.” You whispered into his chest.

“I know.” he replied. “Just . . . promise me you’ll come back home when you figure out what it is that you want.” He requested, unshed tears glimmering in his own eyes.

“I promise Dad.” You swore tearfully.

“I will always be proud of you [Y/N]. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for.” He said gently cradling your cheek. You knew it must have been hard for him to give you up like this and it was equally hard for you to leave but your heart told you that you had to do this. You had to find what’s beyond that line that you have yet to cross.

One day soon, you’ll find out how far you’ll go.

#bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne #bruce wayne imagine #bruce wayne imagines #batsis #batsister #batman #Batman imagine #batman imagines #dc imagine #dc imagines #dick grayson #nightwing #aquaman #aquaman imagine #aquaman imaignes

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fallen-gravity · 7 years

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Fire and Water

Fandom: Moana

Category: Gen

Word Count: 4,247

Summary: When Moana is too drained to be out exploring on the sea, she and Maui instead settle for second best: Storytelling

Notes: I should literally never be allowed to listen to the Moana soundtrack ever. Every time I listen to Where You Are I seem to get like 15 different ideas for a gross, platonic fluffy story. This is the one that stuck out to me the most last night. All that came to me was a quote, something Moana would say to Maui, and I absolutely 100% found myself needing to write something out for it.

“Hey I know I promised I would take the canoe out with you but it’s been a long day why don’t we just sit around a fire and tell stories instead and we can go tomorrow”

The version of how Maui stole fire that I used can be found here.

Moana's head is pounding. As she emerges from the fale tele, she brings her hands to her temples and rubs in a slow circle, hoping it'll help rid of the awful headache all of the negotiating and arguing she just did caused her.

When she turns her attention to her surroundings, the first thing she notices is that it's dark out. That meeting had taken hours. It was only meant to be a quick, in and out meeting with a few Chiefs from neighboring islands to discuss trade. But then, before she even knew what was happening, an ugly fight broke out, and the meeting quickly ascended until the focus was turned to getting everyone to stop. Both parties were stubborn, neither willing to compromise for the other, and it took everything in Moana to get them to calm and talk things over.

The second thing Moana notices is that there is no fire burning throughout the village. No spark of fire, no signs of groups gathered around them. No sounds of laughter filling the air as friends and families gather to tell stories.

A relaxing campfire, Moana thinks, is exactly what she needs right now. She starts towards the forest to gather wood, but the light flapping of bird wings above her stops in her tracks. She looks up just in time to see Maui swoop down from the sky and land in his human form beside her.

"Man, and I thought that thing was never going to end!" He says cheerfully, and nudges her lightly in the side. "I didn’t know what was going on in there, but it sure didn't sound pretty" he says, nudges her in the side again. "Good thing you were there though, huh? Nobody can manipulate someone into doing what they want like you can"

"Hey!" Moana yelps, and despite her exhaustion she punches him in the arm. "I didn't manipulate anyone into doing anything" she says, and crosses her arms. "All I did was convince a few arguing Chiefs to see the better of their ways and make up with each other"

Maui raises an eyebrow at her at that, and then he shrugs. "There's more than one way to say the same thing, Curly. Just because you say you convinced someone to do something doesn't mean you didn't manipulate them"

She punches him in the arm again. "Shut up" she says for her lack of a better argument, and he laughs. He then steps away from his place at her side to stand in front of her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"So," he says, changing the subject. "Now that that disaster's out of the way, you ready to go?" He asks, excitement flaring in his expression, and Moana blinks at him in confusion.

"What?" She asks, and he goes to laugh again, she can see it clear on his face, but then he seems to realize that she's actually confused.

"Your promise" he says, and realization hits Moana at his words so suddenly she nearly gasps at his words.

She'd completely forgotten. A few days ago, when her duties as Chief were just starting to get to her, Maui had asked if she wanted to go take their canoe out to go exploring. As much as she was itching to be out on the sea, exploring unknown lands and realms with her best friend at her side, she had to deny his offer. It was much harder on her than she thought, so she made a promise to him that once this particular meeting was over, she would take the canoe out with him without a second thought. But she had made that promise days ago, when she thought the sun would still be shining in the sky long after this meeting, but now that the meeting had taken much more out of her than she expected, and nothing greets her in the sky now but the twinkle of the stars, Moana wants nothing more than to wait it out here for her pounding headache to go away.

Not to mention she was really sort of looking forward to that campfire.

She frowns, turns her gaze away from Maui's. "I'm sorry" she says, and shakes her head. "I don't think I can" she says. “That meeting really took a lot out of me, Maui, I’m sorry” she says, and runs a hand through her hair. “I know I promised, but I don’t think I can” she says, and returns her gaze to him. She expects him to be upset, or disappointed, but her exhaustion must really be showing on her, because he actually kind of looks concerned.

“It’s-It’s okay, Moana” he says, frowning, and removes his hand from her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it.” He says, and shrugs. “We could always go tomorrow” He says, the mischievous glint returning to his eyes. “Much easier to discover new lands in sunlight than in the pitch black anyway, right?” He says, and she smiles. At his understanding of her.

“You know, actually” she says as an idea comes to her. “While I have you,” Moana says, and this time she’s the one to nudge him in the side. “I was just about to start a fire. How about we just sit around it and tell stories for now?” She shrugs. “I mean, I know it’s not the same as being out on the water” she says, and absentmindedly turns her gaze towards the beach. “But it’ll give us something to do to hold us over until we can, right?” She asks, and laughs quietly. “It always worked on me when I was younger” She shrugs sheepishly.

Maui considers her for a minute, and then shrugs. “I don’t see why not” he says, and she beams.

“Great!” she says, and gestures with her head towards the forest. “Help me gather some wood? I was just gonna gather some myself,” she says, and shrugs. “But I think it’d probably take a lot less time if I had someone help me”

They emerge from the forest minutes later, both with arms full of wood. Moana had said they would only need a small gathering of dry sticks and leaves, but Maui insisted on carrying entire logs, claiming her “pathetic pile of sticks” would take longer to light and less time to burn, so Moana let him gather as many as he thought they needed if he promised to carry them all back himself.

Once they make their way to the area Moana often came with her parents for a fire, she drops her pile. Maui, arms full enough to make it hard to see what’s in front of him follows suit, dropping his pile right on top of hers with a frustrated grunt.

“You-” he says, and points an accusing finger at her. “Are horrible” his voice strains in an over exaggerated exhaustion Moana knows he does not really feel, and she rolls her eyes at him.

“Hey. You were the one insisted on using such heavy wood. Carrying it yourself was the least you could do” she says, and he glares at her. “Besides,” she says, and smirks, crossing her arms. “I thought you pulled up islands. I thought this kind of weight would be nothing to you” She says, and kneels down to start working on getting the fire going. Maui just glares at her.

“Yes,” he says. “But it’s not like I necessarily had someone with me who was perfectly capable of carrying some of the weight herself” he says, and Moana scoffs.

“You think I’d be strong enough to help pull up an island?” she says, pretends to sound touched. “Why thank you. That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me” she says, voice heavy with sarcasm, and Maui crosses his arms. She then goes to work on adjusting the wood Maui ever so graciously placed onto the ground, and tosses some dry grass over it to hopefully help get the fire started faster.

Seeing that she’s apparently done arguing, Maui sends a quick behind him to make sure there’s a secure log behind him before he sits. Moana rolls her eyes, and reaches for the two stones she needs to really get the fire started. She slams them together, and they make a satisfying crack, but no sparks emerge from them. Twisting her face in determination, she tries again, cracking them together from a different angle, and she watches with a grin as sparks sprinkle down and land right onto the dry grass, catching on fire immediately.

Grinning, she turns to Maui. “Ta da!” she singsongs, gesturing wildly towards the fire, and he rolls his eyes, an amused smile evident on his face. Moana picks up one of the sticks from the pile she hadn’t thrown into the fire, and she begins to poke at some of the wood to adjust their position as she takes her seat beside Maui.

“So,” he starts, and rests his arm on top of her head and leans slightly as he glances down at her. She returns his glance with a glare, and he laughs. “What kind of stories are you talking about?” He says, and she rolls her eyes.

“Oh, I don’t know-” she says, and prods him in the side. “Why don’t you start with the ones about yourself?” She tries for sarcasm, she really does, but she can’t help the hints of excitement that creep their way into her tone. Sure, she’d heard most of his stories tons of times before, but she’d never been able to hear them from his point of view. Sure, she knows his side of the story about Te Fiti by heart, and he’d covered a few of them briefly, but she’s never really had the time to just sit down and ask him for his side for any of them. “I’ll tell you one about myself if you tell me one of yours” she says, and Maui laughs.

“Alright, Curly, seems fair enough to me” he says, rolling his eyes. “Take your pick” he says, and even though Moana can’t see she can assume he’s probably gesturing towards his spread of tattoos. She rolls her eyes as she begins to poke at their campfire again, but then a thought occurs to her.

“Oh,” she says, out loud, and turns to him. “How about the one where you stole fire?” She asks, and turns to him. Maui glances first toward the campfire, and then to Moana, and he rolls his eyes.

“Why am I not surprised?” He asks, more to himself than to her, and then he grins. “Alright-” he says, this time to her. “I like you, Curly, so I’m gonna let you in on a little secret” He says, and pauses to dart his eyes from side to side, like he’s trying to make sure nobody’s eavesdropping. “The versions you’ve heard, most of them say I was the one who brought fire to this realm, right?” He asks, and Moana blinks curiously at the question.

“I guess so” she says, and shrugs. “Why?” she asks, and he laughs.

“Believe it or not, none of those versions are actually true” he says, and Moana just stares at him for a second, trying to find some indication in his expression that he’s joking, but finds none.

“But if you didn’t,” Moana says, her face scrunching in confusion. “Then who did? What really happened?” she asks, and he laughs.

“Hah, I had actually been asking myself the same thing” he says, and shakes his head. “Thousands of years ago, I was staying in this village just like Motunui, right?” he starts, gesturing with his head towards the village now illuminating with fires of its own. “It was pretty late, so I had this fire going myself” he says, and scratches at his head. “I? I think I had lit because I wanted to cook something. I don’t remember” he says, and shakes his head.

“Anyway, as I’m watching this fire going, I start to wonder where it came from. What really caused fire” he says, and Moana snorts a laugh at the thought that Maui would be so fascinated by something like fire.

“What did you do?” She asks, and Maui laughs kind of sheepishly at her question.

“So I waited for everyone in the village to go to sleep, right? And then I, uh,” he pauses to shrug at her. “...might have extinguished all the fires in the village after that. Made it impossible for them to get any more” he says.

“Maui!” Moana yelps, and punches him in the arm. “What good did you think that would do?”

“I’m getting there, Curly, I’m getting there” he says, and shakes his head in good humor. “The next morning, everyone in the village started freaking out, because without fire they couldn’t cook or provide for their families, so I graciously stepped in and offered to go retrieve it from Mahuika myself” he says, and Moana rolls her eyes at the way he stresses on graciously.

“Hush” he says, somehow reading her thoughts, and continues. “So I go to Mahuika, and I ask her if I could take some back for the humans, right?” He says, and Moana waves her hands around.

“You mean you fought her for it, right?” She asks, amusement clear in her voice, but Maui only blinks in confusion for a moment before he laughs again.

“Actually, Mahuika kind of liked me. She was close with some of the gods that raised me, right? So I walk in and I ask for some of hers, and she happily gives up one of her fingernails for me to take back for you guys”

“And...That’s it?” Moana asks, and Maui turns to her, grinning.

“You know me better than anyone, Moana, what do you think?” He asks laughingly, and Moana sighs exaggeratedly, burying her face in her hands.

“Maui, if you say-”

“But even that wasn’t enough for me” He finishes her sentence, and she groans.

“Oh my gods, Maui” she sighs, but can’t help the amusement in her voice. She elbows him in the side.

“What?” he asks. “All I wanted to know was what would happen if she lost all of her fire, too-” he says, and Moana shakes her head at him.

“Maui, I swear to the gods” She says, and she’s trying so hard not to laugh out loud that she’s physically shaking.

“So I extinguished that one, and went back and told her I’d dropped it. She gave me another one, and I kept leaving and coming up with all of these excuses so she’d give me a new one”

“How long did it take for her to figure out you were just tricking her?” Moana asks.

“All the way down to her last toenail, believe it or not. I came in asking for more, and that’s when she realized. So instead of giving it to me,” he pauses, turns to Moana again.

“She threw it at you?”

“She tried to. Missed me and hit the forest outside her cave where she lived. If I remember correctly, it spread to the Mahoe, the Tōtara, the Patete, and the Kaikōmako trees” He says, counting on them out on his fingers.

“So, Chosen One,” he finishes, turning his attention back to her. “As honored as I am that your people continuously give me credit for stealing fire, that’s not the true story. Once these trees burned, I took some of the dry wood back and taught them how to create fire themselves” He nods towards their campfire, and down towards the flints Moana had used to start it. “For that?” He says, and turns to her with a big grin on his face. “You’re welcome!” he calls, and Moana rolls her eyes as she reaches down to throw more sticks into the fire to increase its size.

“Wow” Moana whispers, and turns to him. “I can’t believe you’re an even bigger nerd than I thought you were” she says, and punches him in the arm. Maui crosses his arms and glares at her.

“But you can’t tell anyone I told you this version, okay?” he asks, and she snorts a laugh.

“Oh no, I wouldn’t dare” she says, and rolls her eyes. “Gotta protect my brother’s reputation and all. Can’t have anyone thinking he’s a nerd or anything” She snorts again, and punches him in the arm.

“Thank you for having such a deep understanding of me” Maui deadpans, and turns to her. “Alright,” he says, and folds his arms. “Your turn. You have any interesting stories?” He asks, and Moana rolls her eyes.

“Well obviously not compared to yours” She says, and looks around her surroundings in hopes that they’ll give her another idea. On instinct, her eyes trail towards the ocean, and she smiles.

“Oh!” She says, and elbows him. “Have I ever told you about the time the ocean chose me?” She asks, and Maui snorts a laugh.

“Kid, wasn’t I with you for that one?”

“What?” she asks, and then shakes her head. “No,” she says, and punches him in the arm again. “I meant the first time. When it chose me. As a toddler” She says, and the way Maui’s eyebrow raises up at toddler obviously means she hasn’t.

Oh. That explains a lot.

“Well,” she starts. “It all really started in the fale tele. I was about, two or three I think?” She says, and shakes her head. “My gramma had just finished telling me and the other kids a story” She rolls her eyes and turns to him. “I thought it was pretty cool, y’know, the story of how you stole the heart-”

“Naturally” Maui cuts in smugly, and Moana rolls her eyes at him before she continues.

“-But all these other kids started freaking out. They started screaming and freaking out, and my father had to come in and intervene. It didn’t exactly go over very well. Anyway, as my dad’s trying and failing to get a stampede of children off of him, I notice this little glisten out of the corner of my eye.”

“You followed it” Maui guesses, and Moana nods.

“And before I knew it, I found myself on the beach. I’d never been down to the ocean before, so I can imagine you can guess how excited I was”

“I dunno,” he says, and smirks at her. “Remind me the next time you’re anywhere near the water so I can get a better picture next time you tell this story”

“Hush. Anyway, as I’m walking down the beach, I turn to the ocean, and all of a sudden I see this really pretty pink conch shell being pushed up towards the shore” she says, and she thinks she can make out Maui glancing back towards the mountain peak.

“You mean like the one you put on your dad’s stone?” He asks, and she shakes her head, partly in amusement, and partly in nostalgia.

“I’d like to think it’s the same shell, actually” she says, and tucks some of her hair behind her ear. “So I’m about to reach for the shell, when all of a sudden I hear this squawking behind me. I turn around, and I see these birds preventing a baby turtle from making its way back to the sea. Each time it tried to take a step towards the sea, a bird would try to swoop down and take it. So I abandoned the shell, even though it was really pretty,” she exaggerates, and this time it’s Maui’s turn to laugh at her unnecessary exaggeration. “-and I go to help the baby turtle. I pulled one of the leaves from the bushes and I held it over the turtle as I helped it all the way back to the sea.”

“And the birds?” Maui asks.

“Oh, the birds definitely still tried to attack it when I was helping it. Each time a bird tried to attack it I’d just scare it off before I kept going. It wasn’t easy, but I did eventually get the turtle all the way back to the sea”.

“Huh” Maui says, almost sounding impressed, and sits back on his hands a little bit. “And is that it? Did you just assume the ocean chose you because of that?” He asks, and she raises an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t know” she says, nudges him in the side. “You know me better than almost anyone, Maui, what do you think?” she asks, and he shakes his head in amusement.

“There’s gotta be more” he mock-whispers, and Moana can’t help but laugh at that.

“There’s always more” she fills in, and Maui snorts a laugh at that. “Anyway, after I helped that baby turtle, I could’ve sworn that for the briefest of seconds that the entire ocean just kind of lit up.” She shrugs. “It was pretty early in the morning, so I couldn’t tell for sure. But then it started rumbling, and before I knew it the ocean was parting for me. Right in front of me where I left it was the shell. As I went to pick it up, I saw another shell right in the water’s path, so I grabbed for it, and the ocean parted and let me take the second one too”

“This kept going on for a while. I’d pick up a shell, spot another one, and go after that one as well. But then when I turned, the ocean was all around me, and when I looked to my side I saw that little turtle I’d helped swimming by with its mother. After that, the ocean raised its head up to look at me, and then it lowered itself down so I could say hello” She laughs. “After that it uh, started playing with my hair” she says, and begins to fidget with her hair. “And then I noticed something floating towards me, and when I looked up at the water all I saw was this pulsing green stone floating towards me-”

“You didn’t-” Maui says, and the shock in his voice has Moana laughing again.

“-And I picked it up. I had no idea what it was, of course. All I saw in it was some pretty green stone” She tucks more of her hair behind her ear. “But then before the ocean could do anything else, like give me some sort of-” she pauses to elbow him in the ribs “watered down explanation of what it was-” Maui groans in irritation, and Moana can’t help but giggle at the sound. “-My dad starts calling me from the village. The ocean sees this, completely panics, and before I know it I’m floating on a piece of driftwood back to shore. I dropped Te Fiti’s heart as soon as I stumbled off of it, but before I had time to look for it, my dad came over and grabbed me to bring me back to the village.”

“Woah, hold on. You dropped it?” Maui asks.

“Yep!” Moana says, sheepishly beginning to run her hands through her hair. “Chosen to bring it back to Te Fiti herself and I lost track of it the first day it was given to me” She snorts a laugh. “Maybe the reason the legends said I had to bring you along was to make sure I wouldn’t lose it” she says, and scooches closer to him. She leans her head against his shoulder and pouts up at him. “Don’t tell anyone I said that was the real reason, though” she says, and Maui laughs.

“Nah, can’t have people going around saying anything bad about Te Fiti’s favorite mortal” He says, and at favorite mortal he lifts the arm she had been leaning against and uses it to pull her into a headlock. “Te Fiti would smite me personally for it” he says, and with his free arm gives her the roughest noogie Moana’s experienced in her entire life. Moana screeches in complaint, but there’s a smile on her face as she forcibly yanks herself away from him. She punches him in the arm for that, and he laughs.

A comfortable bit of silence passes between them for a few moments after that, and Moana turns her attention to watch the crackling of the fire as it slowly begins to die out. But then out of the corner of her eye, she sees Maui shift next to her.

“How are you feeling?” He asks her, and she turns to look at him. Though he’s still got that mischievous smile plastered to his face, Moana can make out small bits of concern lingering in his expression.

Behind him, in the distance, Moana can make out the sun beginning to rise, just barely beginning to peek its way over the horizon. Next to her, the fire crackles reassuringly, and the scent of the smoke rising from it fills her with a sense of comfort.

There is no more of her pounding headache from last night. There is no more of her exhaustion, save for the kind that comes with staying up all night. Her stress from the ugly results of last night’s meeting is long gone, tossed into the wind as soon as she and Maui began to talk of their life stories.

Moana lets out a quiet sigh, and she returns her attention to him, smiling.

“Much better”

#moana #my writing #team bun buddies #you know something's gonna end up being a garbled fluffy mess when you're editing and changing lines because they're not AFFECTIONATE enough #I actually laughed SO hard when I read that version of how maui stole fire #tfw your older brother is much stupider and more of a DORK than you thought he was ten minutes ago #(if that's even possible)#good luck convincing her you're worthy of being her hero now #I feel like maui would definitely find moana's story about the baby turtle interesting #and. hey maui.#are you sure moana is *te fii's* favorite mortal #or is she really yours #hmmMMM?

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thebest-medicine · 7 years

Text

I Have Journeyed

P/N (publisher’s note?): WOWOWWOW this is amazing and definitely worth the wait and awesome and beautiful. I love the Maui and Moana dynamic, all seems exactly like it would have fit in the movie. Thank you so much for this amazing fic you are the best! /thebest-medicine

submitted by Negligible!Anon:

Words: 3878

A/N: At last, the long-awaited Secret Santa fic … I’m not going to make any excuses for how late this is, because there’s no excuse that can justify you having to wait this long, but I want to thank you and calmturquoise for being so patient with me. It’s definitely an honor to write.. well, anything for you, and you deserve all the fic in the world, and I really loved Moana and your fics made me love it even more <3 I hope this is good enough to make up for, at least a little, how long it took to get to you. Also, I wish you the happiest of birthdays! -Negligible!Anon

^^^

In her sleep, Moana dreams of her island. It’s not always visions of black rot creeping over the sand and trees and her village – as the days spent on the sea drag on, her dreams are filled with memories instead. Shadows stretching over the sand as the sun sets in a blaze of color overhead and the sizzle of palm leaves over a fire, her mother stroking her hair back from her face and her father’s hand on her shoulder as he explains some new part of chiefhood.

All her life, Moana has never been alone. There have always been people around her, laughing and teaching and caring about her. Here on her boat, with no company but a chicken and a pompous demigod, dreams of her home ache almost as much as visions of its destruction.

At least she can always wake up.

The sun is high overhead, she notes, and there is still nothing but ocean in sight. Sighing a little, she props herself up on one elbow so she can watch the waves lap smoothly at the water’s surface, entrancing as always. “Good morning, ocean.”

A wave breaks off from the rest and reaches to her in silent greeting. She stretches out her own hand with a smile, wiggling her fingers as the water wraps around her hand. It’s cool and soothing, playing over her skin, and she doesn’t think she’ll every tire of the way the light breaks and scatters in flashes over her palm. “It’s good to have at least one friend around, huh? I wish you could talk. Hearing good stories always cheers me up.”

In the corner of her eye, a flash of grey and white in the water – the colors of a manta ray. She swings her head to follow its motion in the water, suddenly distracted. The next moment, the ocean tugs sharply at her captive hand and drags her, flailing, into the water.

The world goes cool and blue for a moment, and then her head breaks the surface. She’s still next to the boat, the ocean bearing her along with the current. She struggles into an upright position, treading water with one hand and pulling wet hair off her face with the other. “What was that for? This is not cheering me up.”

The ocean ripples in response around her, a gentle massage on her arms and legs. Moana experimentally stretches out an arm, twisting to float on her back. “Mm,” she sighs, eyes fluttering closed, “… feels nice. You’re the best, ocean.”

The massage lasts for a few seconds more and then… changes, somehow. She’s not sure what happens, but all of sudden every single muscle in her body wants to squirm. “Okay, that tickles a bit, can we maybe – ahaheek!” She looks down, looking for the cause of the upset, but that just means she can see the whorls of water as they spin around her stomach and knees and all the way down to her feet, light maddening touches on every bit of exposed skin. It tickles so badly, every nerve alight in breathless anticipation and humming with electricity. She shrieks and squeals and flails, trying to turn herself over and swim back to the boat, but she can hardly move for laughing – every time she so much as twitches, the swirling around her stomach intensifies, making her double over in laughter. She’s being tickled half out of her mind, and there’s nothing she can do about it. Oddly, it does make her feel better, even as tears of laughter well up in her eyes – the ocean is trying to make her happy, and she appreciates the effort.

Just as she feels like she’ll burst if she has to take this any longer, the ocean surges up, depositing her on the deck with a desultory pat on the head that leaves drops of water sparkling in her hair. She gasps for breath like a dying fish, still inhaling jaggedly as sensation prickles over her water-slicked skin. Everything feels fresh and cool and salty; finally she feels fully awake and refreshed, in the moment and not longing for home. “Fine, fine. You have successfully cheered me up, ocean. I’ll get back to the quest now, sorry for falling asleep.”

Come to think of it, Maui should have woken her – where is he? Suddenly panicked, she looks over the cramped space of the boat – Hei-hei’s head is sticking out of the hold, twitching as he pecks in his sleep, and Maui is –

Asleep. Still upright, cross-legged by the tiller with his head tipped over onto his shoulder. Mini-Maui sleeps beneath a grove of palm trees on his chest, wrapped in a blanket of starry sky. At first, she’s angry – he teases her for falling asleep and then does it himself? They could have drifted off course! – until she realizes that she’s never actually seen him sleep before. He’s always awake in the day to bicker and brag and begrudgingly advise her in wayfinding, and when she’s nearly dead on her feet at night and finally gives up on staying awake, she always wakes to find him expertly handling the sail and rope, casting a mocking smile in her direction. That famous demigod resilience, it seems, has finally run out.

And now that she looks closer, he is handling the rope – before the sail rope is knotted to the tiller, it loops loosely around his wrist. If the sail so much as twitched, he’d feel it. “He must be really tired, if my laughing didn’t wake him up. Did you keep the boat from moving so he’d fall asleep?” she asks the ocean, still watching the sleeping demigod in something like fascination.

The wave, still floating alongside her boat, bobs up and down.

She huffs, but not without a smile. “All right, we’ll let him sleep for a while. But as soon as he wakes up, I’m going to tease him just as much as he does me. And if he gets upset, I’ll dump him overboard and you can cheer him up. Deal?”

The wave nods at her once more before it sinks back down into the vast expanse of water before her. She waves goodbye to it as it sweeps away from the bow of the boat to ripple across the ocean, probably to wash up on some distant shore. She’ll follow it there, someday.

But for now… tugging an extra length of rope out of the hold, Moana settles against the mast and begins to practice knots, one eye on Maui, waiting for the day to truly begin.

^^^

When Moana dreamed of exploring beyond the horizon, Lalotai was not what she had in mind.

They’re searching for something shiny enough to distract Tamatoa – there’s plenty of gold buried in the sand, but most of it is either too small to cover Moana or too heavy for her to lift. Maui rolls his eyes and huffs something about weak mortals under his breath, and she decides abruptly that they should split up while they look, stalking off before Maui can say anything about it.

Well, she’s already survived at least five minutes by herself in the Realm of Monsters, certainly she can do it again. Maybe she’ll find some vines to strap a golden shield to her back, or something she can balance on her head –

Something wraps around her leg in the too-quiet darkness, and she bites on her tongue to keep from screaming. Nothing but vines, she tells herself, nothing but inanimate objects that are definitely not going to eat her. She tries to pry one off her leg so she can pull it out of the ground, but the grip doesn’t budge. She pulls harder. Nothing, and now there are tendrils snaking up her arms too. Her heart beats faster and faster in her ears, and in perfect time a pulsing light spreads beneath her feet, all neon blues and yellows and oranges that are too sickly, too bright, none of them like colors she’s ever seen before.

She screams. For help, for Maui, for fear that this thing has a mouth and is about to swallow her up. As she struggles the colors get brighter and brighter, spreading further out, and as her eyes dart wildly around she thinks she can see the glint of teeth under her feet –

“Curly? Where are you?” She twists around to see Maui skid out from behind a rock outcropping. He spots her and advances slowly, palms out. “Whoa, it’s okay, just calm down.”

She can’t – every time she tries to take a deep breath, it comes right back out of her in a scream. “I’ll calm down when I get these things off me!”

Maui steps closer, looking – concerned? “Some of the monsters in Lalotai feed on fear, okay? I mean, they feed on people too, but the scared ones taste better.” Moana feels dizzy. She wants to stop screaming but she can’t, the raw horror is seeping out in whimpers that leave her throat raw and she can’t, she can’t - “So I need you to just… calm down, okay? The lights will stop, and it’ll let go, and I’ll get you out of there – Maui to the rescue, right?”

“W-what if it doesn’t let go?”

The pulsating light beneath her feet as the thing feeds off her fear is so bright now that it’s nearly blinding, and it’s easy to see where the ground turns from sand into writhing tentacles of … something. Maui walks right up to the edge so he can reach out to her, squatting at the edge and wrapping his hands firmly around her waist, getting in her face so she can’t help but look at him. “I got you, princess. If it doesn’t start letting go, I will personally pull you out with all my demigod strength.”

Without really meaning to, Moana shakes her head and keeps tugging at her arms and legs. “You won’t, it’s going to eat me -”

“Just trust me!”

“I can’t! You didn’t want to come here, and you don’t want to help me, and –“

“Hey,” Maui says, sharply, squeezing her waist. Moana jerks away with a tiny eep, and for a moment the neon lights oozing from the ground dim to something almost bearable. He studies her carefully, still crouching in front of her. “I’m going to help you, I promise. Are you ticklish?”

Moana blinks down at him. “What?”

His fingers dig into her waist, and she giggles. Maui drums his fingers on her back, looking determined. “You know what monsters hate even more than mortals who aren’t afraid? Mortals who are laughing.”

Moana’s eyes widen. “Don’t you dare-“ Too late. Maui’s huge fingers are already digging into her sides, surprisingly nimble, and past all the fear a peal of laughter comes winding up into her throat and right out from between her clenched teeth. “Stohohop it – Tomotoa will hehehear us!”

Maui grins at her. “I told you, monsters hate laughter. And that big crabmouth won’t care about you unless you’re edible or covered in gold. We have aaaall the time we need to get you out of here, and I’m more than willing to help, no matter how long it takes.”

Now Moana’s shrieking for an entirely different reason – Maui’s teasing combined mixed with his wiggling fingers are just too much for her to handle. To her relief, as she laughs she can feel the grip of the monster on her arms and legs recoil as if it can’t stand touching her any more. Bit by bit, they unwind, giving her more freedom to move and pull. Maui notices, too – abruptly reaching down, he grabs one of her ankles, using the new lack of restriction to pull her foot off the ground and scratch his nails up and down the calloused sole.

“Cootchie cootchie coo!” he teases.

Moana grabs at him for balance. “AhahanOT THERE!” she pleads. The tentacles release her foot like they’ve been burned

“Hey, it works!” True to his word, the vines are sinking back to the ground, flattened by the force of her laughter. Her freed foot is placed gently onto the safe path, and then Maui grabs the other one. She’s seconds away from punching him at that point, laughing so hard she thinks her lungs will burst, but suddenly his hands are firmly back on her waist and he pulls. The vines slip off her elbows and wrists, and now she’s standing safely beside Maui, gasping for breath through residual giggles. He’s grinning back at her, wraps one arm around her and pulls her into a sideways hug with a whoop of victory. Unthinking, she hugs him back.

Head against his side, she comes face to face with mini-Maui, who winks at her. Blushing, she lets go and stumbles away, pulling her hair and skirt into some semblance of order.

When she looks up, Maui is regarding her, one eyebrow aloft. “You okay, Princess? Good thing you had a hero around to save you, right?”

She sighs. “Still not a princess. But…thank you. For helping me.”

He smirks, and her eyes narrow. “You’re welc -ow!” They both look down at mini Maui, who has apparently just punched Maui in the arm.

Now he’s just… looking at her. “As… fun as that was, you really shouldn’t be down here. And you definitely shouldn’t be anywhere near Tamatoa.”

“But even the Demigod of the Wind and Sky needs a distraction to get his precious fishhook back.” She doesn’t want to fight with him, and she doesn’t exactly feel safe down here, but she needs to be useful, and if this is the only way – it is what it is.

Maui grits his teeth, mini-Maui looking back and forth like he’s tracking a coconut being thrown from person to person. “I don’t need anything from you. This is just so we can get out of here faster – because someone decided they needed to come down here even though mortals aren’t meant to be in Lalotai, and now we need to get out before something actually eats you.”

“Well, I trust you to protect me.” His lips twitch into a reluctant smile at that, and she smiles back. “Let’s do this.”

Later, as Moana grabs Maui’s hand and they sprint towards the geyser that will finally get them out of here, she tries very, very hard to ignore the neon lights that flash out every time Maui’s feet hit the ground. She isn’t scared anymore. She trusts him. They can do this.

They have to.

^^^

“You’re telling me we’re running out of water because you let a chicken sneak onto your boat?”

Moana picks up said chicken protectively. “I couldn’t just let Hei-hei die of thirst! And that’s not the only reason - I packed as much as I could, but I wasn’t expecting a storm to wreck the canoe, or for us to take a detour to the Realm of Monsters… maybe if we ask the ocean nicely, it’ll bring us a rain cloud and we can get some water from there.”

“You can’t expect the ocean to do everything for you, Curly,” Maui says, squinting at the night sky above them. “Lucky for us, there’s an island near here with some fresh water. I can have us there by morning.”

“Really? That’s great!” Maui’s chest puffs out as he poses dramatically, one hand outstretched to measure the stars, and it reminds her so much of Hei-hei getting ready to crow that she can barely keep from laughing. “Wait, how long has it been since you’ve been there?”

Maui’s hand drops a little. “Uh…’

Now she does laugh. “Maybe you should fly ahead and check.”

He turns around just in time for her to see mini-Maui unroll the tally chart from the ever-shifting canvas of Maui’s chest and draw another mark under her name. Maui looks down and scoffs, but that doesn’t stop him from showing her the star-path that will lead her to the island before he leaps into the air and soars away in a flash of blue light.

Maui drops back out of the sky in about an hour – yes, the island is still there, and yes, it still has water and food. Moana lands them on the beach just as the horizon starts to turn the pearly grays and pinks that signal the oncoming sun, and she can’t help but smile. The trees here are still lush and green, the sand soft beneath her feet. This island is surely closer to Te Fiti than her own, and it’s far from dead. She thumbs open her necklace to let the green stone inside see as well. “Look,” she whispers. “It’s not too late. We can still bring you home.”

Minutes later, she’s lugging hollowed out gourds to a beautiful spring while Maui kicks around the sand and hums approvingly. “Good for sculptures,” he declares, and kneels, apparently intent of making a little version of himself right then and there. On his back, mini-Maui shrugs at her before running over the demigod’s shoulder to give his input on the muscled torso coming into form from the sand.

Moana rolls her eyes, fills every container they have with cool, fresh water, and starts carrying them back to the boat. Every so often, she glances over at Maui’s progress. He works fast – the head is already recognizable, and the curl of a tattoo has already been sketched out on one side of the chest with the point of his fishhook. Judging from that statue on the island where she met him, Maui must have a lot of practice sculpting himself.

Not that it makes watching him play as she does the actual work any less annoying. Halfway through her job, she stops in her tracks, glaring at Maui and bending to scoop up a handful of wet sand from the shoreline’s edge.

“If he likes the sand so much…” she mutters, pulling her arm back to throw. Suddenly, her hand is enveloped in cool wetness – the ocean, staying her hand. “What?” she hisses. “Come on, not even once?”

In reply, the ocean swirls her handful of sand into a perfectly smooth ball of mud, cold to the touch and somehow sticky and gritty at the same time, before releasing her hand. Moana grins and lets the projectile fly.

Maui’s head snaps up as wet sand splats messily over his shoulder. “Are you trying to start a sand fight with me? You want to tangle with a demigod?”

“Well, I want you to do some of the heavy lifting with all those muscles of yours,” Moana shoots back, already scooping up another handful of sand.

Maui stands, cracking his neck, and stretches his arms wide. “Oh, well, if you want me to lift something heavy-“ The next moment he’s rushing across the sand to her, swinging her up into the air before she can even think to run, fingers finding the spaces between her ribs and starting to tickle.

Moana kicks her legs helplessly and tries to pry his hands away, only lasting a few seconds before she’s laughing too hard to fight back. “Nohoho! Help!’ she begs.

“No help for you, princess – you start a fight with me, it’ll get finished one way or another,” Maui says, teeth bared. He’s still holding her, effortless, above the ground, his thumb brushing the edge of her belly button and making her shriek. “Not even the ocean can help you now!”

He might be right – they’ve moved away from the shoreline, and the ocean doesn’t seem especially inclined to help anyway, inching languidly up and down the sand with the swell of waves. But it’s not the ocean’s help she’s asking for.

Swinging himself out of a panel on Maui’s arm, mini-Maui winks at her and makes his way down to Maui’s stomach, wiggling his fingers dramatically before poking a single finger into the tanned expanse of skin behind him.

Maui flinches, fingers stilling on her sides. “What-“

Still in the air, Moana shrugs down at him. She’s probably grinning evilly. “Help.”

He drops her a few seconds later, reaching to flick his mischievous tattoo away from anywhere particularly sensitive, and then she and mini-Maui try their best to tickle him to the ground – he is, as it turns out, even more ticklish than her, letting out a sharp exclamation every time her fingers so much as brush his skin, but he also has long arms and excellent reflexes and is more than capable of holding Moana back with one hand and clapping the other over mini-Maui to keep him in place. Moana ducks out of his reach and grabs at his knees, his hips, but nothing seems to work - that is, until mini-Maui manages to get under one of his arms. Doubling over in a fit of laughter, Maui pushes Moana gently back with his free hand and turns, staggering towards his hook. “Okahahay, that’s it. I – stohohop that or you’ll be sleeping under my arm, jerk! – it’s hawk time, ahahand I’ll turn back when you two decihide to be nice again.” Seizing the giant hook in the arm that’s not pressed against his side, trying to keep mini-Maui contained, Maui twirls his wrist and prepares to leap. A flash of blue light, cut by a squeal as Moana makes one last play at his huge stomach and mini-Maui gets an especially good spot at the top of his ribcage– and Maui is still there, precariously balanced on a shark tail.

He blinks and looks down, his upper half stiffening. “Oh, nO-“

Moana lunges, pushing him to the ground and tickling everywhere she can reach. Mini-Maui scampers into all the places she can’t get to, dragging feathery-looking palm fronds over the small of Maui’s back and the back of his neck. She jabs at his ribs, runs her fingers over the join of soft human skin and rough shark scales with a light touch that has Maui begging for mercy, wiggles a finger into his belly button and watches in fascination as the surrounding fire roars to life under his skin in swirls of green. Maui shouts and laughs and pounds on the ground until it shakes beneath them and he, breathless, chokes out a promise to carry every single gourd and an entire tree’s worth of coconuts to the boat.

Moana rocks back on her heels in breathless delight, feeling powerful enough to wield Maui’s famous fishhook herself. “So, the mighty Maui can be defeated by tickling?” Maui gasps for breath and spits out a mouthful of sand. “Hey, if I beat you, what does that make me?”

“Living on borrowed time,” Maui growls playfully, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and tugging her down next to him so he can rub sand into her hair. Still, Moana holds her head high as they walk back to her boat, the sunlight glinting off her necklace as she walks. Ready to finish her quest, and ready to fight beside Maui.

She’d beat the Demigod of the Wind and Sky in a tickle fight. What could the world possibly throw at her now?

#ticklish!moana #ticklish!maui #squealing santa 2k16 #negligible!anon #submission #moana #maui #hei hei #disney #disney tickling #tickle fic #fluff #this is beautiful I love it #im feeling 22 #borthday fic #good things #thank you so so so much #its perfect

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fallen-gravity · 7 years

Text

The Ocean is a Friend of Mine Ch. 4

AO3

Word Count: 6,036 (LISTEN. LISTEN. I HAVE AN EXCUSE. I PROMISE.)

Chapter Summary: Maui and Moana receive answers from Te Fiti.

Notes: Let me just say that there are SO MANY references and callbacks in this chater. So much so that I had to make a list on my phone so I wouldn’t forget them all. Above all, I’d like to give a shoutout to @inkedinserendipity for letting me lowkey rip a line right from Pantheon to use in this story. Seren, if you’re reading this, I dare you to find exactly what line I used.

Other than that, I also referenced the Moana storybook, two of my published fics, a storyboard artist, and the actual movie itself. Kudos to you if you can catch them all, and thank you so much for reading this story and supporting its process. Because of you, I'm already in the process of planning a sequel story.

You’re welcome ;)

(See the end of the work for more notes)

The moment they break through the surface, the two of them simultaneously break into a hysterical laughing fit. Once they get back to their boat, Moana pushes her hands down onto the deck of the boat and whispers the incantation to get her legs back. She pushes herself on board, and attempts to walk to Maui, but because she’s laughing too hard she slips into a sitting position and whacks the back of her head against the mast.

“Okay,” she wheezes out. “That was probably the most fun I’ve ever had in my entire life. Once we get back from Te Fiti, we’re definitely going back down there again” Moana says, bringing a hand to her forehead as she laughs.

“The most?” Maui asks, trying to sound hurt, but he’s still wheezing with laughter too. “Even more than the first time you sailed to Te Fiti?”

“I almost died three times in Lalotai alone the first time” Moana says, squinting at him. “This time three monsters almost died because of me” She says smugly, resting her hands behind her head as she leans against the mast of the boat. “Which would you prefer?” she asks, and Maui snorts a laugh as he works on getting the boat moving again. Despite the fact that they had left their boat completely unattended, it doesn’t seem like it moved at all. Maui would think for sure that if someone or something hadn’t stolen the boat when they were down there, the ocean would’ve drifted the boat off in some random direction. But even the ocean around them is perfectly still. Shrugging it off, He sits at the controls and resets the boat’s course for Te Fiti.

He glances back up at Moana when the boat starts to move again. Her hands are still placed behind her head, but that smug smile she had on her face is now replaced with a more content one. Her eyes are closed, and she seems to be enjoying the warmth of the sunshine reaching her side of the deck. Maui shakes his head in amusement as he goes back to working on the controls, but once they’re completely out of Lalotai’s dark shadow, something bright flashes in his eye and he frowns. Squinting, he looks back up, and sees that the sun is shining right through Moana’s chest and bouncing off of her heart. It’s casting an intensely bright shade of blue sunlight over the deck in front of her.

He frowns. That explains how the first monster down in Lalotai was able to see it so easily without her popping her necklace open. Even from the other side of the boat, even if Maui can’t make it out perfectly, he can see its general outline inside her star necklace and the sun reflecting off of it is causing it to shine so bright anyone could see it from miles away. There were definitely going to be more monsters who would want it, and if they were anything like Tamatoa or the rest of those bottom feeders down in Lalotai it would take more than asking nicely to get them to back off.

The monsters above Lalotai’s surface are a lot smarter, too. Some of them know how to dodge a blow and how to sneak behind him when he’s not looking. If he messed up and let one slip by him and get to Moana, and if she wasn’t fast enough to defend herself, and if it reached into her chest and tried to pull her heart out-

No. Maui shakes his head to clear those awful thoughts. It would never happen. He couldn’t let it happen.

Frowning, he makes sure the controls are set enough to allow him to walk away from them, and he stands.

“Moana, can we talk?” He asks, and she pops an eye open. When she sees a blue light bouncing off of Maui’s face, she opens her mouth to question it but answers her own question when she glances down at herself.

“Sorry!” she offers sheepishly, and shrugs. “Is it my heart? Because I can move if it’s making things too hard to see” She says, and stands.

“No-” Maui starts, but then cuts himself off. “Actually, yes, it is pretty obnoxious, but that’s not what I want to talk about”

“Oh.” Moana says, and leans back against the mast again. “Then what do you want to talk about?” She asks, and he eyes her necklace for a short moment before continuing.

“Um.” Maui says awkwardly, like he’s unsure how to word his question. “That monster down in Lalotai who came after your heart. What did it exactly do when it tried to take it from you?”

“You mean before it started chasing after me? Well first of all, it locked its beady little eyes onto my heart and let out the most high-pitched screech I’ve ever heard in my entire life.” She starts, going wide-eyed. “After that, it started drooling acid like crazy, and then it sort of crouched down and waited for the perfect moment to come sprinting at me, I guess.” She says, and shrugs. “And then it ran after me, I tripped over a geyser, and used it to blast the monster out of Lalotai. Simple as that.”

Maui frowns. He’d been down in Lalotai enough times to be able to interpret the monster screeches pretty well, and each time he used to hear one let out a really high pitched screech like the one she described, it would’ve been minutes before a large group of monsters came in to help the other in battle. That monster wanted her heart so badly it called for others to come and help it take it from her.

On top of that, it had crouched down to get to her. In his experience, monsters only ever crouched when they were about to pounce, so Moana must’ve started running right before it had the chance to. And then she tripped over that geyser, completely by chance, and if she hadn’t been able to get it to blow off-, He starts to think, but manages to rip himself from his thoughts before they could get any darker.

“I just,” Maui starts awkwardly. “think that maybe you should work on protecting your heart a little more carefully is all” He finishes, and at first she looks completely flabbergasted and offended, but after a few seconds, realization seems to come to her, and her expression eases into a smirk. She crosses her arms.

“Maui, demigod of the wind and sea,” Moana recites in a mocking tone. “Are you worried about me?”

“Well, I’m just saying” He replies, avoiding her question entirely. “What happens if we run into a monster above the surface? What if that one tries to take your heart too?” He asks, and her smirk only deepens at the unintentional confirmation he just gave to her question.

“First of all, I’ve got the entire ocean on my side” She says, and brings a hand up and waves it back and forth. The ocean copies like it’s waving hello. “Secondly,” she says, dropping her arms to her side and pointing an accusing finger at him. “You’re talking like you wouldn’t be there. It’d be kind of hard to get separated when we’re on the same boat in the middle of the ocean, so I really doubt what happened in Lalotai could happen again” She says, and eyes the oar in Maui’s hand that he had been using to help steer the boat. “And thirdly,” she says, smirking, and reaches forward and quickly whips it out of his hand before he can realize she’s trying to take it. “I can just do this” She starts, and while Maui is confusingly trying to figure out how the oar transferred from his hand to hers, she whacks him in the arm with it really hard.

“Hey!” he says defensively, rubbing at the sore spot on his arm.

“Just try and take my heart from me” Moana says with that glint of mischief returning in her eyes. She takes another swing at him with the oar, and Maui ducks out of the way. Taking a step towards him, Moana tightens her grip on the oar, and swings it again, this time coming in from the other direction. Maui, not noticing the change up in time, tries to dodge the blow, but ends up smacking right into it.

“Ha!” Moana calls out, and prepares to swing at him again. She spins around, and tries to whack at him again, but her hit is immediately blocked when he raises his fish hook up to stop it. “Unfair!” Moana says, sticking her tongue out at him.

“What, you can whack me with your oar all you want but suddenly it becomes unfair when I try to defend myself? Rude.” He says, and this time he takes a swing at Moana. She blocks the hit with her oar, and takes a half of a step back. She pauses to look down at her oar for a moment, and then looks back up at Maui. Smiling, she raises her oar up into the air slowly. He smiles back, and begins to raise his hook in the air in the same, slow pattern she used.

Then, without words, the two of them rush forward at the same time, both raising their weapon and swinging it to try and whack at the other. When their weapons clash, Moana slides backwards, and stomps her feet on the deck of the boat to still herself when she stops. Taking no time to stop for a break, she steps forward again, and she and Maui continue to battle back and forth on the small boat, running all around the small deck to try to avoid each other’s hits or to try to try to take the other from behind by surprise.

When Maui blocks one of her hits harder than she expects him to, her oar goes flying out of her hand and towards the water. Quickly, she raises both arms in the air in a movement so swift the oar merely bounces off of the water before returning to her boat. It lands on the deck in front of her, and she picks it up. Maui’s staring at her in disbelief. Smirking, she takes the opportunity to flick her wrist roughly in his direction, and a hard spray of water hits him in the face so suddenly and unexpectedly he recoils like he had just been slapped in the face.

“There, you see?” Moana says as Maui pushes his wet hair out of his eyes. “You’ve got nothing to worry about. Any monster that comes by is gonna have to answer to the ocean first” She says, whacking the end of the oar down onto the deck lightly. “And then to this,” she says, gesturing to the oar by waving it back and forth in a quick motion. “And then to that” She says, gesturing to Maui’s fish hook. She smiles. “If I were a monster, I think I’d turn tail and flee as soon as the ocean started turning against me” She says, and offers the oar back to Maui. He takes it from her, and returns to the controls as Moana goes to sit at the edge of the boat by the water.

As she looks out at the water, it suddenly comes to her attention just how still the ocean is. The only waves she can see seem to be the ones being created by her boat. She stands and walks to the mast, looking out at the direction they had just come from. Although now a distance away, Moana can see that instead of crashing gentle waves against the shore holding the entrance to Lalotai, the ocean instead appears to be resting on the shore. Frowning, she walks back over to where she had been sitting earlier, and lies down on her stomach to inspect the water more carefully. The way the sun is starting to set and cast off the water is making it look more like glass, and the way the boat is speeding through it makes it look like it’s shattering. Taking a quick glance over at Maui to make sure he’s not watching her, Moana leans over and sticks her head under the water to look around at the ocean below.

Underneath the water, everything seems normal. There are schools of fish of different colors and sizes peacefully swimming by. At the bottom of the ocean, she can make out a few oysters resting in the sand besides a few patches of dark green sea plants. In the distance, she can make out a sea turtle swimming in the opposite direction of the boat. Moana sighs with relief. Maybe the ocean’s just still because they’re not near any islands. It makes sense that the ocean would behave differently on Lalotai then it would on Motunui, because the ocean needs to keep itself still so no water could fall down and attack any of its residents.

At least, it used to, Moana thinks, smiling to herself, and when she hears the muffled sound of Maui’s voice coming from above her, she pulls her head out of the water to look at him.

“What was that?” She asks, turning to him.

“I asked what you were doing” Maui says, crossing his arms. “I looked up at you to ask you a question and all I see is you leaning forward and shoving your face in the water”

“Oh, you know” Moana says, smirking. “Just trying to get away from you is all” She says, copying his gesture. “It’s so much nicer and prettier down there and nobody tried to violently whack anything out of my hand”

“Hey! You were having just as much fun as I did and you know it” He says, failing to hide his smile as he sits next to her.

“True,” Moana says, smiling. “But you still whacked it out of my arms, and that’s against the rules”

“There are no rules in a real fight, Curly”

“Except that wasn’t a real fight” Moana reminds him, and he groans as Mini Maui comes to life only to add a point to Moana’s tally chart before freezing in place again.

“What’s down there that’s so interesting, anyway? I called you about four times before you even seemed to acknowledge I was standing next to you”

“What isn’t down there? It’s the ocean” Moana says, crossing her arms. “There’s fish everywhere, there’s plants, I saw an oyster or two, there’s even a few sea turtles down there. The ocean’s pretty active down there” She says, gesturing down towards the ocean floor with her head. “What I wouldn’t give to just be able to go for a walk on the ocean floor and go sightseeing” She says, waving her hands around her face dramatically, and Maui laughs.

“What were you doing down there, anyway?” He asks, and Moana drops her arms to her side.

“I was…checking to see how things were going down there” She says glumly, and casts another quick glance down at the ocean. When her smile fades, Maui’s does too.

“Why?”

“Maui, does something seem off about the ocean to you?” She asks, and Maui follows her gaze out on the water. It doesn’t look like anything about it changed since they had arrived at Lalotai earlier that morning.

“It doesn’t seem different to me”

“See, that’s the thing that’s bothering me” Moana says, and places her hand in the water. “I feel like it should be changing and it should look different at this time of day, but it’s not moving. It’s not doing anything” Moana says, and when she takes her hand out of the water, it creates a small ripple in the still surface.

“And you were checking under the water to…see if it was having the same problem?” Maui asks, and Moana nods.

“It doesn’t look like anything’s different down there. None of the fish seem to be affected by the ocean’s calm behavior” Moana says, pouting. “So there’s probably nothing wrong with it, but it just…” she pauses, her voice trailing out for a moment. “Bothers me.” She finishes, casting a quick glance out at the water.

“I had noticed something earlier, actually” Maui says, and Moana looks back up at him. “When we came back from Lalotai, and our boat was in the same exact spot even though we never brought it to shore, I kind of thought it was…weird?” He sort of asks, like ‘weird’ hadn’t been the word he was looking for. Despite that, Moana perks up that Maui immediately put her concerns into words. She attempts (and fails) to snap her fingers and points at him.

“Yes! Exactly!” Moana says with a sort of excited smile on her face. “It’s so weird, because you’d think the ocean would’ve pushed it away, or to the shore because we forgot to, or something would’ve taken it, but nothing! None of that happened, and even I know the ocean doesn’t usually go that easy on you” She says, calling back the time the ocean had created a tsunami to ‘help’ her find Maui’s island.

Maui laughs. “Well, we are already on our way to Te Fiti, aren’t we?” He asks. “If anyone has answers about it, it’s her, so we might as well add it to the list of like, 80 questions we’re already planning on throwing at her” He says, and Moana snorts a laugh as Maui stands.

As Maui walks back to the controls, Moana turns her attention back to the water. He’s right. They are already on their way to Te Fiti, so any question Moana has could easily be answered in a number of days. Plus, there really didn’t seem to be anything different happening below the waves, so she probably doesn’t have anything to worry about. Letting herself relax, she watches the setting sun sparkle and dance off of the surface. When the sun lowers enough that it appears to be resting just above the horizon, Moana moves over and sits in front of the mast to watch it set completely.

Not long after that, the stars begin to come out. Moana stays where she is, leaned against the mast, and watches as more and more begin to appear as the sky gets darker. When all the stars are in the sky, she stands and instinctively raises a hand to the sky to measure where they are. Smiling, she drops her hand down to her side and sits back down, dangling her feet in the water, staring up at the night sky.

After a little while, Moana glances back and watches Maui work out the controls. As she does, she notices that his shoulders are slumping over slightly and he’s leaning forward on the controls with one of his hands propped under his chin. He’s bored.

Frowning, Moana turns her attention back out at the stars, and after a while of watching them twinkle as she searches for familiar constellations, she gets an idea.

“Hey!” She calls, and turns back to look at him. He immediately jumps up into a sitting position and straightens out his back like he didn’t want Moana to see what he was doing. “Take a break and come sit with me” She says, and pats gently at the deck next to her. “The ocean’s clearly not going to push us off course, and you look like you’re about to fall asleep”

“I don’t sleep” Maui says, crossing his arms as he stands.

“No, but you do get bored, and bored people fall asleep. Sit” She says, and pats at the deck beside her again. “Come look at the stars with me” She says, and moves over to make room for him.

“What for?”

“Oh, come on” Moana says, casting a glance up at the stars. “There’s so many out here in the middle of the ocean. When can you say was the last time we stargazed together? Never?” She asks, and pats down on the deck again.

“Uh, I remember exactly when the last time we stargazed together was.” Maui says as he finally takes the spot next to her. “I’d be offended, but I don’t think you were exactly there when it happened”

“What do you mean I ‘wasn’t there’?” She asks, crossing her arms.

“Moana, you literally fell asleep on me after five minutes” He says, laughing. “I don’t think you could’ve been paying less attention to what was going on if you tried. One minute, you were looking up at the stars for constellations, and the next,” He says, and blows a raspberry for emphasis. “You’re out cold on my shoulder without so much as a warning. I’m pretty sure I was right in the middle of a sentence, nonetheless”

Next to him, Moana scrunches her face in as she digs through her memories, and then after a little bit she whacks him with the back of her hand. “That was you?” Moana asks, going slightly wide-eyed. “I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I ended back in my fale the next morning when I clearly remembered lying down after talking to someone on the beach!”

“Yep!” Maui says as he laughs, and shakes his head. “And that was just the first time you’d done that to me. You may have hated sleeping, but that mortal body of yours sure didn’t”

“I fell asleep on top of you more than once?” Moana asks, and Maui snorts.

“You fell asleep on me almost every time you complained you were tired. I almost had timing how long it took you to fall asleep down to a science”

Moana opens her mouth to respond, but closes it. She does remember that she used to lean on him and loudly complain about being tired or threaten to fall asleep on him a hundred times over, but she never remembered actually falling asleep. She had just figured that when she ‘woke up’ and he wasn’t there anymore was because he stood up and walked away quick enough for her not to notice.

“Well,” Moana says eventually. “There goes your life savings, then. You’ll never be able to catch me falling asleep again, because I’m never going to sleep again” She says smugly, and leans back on her hands for a better view of the stars. The two of them watch in silence for a moment, but when a shooting star shoots across the sky she immediately jumps to her feet.

“Yes!” Moana shouts, throwing her arms up in the air and unintentionally causing a wave of ocean water to splash over the deck and soak Maui from head to toe. “Finally!” She shouts, and places a hand on her hip as she returns her attention to Maui. “You see?” She says, pointing up at the sky. “I told you I’d be able to see one if I stayed up long enough” she says, and Maui leans over the boat to squeeze the water out of his hair.

“Congratulations,” he mutters sarcastically. “It only took you 65 years to finally see one. It totally had to do with the fact that you stayed up for most of the night and absolutely nothing else” He says, and Moana squints at him as she takes her seat back next to him.

“I think falling asleep at night could be exactly why it took me so long to see one” She replies, and crosses her arms. “Besides, it’s still better than never seeing one at all” She says, and Maui says nothing in response but rolls his eyes at her before he goes back to looking out at the stars.

The two of them stay where they are and look out at the stars as their boat gently pushes its way through the water for the rest of the night. Just as the sun is beginning to peak over the horizon, the area around them begins to feel warmer, and the air around them immediately begins to feel much crisper.

Just peaking over the horizon in harmony with the sun is the outline of an island. Three luscious green mountains are reaching up out of it to touch the sky.

It’s Te Fiti.

Maui and Moana stand in unison.

“You ready?” Maui says to her as he takes his place back at the controls. Moana glances down at her hands for a brief moment, and then she casts a quick glance at the calm ocean. Taking a deep breath, she clenches her fists together and turns to him. She smiles and gives him that same nod they used to signal for each other in Lalotai.

“Go.”

Maui returns her smile and nods back. Settling down at the controls, he increases the boat’s speed and does not stop until the boat pulls itself into Te Fiti’s shore. Once there, he and Moana jump off of the small canoe, and Maui drags it up to the beach to prevent it from drifting away. He then turns towards the direction of the goddess’s head and cups his hands around his mouth to make sure she can hear him clearly enough.

“Te Fiti!” He calls loudly, and as if she were waiting for them to arrive, she immediately awakens and begins to rise. Smiling slightly, she scoops a hand underneath the two of them and raises them up until they’re at her eye level. Moana drops down to her knee without fail, and a when she sends a quick glance back at Maui, he drops down to one of his knees as well.

“What brings you here?” Te Fiti asks, and both Maui and Moana stand and exchange a glance.

“Well,” Maui says, stepping forward to speak first. “We came to you because we have questions about Moana” he says, gesturing with his head to the water spirit standing next to him. Te Fiti tilts her head very slightly, and after a while she smiles in recognition. Moana takes this as a cue to step forward as well.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to be” Moana admits, looking herself over. “I died and came back” She says, bringing a hand to her forehead. “I mean, I know that’s not impossible” She says, remembering her grandmother. “But I feel like I came back sooner than I should’ve” She says, choosing her words as carefully as she can.

“Explain” Te Fiti says knowingly.

“Well, when I died, my people chose to send me out to sea for my burial, and as I was out there in the water something...odd happened to me” Moana says, and Te Fiti nods as encouragement to continue. “The ocean took my body and filled me with water, and then gave me this heart” She says, and clicks open her necklace to allow Te Fiti to look at it. For a half second, Te Fiti almost looks shocked, but it quickly fades and is replaced with a warm smile.

“As you know,” Te Fiti says to Moana. “You are the Ocean’s Chosen. You were chosen when you were very young for your selflessness and empathy towards one that was in danger. Your understanding and strategy was very rare for a mortal of your age” She says, and Moana bows her head down in a quick gesture.

“Thank you” Moana says, and Te Fiti smiles again as she continues.

“When the ocean chose you, it found a friend in you. It dedicated itself to you. The ocean chose you to aid you in ways other than assisting you in restoring my heart to me” She says, and quickly sends a glance at Maui as she says this before returning her attention to Moana. Next to her, Maui awkwardly avoids Te Fiti’s gaze.

“It chose me to assist me...in death?” Moana asks, confused, and Te Fiti nods.

“The ocean chose to assist you in many things. Among these things, the ocean chose to assist in preserving you and your soul, and it did as much as it could to make it possible” Te Fiti finishes, and Moana smiles, casting a glance down at the ocean below. She would definitely have to thank the ocean personally for that later. She could even figure out some way to show it her appreciation as soon as she and Maui left Te Fiti.

“So, I’ve got a question” Maui cuts into her thoughts, his eyebrow raised in questioning as he steps forward. “If the ocean wanted to preserve her, why didn’t she just come back as a sea creature or something?” He asks, and Te Fiti’s warm smile returns. She casts a glance at Moana, and then returns her attention to Maui.

“Because it did not want to separate you”

“What?” Maui and Moana blurt out in perfect unison, and Te Fiti lets out a low, quiet laugh.

“The ocean accompanied you two on every voyage you have taken together. It accompanied you on your first voyage together and witnessed how close you became. The Ocean knows, Maui, just how much you mean to each other, and when this mortal girl passed, it knew better than to keep you apart” she says, and Maui pauses to simultaneously process everything and come up with a response.

“Then what about you?” He asks. “The ocean can’t just give life on its own. You had to do something with this. How do you know all of this?” He asks, and Te Fiti looks at him with an amused smile on her face.

“You are not the only one the ocean speaks to” She repeats Tamatoa’s words and Moana can’t help but snort a laugh. “Do not think,” Te Fiti continues. “That I did not see what happened in Lalotai. You should know, Maui, that I have a lot of liberties as a goddess, and this allows me to see even those you would not think possible” She says, and raises her other hand to her chest where her heart spiral lies. Immediately recognizing the second meaning behind her words, Maui clears his throat awkwardly and shifts his eyes away from Te Fiti for a moment. She smiles with a glint of amusement now shining in her eyes.

“You two work well together as a team” She says, now addressing both of them. “You have said this yourselves many times. You have a deeper understanding for each other than most mortals out there combined. Your stories are intertwined. There are places where one ends,” She pauses to glance at Moana. “And another begins” She continues, turning her head to glance at Maui.

“You are inseparable. When the ocean gave up its heart for you,” She says, now addressing Moana. “It had every intention to make sure you two would not be separated for a very long time” She says. “You are free to sail the open seas without ever having to worry about rough storms or difficult waves” She says, and with that, she begins to lower the two of them down to the ground. “I hope you are satisfied with what I have offered you” She says to them once they’re on the ground, and once again rises herself up before lying back down to go to sleep. A warm, sweet smelling breeze whips gently past Maui and Moana when she settles all the way down.

“Well, there you have it!” Maui says, and claps his hands together happily. “I guess we really do have all the time in the world to do whatever we want now” He says, turning to elbow her. “Where do you want to start, ‘Ocean’s Ch….” He starts, but then his voice trails off when he sees her gloomily staring out at the water.

“Hey, are you okay?” He asks, stepping to stand in front of her.

“The ocean….gave up its heart for me” Moana says, bringing a hand to her necklace. “That’s why it’s being so quiet...” She says, and slowly walks down to the water. “That’s why we haven’t had any trouble with the canoe” She says, and kneels down at the water’s edge. “The ocean...it’s not sentient anymore because...of me”

“Hey,” Maui says, and approaches her before kneeling down next to her. “Don’t say that”

“But it’s true” Moana says, dipping her hand in the near-still water. “It gave up its sentience for me. That’s what Te Fiti said.” She says miserably, and slumps her shoulders down as she continues to push her hand around in the water. Maui frowns as he watches the way the water moves at her touch.

“Te Fiti lied” he mumbles. “The ocean didn’t give up anything” He says, and Moana removes her hand from the water to look at him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, look at you. The way I see it, the ocean gifted you with a second life because it sees you as somebody worthy of saving” He pauses, and smiles nostalgically at his own words. “That’s one more life than any other mortal on the planet” He says, and she laughs sadly.

“But what about the ocean?” She asks, placing her hand back in the water. “It gave its life to me. It gave its heart to me” She says, and Maui watches as the ocean begins to swirl around as she drags her hand back and forth through it.

“It’s moving right now, isn’t it?” He asks, and Moana follows his gaze down to the water swaying back and forth in rhythm with her hand gestures.

“Yeah, so?”

“Moana, it’s moving because you’re manipulating it to. I don’t believe the ocean gave up its life for you at all. If anything, it looks to me like it’s sharing its life with you. Te Fiti said the ocean chose you because you were empathetic and stuff, right?” He asks, and she nods.

“Yeah, but what does that have to do with the ocean now?

“Well,” Maui starts, and changes his position so he can lean back on his hands. “Maybe this is just the ocean’s crazy way of trying to be empathetic towards you. Maybe the ocean wanted to feel closer to you and connect in a way it could relate to.” He says, and a confused expression flashes on his face for a moment. “Because empathy’s when you can relate to someone else’s problem, right?” He asks, and takes a short pause. “Yeah, right” He answers himself, and Moana lets out a short laugh. Maui wasn’t the best motivational speaker. Sure, what he was saying was fine, but he just wasn’t the best at executing it. Moana supposes what he’s saying is partially true. She’s not entirely convinced that the ocean is still sentient, or that it’s trying to ‘share its life’ with her like Maui had been saying, but it’s a nice thought. Taking her attention off of the ocean, she turns it to Maui, and suddenly remembers everything Te Fiti had said about the two of them. You have a deeper understanding for each other than most mortals out there combined, Te Fiti’s words echo in her mind, and she turns to him and throws her arms around him in a hug.

“Thank you” she says, and she can practically feel him smiling as he hugs her back.

“You’re welcome!” he says cheerfully, and she snorts a laugh as they pull away. Moana’s glance falls back on the ocean, but her attention shifts when Maui stands next to her.

“Come on” He says, gesturing to their boat on the other side of the beach. “I know what’ll cheer you up. You wanna go back down to Lalotai and show Tamatoa who’s boss again like you had said you wanted to earlier?” He asks, and she laughs. She casts a glance at the still ocean and her smile falters, but when she glances back over at Maui, he looks like he’s got the most excited smile on his face that she’s ever seen him make in her entire life. Smiling, she pushes herself to her feet.

“Yes”.

End notes:

and there you have it! Like I had promised in the end notes of Chapter 3, here's a short little run down of what the sequel is going to be like. I'm planning on calling it The Ocean's Heart, and it's going to focus a little bit more on how Moana's adjusting to knowing where her new heart truly came from. I'd tell you more, but that would just give away the good parts ;)

oh, and in case you're wondering where all the references and callbacks were, here's a complete list:

"Moana: A Story of Courage and Adventure": In the storybook, Moana and Maui CANONICALLY have a mock sword fight as Maui's getting used to his fish hook again. It's really cute and I'm disappointed it got cut from the movie, so here it goes.

"See How They Shine" + "The Way Home": The two of my stories. See How They Shine's reference was more obvious than the latter, as I straight up described what happened in that fic in about four sentences. The Way Home was more discrete. In that fic, about halfway through, Moana tells Maui she'd never seen a shooting star before. His comment about how it only took her "65 years" was referring to the time it had been since she told him that and not her actual age lol

Cosmoanimoto: the visual artist I referenced. My favorite when it comes to art of Maui. The exact picture I referenced can be found here: http://paperjam-bipper.tumblr.com/post/156454735455/cosmoanimato-maui. It's the second to last one (and it's one of my favorite pictures this artist has drawn of him)

The movie: During Moana's motivational speech to Maui, she says "The ocean saved you because it saw someone worthy of saving". Maui was using her own words against her to motivate her, and I may or may not have DIED JUST BY TYPING THE LINE IN.

so once again, a big thank you for reading this, and see you again sometime soon ;)

#moana #toiafom #I feel like moana would be able to initiate hugs #RECIEVING them on the other hand is a litle awkward on her part #te fiti was so much fun to write #everyone in this movie is so much fun to write #I love how expressive she is despite the fact that she never canonically speaks #she's still salty about the whole heart thing #and only she would drop the biggest plot point in the most casual shrug of a shoulder kind of way #SEREN #NOW I CAN FINALLY SCREECH TO YOU ABOUT TOIAFOM'S ENDING LIKE I'VE BEEN WANTING TO SINCE YOU HARASSED ME INTO PUTTING CH 2 UP #HIT ME UP ASAP

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