Chapter Soundtrack:

Disclaimer:

The movie, 'Moana', is copyrighted by Walt Disney Animation Studio. It was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker and the co-directors were Don Hall and Chris William. It was released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2017.

I only claim copyright to the characters, and some of the elements of the story, that are of my own creation.

Summary:

A young woman, seemingly ordinary, is deserted on an island that is void of life but is then confronted by a man who completely baffles her with his words and actions. He couldn't really be a demigod now, could he? There was no such thing as real gods. Or was she the one mistaken? Could she trust in his friendship after all the heartbreak and disappointment in her life?

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Chapter 14 The secrets you Keep

I jerked to wakefulness, jostling Moana and Maui awake as I abruptly sat up on the deck.

I could hear myself breathing heavily and felt the sweat coating my forehead and neck. My heart raced in my chest as I slumped back against Maui, who grunted slightly at my movement.

'' Gods, why do I get these nightmares every time I just want to rest?'' I thought, burying my face in Maui's shoulder.

'' You are on my bruises,'' Maui groaned out and pushed my head slightly to the side where my head was now touching his pectoral.

I immediately flinched my head away. I was totally okay with resting my head against the demigod's shoulder, but having one's head touching those other areas was a definite no-no situation for me.

There had been times when Lachlan and I had been together that we'd snuggled up to each other with me leaning against his pectorals as we'd watched TV in bed and enjoyed being in the presence of one another.

And I, in no way, wanted to be reminded of those moments in my life.

Especially when I knew Maui and I were only close friends, not lovers. And I didn't want anyone to mistake it for anything more.

Maui was a demigod that would outlive me by uncountable lifetimes. He was a friend, a friend who had helped me through the phase of accepting my situation after being washed up on his remote little island with no way to get off it and back to where I'd come from.

'' Sorry, sorry!'' I exclaimed as I brushed my hands over my face and looked up into Maui's now very aware, brown eyes.

I knew I was blushing faintly when I felt my face grow hot, so I quickly looked away from his face and stood up, limping towards the steering end of the boat to tighten the halyard and to bind the stays.

I flinched slightly when I felt a small hand on my shoulder and heard Moana speak up.

'' Are you alright, Maija?''

'' Yeah, I'm alright Moana,'' I said quietly, my mind still a jumbled mess from the unexpected dream of my past.

'' Are you sure, Maija? Because you woke up so startled. And you looked so broken,'' Moana said as she went to sit down on the steering end of the canoe and unwound the rope from around the oar.

''It's far in the past, Moana. Let's not talk about it,'' I answered quietly, wringing the knot that I'd been tying closed. With a bit more force than necessary.

'' But if whatever happened to you still bothers you, then maybe if you talked about it to...,'' Moana started to say but shut down at the fierce look I sent her way.

She looked wary of my mood and my expression quickly softened, again when I saw her looking at me with slightly widened brown eyes.

She didn't deserve my anger.

'' I'm sorry Moana,'' I sighed apolitically.'' It's just that I really don't want to talk about this time period in my life.''

There was silence between us for a long moment before a loud' zap' of Maui's hook sounded through the evening air and the two of us found ourselves staring at a fluffy furred reindeer who didn't seem much amused when I immediately burst out in hysterical giggles at the sight of his transformation.

I was practically leaning against the mast for support and Moana was clutching the oar tightly as she giggled along with me.

'' I- I'm sorry Maui,'' I gasped out between laughter.'' It's just that we have those animals back in the country my mother is originally from. Their called reindeer.''

Three rapid 'zaps' sounded through the air, and a myriad of different animals flashed before my eyes (none of which the demigod seemed to want).

Maui tried another five times to turn into the giant hawk-form, but each time he was out of luck.

I winced as his face twisted from anger to fury, to desperation, upset, to desolation before finally morphing into utter defeat.

He uttered a cry and threw the magical hook aside where it landed by my feet. He then flopped down onto the boat deck muttering: '' I've said it before and I'll say it again, this mission IS cursed!''

'' Will you at least try transforming again, Maui?'' Moana exclaimed with a hint of desperation in her voice.

Maui sighed and muttered:'' Giant Hawk.''

He touched the magical artefact with his fingertips and the thing once again turned cuckoo on him.

'' Well, the good news in all this is that we have the hook back,'' I muttered out a tad sarcastically.

'' What's the point of having the hook back if I can't wield it to its full potential?'' Maui almost yelled at me as he returned back into his demigod form.

'' Maybe... maybe you are just out of practice after a thousand years,'' Moana said quietly.'' If you continue trying I'm sure it'll come back to you.''

Maui uttered a despondent noise, dropped back onto the boat-deck and closed his eyes. He breathed in and out heavily, his whole body tensed in a way that told just how stressed he was feeling about the current situation.

I shared a worried look with Moana who seemed to be looking at me for assurance that everything would work out in the end.

But I really couldn't give her such assurance when I had the same niggle of self-doubt prickling at me.

...

The canoe cut through the surface of the ocean as Moana steered our boat under my supervision.

The familiar jubilant feeling of being a sailing- tutor was kicking in after a year of not being able to do what I'd done the best when it had come to life's accomplishments. And I was treasuring every moment of being Moana's teacher.

And yet I could have enjoyed the experience even more if Maui hadn't been stuck in a limbo of depression.

Maui was laying on the boat deck in a motionless heap with only the steady rising and falling of his chest showing that he was still amongst the living.

I looked up at the horizon where the sun was beginning to peek out. It was finally daybreak.

I stood up and walked over to the storage hatch, removed my light sports jacket and folded it nicely before putting it inside where Heihei was still sleeping inside one of the food baskets.

I smiled slightly at the chicken who I'd checked up on several times during the night to make sure he was feeling alright.

Just as I was ready to close the hatch I heard Maui begin to sing sarcastically.

'' Hey hey, it's okay we're dead soon. Were dead soon.''

I uttered an exasperated grunt and slammed the storage hatch shut, which effectively woke up Heihei who greeted me with an indignant squawk.

I'd heard this same song-tune from Maui for the past night and I was really beginning to resent hearing it.

'' That is NO way helpful!'' Moana exclaimed as she pulled the oar from the water and slackened the halyard.

She stomped over to the prone demigod with frustration and desperation in her expression.'' Will you please just get up and put your act together?!''

'' Giant Hawk!'' Maui snapped out as he reached out to touch the hook for the umpteenth time and triggered another series of animal transformations.

His put-out expression told Moana and me that none of them was what he'd gone for.

'' You see, Curly! '' he snapped out.'' The changes in us getting passed TeKa are next to nothing!''

I sighed and ran a hand over my face, slumping against the mast as Maui once again sung: '' Hey hey, it's okay we're dead soon, were dead soon.''

'' Alright you, get up!'' Moana gritted out as she jabbed the burly demigod with the end of the oar.

'' WHY?'' Maui asked coldly.'' You gonna give me a speech? Tell me I can beat Te Kâ 'cause I'm ' Maui'?''

He made a sarcastic gesture with his hands which had Mini- Maui gives him a firm jab to the pectoral.

'' Take a hike, tiny!'' Maui grunted as he abruptly sat up and used a thumb to flick his tattoo-self over his shoulder.

Mini Maui landed on his feet with his arms crossed over his chest in disgruntlement, his expression unimpressed.

There was a long silence that stretched out on the boat, the sun slowly creeping forward along the waters of the Oceanic sea.

Then the silence was suddenly extinguished...

'' How do you get your tattoos, Maui?'' the future Chief of Motunui asked inquisitively.

'' They appear when I EARN them,'' Maui answered despondently, glancing over his shoulder.

'' How did you earn that one? What's that for? '' Moana pressed, lightly touching a finger against the large tattoo spread over Maui's upper back.

It was the same tattoo I'd asked about a few times while stuck on that drab little island (that had been Maui's prison) but had been coldly rebuked each time. The apparent audacity of me asking about it those few times had earned me a night's rest outside the shared cave of the island.

Therefore I'd not asked about it again, instead of sliding to my own form of punishing the demigod for those few times I'd been locked out from the shelter.

Each time Maui had asked me about the tattoo over my lower back ( a tattoo of an urn with waves surrounding it) I'd fallen stone silent.

But that secret had been partially pulled into the opening before we'd reached the island overlooking Lalotai.

I'd inadvertently allowed myself to slip off that I'd given birth to a son who had been lost way before his time, because the demigod had managed to wrangle it out of me with his unending, badgering curiosity.

And yet he wasn't aware of the full story leading up to me losing the son I'd come to love, and want.

I closed my eyes for a moment as a memory of how warm the water had felt against my skin that day on the beach. How utterly it had soothed me and beckoned to me as I'd floated on the surface of it.

''That's man's discovery of 'None ya', '' Maui sighed out, looking aggravated.

'' What's 'None ya'?'' Moana pressed curiously which had me tense up in anticipation for what I knew would end up being another cold rebuck from Maui.

'' None ya business,'' Maui uttered in a now very aggravated tone.

Moana smacked her oar against the demigod's side and said:'' I'll just keep asking you. Come on, what's it stand for?''

'' Moana,'' I cautioned, recognising the signs that Maui's temper was being stretched to its breaking point.

Moana seemed to not have heard me, and I winced along with Mini Maui as the paddle rose to tap the demigod on the head.

'' Back off!'' Maui snapped out as he got to his feet in one fluent movement.

His large fingers reached out to push the offending object aside.

''Just tell me what it is?'' Moana exclaimed as her temper rose along with his.

She was seemingly unafraid to witness the demigod's temper.

'' I SAID back off!'' Maui exclaimed as he batted the oar aside when it came down to hit him on the chest.

'' Is it why your hooks not working?'' Moana asked snappishly.

And that was it. Maui's already greatly frayed temper finally snapped.

The demigod flung the teenager unceremoniously over his shoulder and off the boat. The oar, he'd grabbed, as Moana flew over his head.

SPLASHHH

Shaking his head, Maui dropped the oar by my feet before stomping past me.

'' You didn't have to explode at her like that,'' I said somewhat sadly, but a glare from the burly demigod made me pause and look away from his dark eyes.

Sploshhhh

The sound of the ocean giving Moana a lift to the boat deck made me turn my attention back to her.

She looked sad and contrite as she opened her mouth, paused, then spoke with a tremor in her voice. ''You don't want to talk, don't talk. You wanna throw me off the boat, throw me off. You wanna tell me I don't know what I'm doing, I know I don't. You're right, I have no idea why the ocean chose me. But my island is dying, so I am here. It's just me and you. And I want to help but I can't if you don't let me. ''

She then sighed, slowly turned and walked to the front of the boat where she sat down, staring out into the horizon.

'' I wasn't always a demigod,'' Maui said softly.'' I had human parents. They, uh... they took one look and decided they don't want me. They threw me into the sea like I was... nothing. ''

As Maui made a mock awed gesture with his hands, I perked up in shock at finally hearing him spill the secrets of that one tattoo.

'' Somehow, I was found by the Gods. They gave me the hook. They made me 'Maui'.''

Maui waved a hand at the hook that was still lying by my feet and I looked down at the numerous carvings along with the bone-like material.

Once again, unwanted memories rouse up from my memory and my expression turned pained. I was unable to look up at the demigod or the future chief of Motunui.

The water seemed to caress my skin with gentle touches as I floated further and further away from the shore.

Far from the shoreline I'd stared up at the sun slowly lowering from the sky. The colours of the setting sun cast upon the canvas of the sky, and the creeping shadows all made the scene into a perfect work of natural art.

The water was as warm as bath-water.

I could feel myself beginning to slip under, my feet sliding into the depths first, followed by my legs, torso and arms. Finally, I was in the water up to my neck and chin.

It would have been so easy to fully slip under the water and sink to the very bottom. But something stopped me.

A sudden, whispering voice in my ear startled me into kicking my feet under the water. A tingle or a flutter in the pit of my stomach. Like soft butterfly wings fluttering inside me. And now I'd begun to wonder.

Lachlan and I had made love a month prior to him taking off with another woman.

It had been one of those few perfect nights without arguments or bad-will between us. It had been such a perfect, loving experience.

So how could he have just decided that he didn't have the patience or the will to continue our relationship?

What had I done to make our love dwindle?

''And back to the humans, I went. I gave them islands, fire, coconuts,'' Maui spoke with a slight chuckle. '' Anything they could ever want. I was waving that thing around at an almost constant basis, and then finally I decided...''

'' To take the heart for them. You did everything for them, so they'd love you, Maui,'' Moana's voice rang out sympathetically.

It was these words, that had come out from the mouth of the sixteen-year-old girl, that finally made me look up with tears stinging at the corners of my eyes.

End of Chapter 14 The secrets you Keep

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Author Notes: 

Sorry about not updating in a while :) Constructive criticism is always welcomed by me, the author.