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.

Chapter Soundtrack:

Tamatoa's Lair- Moana

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?

...

Chapter 9

'' Then your daddy must never have told you of his concerns towards the fact that I'm a monster of Lalotai,'' Peara said in a hushed tone as she pushed me towards the hide-out.

My world was suddenly brought to a crashing halt at my crab friend's words. Words I'd never expected to hear in a million years. It couldn't have been true, could it?!

...

'' W-what'? What do you mean my dad never told me of you being originally from Lalotai?'' I gasped out as I crawled inside the opening of the cavern.

'' It happened during the end of my first year at your house. You were at the store with your mother but you had let me out of the terrarium to roam the house and explore the different rooms. I'd wandered into your father's private office and found him looking at certain underwater pictures on the computer. H-he had underwater pictures of... Lalotai,'' Peara answered as she scuttled in behind me.

'' Of Lalotai?'' I gasped out even as I scooted out of the way to let the crab inside.

'' Are you SURE? You aren't lying?''

'' Have I ever lied to you? I saw him slip a small roll of camera film into that shell I gave to you!'' Peara snapped at me with upset and anger in her voice.

She paused for a moment to breathe in shakily, before saying: ''I cannot understand the reasons for his actions. Maybe... maybe he hoped you'd discover it and interrogate me about my origins. He interrogated ME when he happened to spot me frozen by the door of his office.''

Peara swallowed hard, eyes still filled with upset and anger that had risen at my doubt of her words.

''He never was physically harmful to me during and after he interrogated me, but there was certain wariness in his demeanour whenever he watched me interact with you. I don't know if you ever noticed but I could feel the weight of his gaze on me each time I playfully snapped my pincers at you when we played together.''

Peara's looked so miserable that I found my own feelings turning numb. I raised a hand to stroke the necklace around my neck.

'' I want to prove that I speak the truth but without the conch I gave you, I can't,'' Peara said quietly.

My breath caught in my throat as my wandering fingers opened the clasp on the side of the driftwood locket and felt around at the conch.

And as I did, I noticed there was a tiny fibre rope within the interior of the shell that I could feel with my fingertips.

I uttered a mirthless laugh and prized open the locket. Spreading the locket wide open I pulled my hand away and allowed the crab to see the small conch nestled in the middle of the driftwood.

Peara stared at the conch for a long moment, her mouth wide open in shock.

'' Y-you kept it? You kept it for twenty years?'' she finally choked out.

'' Of course, I kept it, it was a gift from a friend,'' I answered sadly and tugged on the thin rope I'd discovered.

...

(P.S. The sizes of the characters didn't turn out quite the way I imagined. Peara should have been a bit bigger.

The other necklace around the conch necklace is another part of the story.)

...

It came out rather easily and now I was holding a small water-tight packet with a roll- of- film clearly seen through the see-through object.

Peara watched in silence, seemingly holding her breath as I opened the pouch and pulled out the roll of film. 

What I saw as I unfurled the roll of film brought every possible feeling to crash down on me in a matter of seconds.

It really was filled with pictures of the world I'd jumped into on my own accord.

Different monsters were displayed, including a monstrous sized, one hundred to two hundred feet crab staring right into the camera with confusion on its face.

I found myself slumping against the wall of the cavern with the film still held in my hands, my eyes closed tightly shut as I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my face against them.

'' I'd always known my father is a scientist, but I never knew... I-I mean he never revealed any of THESE findings to the press. I-I can hardly believe he actually found Lalotai during his sailing expeditions. The same place I'm in right now. T-then that means I'm not from another world after all, but from a different timeline,'' I stammered as tears brimmed in my eyes and spilt down my cheeks (and dripped onto my knees).

I looked up when I felt a soft touch of crab antennae brushing at the tears on my cheeks.

'' I'm sorry I didn't believe you,'' I whispered, when Peara leaned her head on my lap, nuzzling her long antennae against my cheeks.

''Are you okay?'' she asked hesitantly and I sighed shakily, petting my friend on the head.

'' I'm... coping. Mind telling me how you ended up back in Lalotai?'' I answered despondently.

'' On the day you left me to explore the beach while you were at school, I spent hours roaming the beach-side for pretty shells to decorate my enclosure when all of a sudden a sentient blob of water rose out of the ocean and grabbed me. It pulled me underwater and I believed I was going to die of suffocation but instead I found myself inside a bubble. And as I was pulled along the sea-floor I kept seeing images of a time when humans weren't as advanced as in your time, and the images kept going back in time to an age where the humans had no houses and no settlements. They lived in the woods hunting and gathering.''

'' So those images were all from the old Northern European area? None from old Oceania?'' I asked in a hushed tone of voice.

'' Yeah, it was all from there. When you were pulled back in time, did you see any images of prehistory?'' Peara answered.

'' I was fighting for my life in a storm, and then pulled into the jaws of a water vortex. So no, I couldn't focus on anything else around me','' I answered softly.

'' You had it worse than me, then,'' Peara joked out and I grinned lightly.

'' Not as bad as you when you'd been pulled into my time. Losing a leg would have been painful,'' I answered, running a palm over her left hind leg,''

'' No, if you had lost a leg you'd have been dead, or at the very least terribly injured. You humans can't regain a new leg in a moult,'' Peara answered with a pout.

I laughed softly at her pouting face.

'' No, we can't, that's very true. So, anyway, how did your father react to you staying at a human's house for five years?''

'' When I found myself back in Lalotai I immediately tracked my way back to my father, hiding behind the corals to remain unseen by bigger monsters. When I found my way back here I found him in this lair, depressed and ill from not having eaten much in days. Even all the treasures he's coveted weren't enough to keep him in good spirits.''

'' Because his greatest treasure was you,'' I pointed out with a soft smile.

Peara acknowledged my smile with one of her own.

'' Yeah, he was so very relieved to find me running up to nuzzle him. And following my return, he wouldn't allow me to wander far from his lair or sleep on the ledge, like I usually, do for several months.''

'' Sounds like a protective father who believed his child to have been lost forever. But then she returned to him and he just wanted to keep you safe,'' I commented with sorrow in my voice that bubbled up from me knowing it was a very small change I'd see my parents again.

'' Yeah, I guess so. As for how my father reacted to the idea that I stayed at your household, it could have been worse. He acknowledged the fact that you had been taking good care of me. But then he said he didn't believe our friendship would last the flow of time if I ever saw you again,'' Peara answered with a small, sad shrug.''

'' Is it all coming out of the bad history between Maui and him?'' I asked with a raised eyebrow, and Peara nodded her head.

'' I should have expected that sort of reaction from your father. And with me being here, with the demigod he no longer trusts, its sure gonna lower his respect towards me,'' I hummed out, shaking my head with a rueful smile.

Peara just shook her head, staring at me with her mouth pursed.

'' Then why are you here with the demigod and that other female mortal? You'd think the demigod didn't need any escorts to relocate his hook.''

'' He didn't have a boat to cross the ocean, and my boat was wrecked after the storm and so Moana coming to our help on that island was a blessing,'' I reminded her patiently.

'' I see,'' Peara muttered as I finally stumbled to my feet with a slight grunt of pain as my attention was drawn to the soft golden light within the cave.

I walked over the edge and was met with the stunning sight of glittery, golden treasure in a huge pile in the middle of the lair and by the sides of the shell-walls.

There were also treasure lining the walls in shimmering piles

Again, the scenery was a deceptively quiet. It was a serene sight with its white, soft looking sand covering the floor.

'' Is your father in the lair?'' I asked as I noticed the gleaming white hook sitting at the very top of the pile of gold as if it were on a pedestal.

'' Erm, yes, the treasure lies on top my father's carapace,'' Peara muttered.

I swirled around to face the tiny crab with my mouth hanging wide open in shock.

'' Well that's just gonna make this saving the world business a whole lot harder,'' I groaned out, slapping a hand over my face lightly.

'' Wait, what do you mean by saving the world?'' Peara piped in, wide-eyed.

I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I could trust my friend with the information that we had the Heart of TeFiti on our hands.

But she had always been my friend and we had shared many a secret together during the years we had lived within the same house.

I didn't want to keep something this important a secret from Peara! I just had to put my trust in her...

'' It's about Te Fiti's heart. Moana came to the island with the sole purpose of finding Maui and 'delivering' him across the sea to return the heart of to its rightful owner. And thus stop the plague from consuming life from an island after island,'' I answered with a sigh, brushing a hand through my wavy brown hair.

Peara inhaled sharply and glanced down at her father's massive shell where Maui's hook was anchored into the depths of the smaller treasure.

''Have you noticed a decrease in the amount of fish around the sea surrounding the area of Lalotai, Peara?'' I inquired her, somewhat curious to know if Lalotai was safe from the effects of the plague.

'' The fish have become scarcer and scarcer, Maija. Is it all because Te Fiti's heart was stolen?'' Peara answered with a frown to her face.

'' Up where the humans live, the plague is consuming trees, plants and grass. It's poisoning the drinking waters and taking the lives of animals and people as they starve from lack of food or are poisoned by the foul waters. The fish in the seas are spooked by the ever-creeping tendrils of inescapable death and have travelled elsewhere,'' I answered solemnly.

'' Until they have nowhere to hide, to escape,'' I added inwardly to myself.

''And if the food is completely depleted from the surrounding ocean, the monsters of Lalotai will be starved to death,'' Peara breathed out in horror.

'' The plague might even creep to the depths of your home,'' I said softly, smiling sadly when the young crab monster pressed herself against my side with a shocked, concerned tremble in her body.

'' But Maui, Moana and I will be doing everything we can to put a stop to the curse,'' I assured the scared creature.

'' But you'll have to voyage to the place where Teka's isle is, and you aren't a demigod, like Maui. You're an ordinary mortal,'' Peara chittered out with a worried edge to her voice

'' It will be extremely dangerous but I'm not abandoning a fourteen-year-old and a demigod to keep myself safe. Maui may be capable to protect her and himself, and Moana is a tough girl. But I care for Moana, and I feel she will need an extra person standing by her side during this dangerous journey.''

Peara looked like she was going to answer something back when...

BANG, BANG, BANG

Peara and I shared a look of dismay when we spotted Moana walking towards the pile of shiny trinkets dressed in an armour of large, shiny seashells and wearing a shiny conch shell on her head.

The pounding sound came from a golden drum in her hands as she hit the taught skin with a bone mallet.

'' Is she completely crazy?'' Peara asked me in disbelief.

I slapped a hand across my face for the umpteenth time on this journey.

'' If I must venture a guess this is all Maui's idea to cause a diversion so he could sneak in and grab the hook. Oh, I'm gonna kill that demigod once I get my hands on him. What was he thinking, sending a teenager to do something so dangerous?!'' I muttered out in exasperation as Moana began a horribly bland rendition of whatever theatrical script the demigod had urged her to use.

'' SPARKLE, SPARKLE, SPARKLE!'' Moana was saying in that same bland tone, banging away with the drum.

''Your not selling it! '' Maui exclaimed as he suddenly popped out from between two large, barnacled boulders.

'' This is STUPID! I'm just gonna walk up and get the hook!'' Moana retorted in obvious frustration.

'' Oooh, daddy is gonna be so grumpy when he wakes up from his nap,'' Peara muttered with a shake of her head, ''

'' Don't you mean 'crabby'?'' I couldn't help but quip, quelling my rising nervousness behind a sarcastic mask.

The young crab shot me an unimpressed look and hissed:'' That's a terrible pun, Maija!''

'' Moana, just stick to the plan!'' Maui was quick to retort.''

Moana banged the mallet against the drum with an irritable expression on her face.

''Oh, and when Tamatoa appears, keep him distracted. Make him talk about himself. He loves to brag how great he is,'' Maui suddenly added, popping out from behind the boulders.

'' You two must get along just swell,'' Moana snapped out sarcastically and banged the drum with a vicious swing.

She peered around the cavern as if looking for something, or someone.

'' Not since I ripped off his leg,'' Maui commented in a bit too casual manner and I could see Peara's posture stiffening and her expression darkening at the demigod's words.

'' Easy, easy there,'' I said, petting the crab gently on the back of the neck when she looked like she was going to storm towards the pair in a fit of upset and anger.

Once she sat back, still huffing in an outraged state, I began to unfurl my fishing rod's line as quickly and quietly as I could possibly accomplish.

Since I happened to stand on one of the ledges above the teenager I quickly tapped her on the shoulder with the small fishing-hook.

Moana flinched and gasped at the contact, her gaze immediately shifting upwards to where I was standing.

I could see the teenagers tense posture visibly relax when she caught sight of me.

'' Maija, your here. Thank the gods,'' she exclaimed with a quiet voice.

Maui popped out of his hideout and looked up at me with exasperation clear on his face.

Suppose he'd hoped I'd have stayed in the upper world, but I'd burst his bubble on that account.

I could only wave down at him before reeling the fishing-line upwards halfway before just grabbing the rest of it and attaching the hook to a groove on the rod.

I had a feeling I'd have to use it at some point so it would have been a waste to reel the line the whole way in.

I then let the line go and it flopped onto the ground by my feet.

'' Hey, hey Moana stick to the plan and be cautious, Tamatoa will be edgy around humans and demigods after I ripped off his leg.'' Maui hissed at the teenager.

'' And you say it so casually?!'' Moana hissed out but yelped a moment later the massive pile of shiny, glittery treasure began to shake and shift under her bare feet.

I could hear Moana yelping as the pile rose higher and higher with legs sprouting off from each side of the pile. Massive legs, mind you, and two pincers that grabbed Moana by the sea-shells attached to her as she started to slip down the humongous carapace.

I breathed in a sharp breath when the huge pincer dangled the teenaged girl over a massive head with moving eye-stocks trained to her figure.

'' Oh, my great Gods, he is absolutely enormous!'' I gulped as Moana uttered a great gasp out of horrified shock, and no doubt fear, as the gargantuan sized crab emerged fully from the soft white sand.

'' My great- grandma was the gargantuan one but that's because she was one of the oldest crabs known around Lalotai. Daddy is still growing even after reaching this size after many moults, but the growth is greatly slowed down,'' Peara whispered to me.

'' And what happened to your great- grandma? It's hard to believe that any creature could be a threat to someone who is even bigger than your father,'' I asked in a hushed whisper, noticing the past-tense in her words.

'' Except for another extremely territorial, massive male or female crab. Or one that wanted a bigger, better territory for one's self. Great-grandma... was assaulted by another crab and she ... she lost the fight. S-she stormed to my father's lair screeching in horrible agony from the wounds she'd received. Great-grandma's carapace was split wide open and her head had a huge dent on the left side. She was bleeding profusely from those injuries and as soon as she caught sight of me on the floor of the lair she screeched horribly and made a move to attack me. I couldn't move. I was in shock over her abrupt appearance and what had happened to her,'' Peara whispered back.

I put a hand to my mouth in shock at what I'd just heard.

'' Daddy dealt the finishing blow on her as he stormed in front of Great-grandma to protect me,'' Peara spoke hurriedly, her eyes fixed upon the sight of her father dangling the human in front of his eyes.

The massive crab still held a sleepy demeanour, as he'd just been woken from a deep sleep Which was a likely occurrence.

'' She wouldn't have survived a moulting, for whatever hits Great- grandma received in her earlier battle had damaged her brain, too. She no longer recognised my father, or me. She no longer spoke, either. She just screeched at us,'' Peara gulped out.

I gulped at the thought of a massive brain-damaged, out of control crab with wild unseeing eyes, and with just basic instincts to attack and main whomever she came across.

'' Daddy and I... ate for a whole week afterwards,'' Peara finished sheepishly, glancing up at me as I uttered a slight choking noise in the back of my throat at the realization that Peara eating the dead remains of her own grandmother.

Still, the crab that Tamatoa had killed had no longer been the same person he'd once known, and he'd given her the' so as to not make her suffer from what would have been a slow death and terrible agony from a split exoskeleton and the blow to the side of her head that had damaged the insides.

And what had followed Peara's Great-grandmother's death had been something akin to animals not wasting fresh meat when it came so willingly to their doorstep.

And Coconut crabs had been known to eat their own kind in the upper world!

I sighed, rubbing a hand across my eyes.

'' Of course, this horrific scene I've conjured in my head would be just a part of life,'' I thought inwardly.

'' M-Maija...?'' Peara questioned in a mumble when I'd stayed silent and in thought for a bit too long.

I dropped my hand and looked at my friend who was looking up at me a bit worriedly.

I was about to speak up, but then Tamatoa's loud, spooky sort of laughter echoed around the lair.

'' Well, now we're in trouble,'' I thought as I bit my lower lip out of nervousness and worry for the young girl of Motunui gripped at my heart.

'' Tamatoa's surely fully awake, now.''

End of Chapter 8

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