Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who has sent me the encouraging comments about my new job search! I am really touched.

I have promised myself that if I finish the first ten things on my to-do list before one o'clock, I can have Chipotle for lunch. With that motivation in mind, let us get immediately to Chapter Twenty (which is, by the way, bullet point five on my to-do list, so I am, admittedly, skipping ahead a little.

Wow…seriously, we're already on Chapter Twenty? Time flies when you're having fun…

Chapter Twenty

Hine-nui-te-po sighed. Her smile changed, became even more slightly malicious as she leaned towards him, gently shaking her head.

"You're losing your touch, Maui of the Wind and Sea," she told him. "You? Give up? Never. I don't believe it. You've been playing tricks and escaping by the skin of your teeth for thousands upon thousands of years…so why give up now? Because you got bored with running? Your story just doesn't add up…and I'm not nearly as stupid as you seem to think I am."

Damn, thought Maui, although he kept his face completely impassive. No, I guess you're not.

"I think," the goddess went on, "that you're still trying to be a hero. Here you are, sacrificing yourself bravely so that the mortals won't have to suffer any more at the hands of the cruel goddess of the dead. You couldn't get them immortality, but at least you'll end their torment, isn't that right? It's noble, I'll give you that, but it really doesn't suit you. Haven't you learned, after all these years, that the humans aren't going to be grateful? They're not worthy of your sacrifice. You'll get nothing, not even a legacy of heroism. In a few thousand years, maybe even a few hundred, they'll forget about you. They'll find a new savior, a new hero, and they'll tell new stories…and you'll no longer even exist, not even in story and song. I'm honestly surprised that you've let it come to this. I thought you were…more savvy. I thought you were starting to really understand them."

The water burbled, splashed gently against some object in its path behind him, and again, Maui glanced over his shoulder to see what it was.

There was nothing there.

"Nah," he told her, smiling bitterly to himself. "Actually, I'm surprised at you. I mean, come on, you've been dealing with human souls since, seriously, the dawn of time, but you're still the one who doesn't get them. They're not so bad. They've got things we don't have…things we never learned, because we're too busy being all-powerful, I guess. There's things we can learn from them…things I could've learned earlier, maybe. Guess it doesn't matter, now."

For a moment, Hine-nui-te-po looked genuinely incredulous.

"What has become of you, Maui?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "You've turned into some sort of sappy piece of human trash. I'm surprised at you…and a little disgusted. How disappointing."

Maui shrugged.

"I met somebody," he admitted. "Somebody who taught me something kinda important. 'The people you love will change you,' she said. Guess that can be true. Doesn't matter now, does it? You're gonna kill me, so my philosophy and potential redemption is kind of a non-issue at this point, am I right?"

Hine-nui-te-po's eyes flashed.

"You…you met someone," she hissed, half-rising from her chair. "A mortal?"

"'Fraid so." Maui snored a laugh. "Shame it took so long. Might have been better if I'd met her, oh, a couple thousand years ago, but there's not much point in crying over spilt milk. 'S done, now."

How long, wondered Maui, have I been down here? Moana's got to have noticed by now…unless the sea got her after all. I wonder if she's freaking out. Well, it's not like I could have told her what I was doing, so…it is what it is. Obviously, I don't want her to come down after me…right? Nah, that'd be terrible. Definitely better if she doesn't notice, doesn't come after me…yeah. Yeah, I'm glad it worked out this way. Maybe.

"She's not coming, you know," murmured Hine-nui-te-po, a bit too harshly, betraying the smile she was obviously trying to keep stuck to her face. "She won't come. They never do. The gods are there to 'serve' the humans, it's not the other way around, no matter what they pretend to believe, or what they preach in their pretty little stories. She's probably already given up on you."

"You don't know her," muttered Maui.

Hine-nui-te-po paused, stared for a moment, and then gasped out a derisive laugh.

"You," she accused him. "You're…you're in love with her. How…how incredibly pathetic, oh, my word. You've fallen in love…with one of them!"

Unexpectedly, she threw back her head and burst out cackling, peals of brittle, high-pitched laughter echoing through the throne room. None of the Turehu moved or even smiled, and eventually the terrible sound died away. The goddess still looked angry, tickled, maliciously delighted.

"This…oh I DO like this," she told him, wiping tears out of her eyes as she spoke. "Here you are, Maui, the half-human without a heart, waiting patiently for a mortal lover who will never come. You're so stupid! You've been abandoned by a human, for the second time, and this time you won't have a chance to learn from your mistake, because I'm going to kill you! How does it feel to have your heart broken? Oh, I do want to enjoy this a little bit. I think I'll let you live just a little longer. I'm going to love watching that rejection sink in. Oh, it was so true…revenge is terribly sweet. I might just develop a sweet tooth for this sort of thing, in time."

Maui didn't say anything.

She is going to come for me, he told himself, realizing with a pang that, of course, he'd been hoping for that all along. Even when he'd first jumped down here, ostensibly with the intention of sacrificing himself for her, in the back of his mind he'd known, he'd been sure she'd come. It made him feel sick, realizing that he was still being just as selfish as always, that he'd probably end up putting her in even more danger, now, than if he'd decided not to try and be a hero.

No matter what I do, he told himself, disgusted, I always get it wrong. No wonder the villagers keep their distance. I'm as selfish and as much of a menace as they all believe.

"Just think about it logically," suggested the goddess, obviously loving her advantage. "Why on earth would she come back for you? I hunted her through the sea, I nearly destroyed her village, and I threatened the lives of the people she really loves, her family, her own kind. Why would she risk any more of that just to come back for you, you, who have done nothing but make her life so much complicated and miserable?"

Maui realized he couldn't argue with that, and he hated it. He hated himself, dropped his eyes away from Hine-nui-te-po, tried to shut out her laughter and her derision, but it was everywhere at once, bouncing off the walls and invading his mind.

"I tell you what, Maui," chuckled Hine-nui-te-po. "Do you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to let you live in hope…for the next few hours, at least. Hope is such a truly destructive thing, isn't it? I'm going to watch it break you down, dwindle and dissolve, minute by minute, until you're nearly as empty as these spirits of the dead. I think that's going to be quite a lot of fun!"

"Hope?" Maui wasn't sure what she was talking about.

"That's what I said," agreed the goddess, nodding encouragingly. "I'll make you an oath, here and now, with the ocean and the spirits of Rarohenga as my witnesses."

Maui frowned.

"If that mortal girl does come for you before your breakfast tray arrives in the morning," announced the goddess, "then I'm going to let you leave with her. I won't even give you any trouble…and before you ask, no, I won't kill her family and destroy her village, either."

Maui stared.

"I won't bother either of you at all, in fact," she went on gleefully, "until it's her natural time, of course. Isn't that nice? You have a chance at a bright future with the lady you love…assuming, of course, that she bothers to come rescue you, something that no mortal has ever bothered to do in the history of the world. Haven't you thought about that? If humans were really so very loyal and devoted, then don't you think at least ONE of them would have tried to save a loved one from the power of death before? But of course, your pretty little princess is different, I'm sure. Despite the fact that we have every reason to believe that you're no more than a villain and a nuisance to the world above, that little girl will be here before you know it, absolutely," she assured him sarcastically, grinning all the while. "Oh, oh, I am going to enjoy watching your heart destroy itself with hope. What a magnificent day I'm having. I haven't felt this alive in…two, three thousand years?"

Two of the Turehu appeared at Maui's side, holding shackles. Without protest, he held out his wrists and let them bind him, didn't even resist as they took his fish hook and hung it on the wall, out of his reach. As they marched him to the place beside the throne where Hine-nui-te-po apparently kept her favorite death-row prisoners, the goddess sighed happily.

"And now," she declared, "we wait."

Maui shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and, hesitantly, let himself hope.

Author's End Note: Angst angst angst aaaaaaaangst (again).

Hine-nui-te-po in this story is so incredibly evil…and yet I actually kind of love her. I mean, she is pretty much doing what I would have loved to do to every man or woman who has ever broken my heart, and I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world who's been really, seriously angry at a faithless lover before, so I'm kind of fine with Hine-nui-te-po being incredibly villainous. It's fun to write.

I'll see if I can add another chapter later. For now, back to work!