Before I begin this chapter, I'd like to give a big thank you to zabchan for reviewing! And no, you don't have to delete your review, it's just fine! I'm happy that you reviewed and offered a bit of help! It helps me to write the characters better! Also I'm glad to hear that the ocean and Maui were in character. I do try to make sure I keep the characters I'm writing for in-character or as close to their original character as possible.
Also I'll be sure to keep your critique on how I wrote the characters in mind. And thanks for helping me with the characters, I really appreciate it.
Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy!
After making it to the forest, Maui was still afraid of what lay ahead. He was afraid that if the whole island was cursed, bad things would eventually happen, either to him or Moana. He didn't want anything bad happening to her, so he was mostly alert. Moana seemed to notice he was afraid because his breathing seemed a bit different. It sounded shaky.
Maybe it wasn't a good idea to get him to come here... She thought with a frown as they stopped at where the fire was earlier, But I can't do this alone, I need his help. What if a human like me can't stop the curse alone? Like, I don't even think we have anything to get rid of a curse! She then glanced at Maui and gently grabbed his hand.
"Hey, it'll be alright." She said softly and reassuringly, "I'm sure we can stop this curse." Maui had a bit of hesitation as to whether that was true or not, but he decided he could trust her and nodded.
"So this is where the fire started." He pointed out, holding his hand out towards the area, still a bit uneasy. "So what's your plan, girlie?" He added, his hands on his hips. Moana looked around.
"I say we...search the island and maybe even dig into the ground to see if there's a cursed object." She suggested, looking back at him, "If there is a cursed item in the ground, that might be the cause of the curse." Maui rolled his eyes.
"Mo, why would there be a cursed item in the ground?" He questioned, giving her an unamused look, "Like, who would think, 'Oh, I'm going to put this cursed item here and bring us all to our doom'?!" Moana rolled her eyes, not really appreciating his sarcasm before taking a deep breath.
"Maybe they wanted to get rid of the curse so they buried it." She guessed with a shrug, "Maybe they didn't know it could curse the whole island." Maui sighed, putting a hand to his forehead before rubbing it down his face.
"Moana, it's cursed!" He argued, throwing a hand into the air, "How would they not know it'd curse their island!?" Moana thought for a moment.
"Maybe..." She started, a finger to her chin as she thought about it, "Maybe some items can curse either the person possessing it or the whole island." Maui snorted.
"Right..." He said with a roll of his eyes, "If it cursed the whole island–"
"Or both!" Moana quickly interrupted as another idea came to her head, "Like if they owned the object, they could curse their whole island by burying it instead of just them being cursed!" Maui sighed while his tattooed counterpart pulled down a scoreboard and made a tally on Moana's side.
"Hey!" He told him, slightly glaring at him, "You stay out of this!" Mini Maui just shrugged, a smile on his face as Moana giggled.
"You know," she began with a smile, crossing her arms, "I believe it is possible. Besides, I've heard stories of it happening." Maui just rolled his eyes.
"Sure, Curly, your village knows everything." He said sarcastically, shaking his head, "And a cursed object can just curse an entire island instead of just the piece of property it's on or in. Like c'mon, your village even got some of my stories wrong! How do we know if an entire island getting cursed by one object is possible?" Despite one part of him believing her, the other part wanted to prove her wrong.
"Well how do we know it isn't possible?" She tested with a smirk. Maui fell silent upon hearing that question as if trying to think about what to say. "See? I knew I was right!" She then cried triumphantly, throwing her hands in the air. Mini Maui marked another tally on the scoreboard then snickered. Maui glared at him before looking back at Moana with a sigh.
"Okay, okay..." He began, "Since I have nothing to say, y-you..." He trailed off before sighing, finding it hard to admit defeat. "Look kid, you haven't won yet. We still have to figure out how far this... This cursed item can reach." He then said instead of admitting defeat. Moana rolled her eyes playfully.
"Well let's go find it!" She urged, grabbing his hand and starting to run. But Maui didn't budge, not even a little. She looked at him with concern to see he was frowning. "Are you...okay?" She then asked.
"Do you think people can be cursed by touching a cursed object?" He asked her, a little bit of worry in his tone. Moana thought for a moment.
"Depends on what you mean by 'cursed'." She replied with a shrug, "If you mean people having bad stuff happen to them, yeah, I've heard it's possible." Maui shook his head.
"No, I knew that was possible." He explained, holding his hands up in front of him, "By 'cursed' I mean 'possessed'." Despite the idea scaring him, he just had to ask so he could be careful. Moana shook her head.
"I don't know." She said honestly, "If I did though, I'd tell you. Sorry..." She then smiled sheepishly at him. Maui took a deep breath to try to calm his worried thoughts about what the cursed object might do.
"Okay..." He said, a brave look now on his face though he still felt a little uneasy on the inside, "Let's go find that cursed object." Moana smiled.
"That's the spirit Maui!" She encouraged with a smile. Maui smiled back.
"Thanks, kid." He said quietly, "It's good to know you have my back." Moana giggled.
"Well that's what friends are for, right?" She asked, playfully elbowing him in the ribs, "I mean, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't have your back?" Maui thought for a moment.
"Not a very good one, Curly." He replied with a smile, "Besides, if you didn't have my back, I would have to..." He trailed off, trying to think of something. Moana crossed her arms and smirked.
"You'd have to...?" She prodded, amused by him having to think of what he'd have to do. Maui frowned.
"You know what? Forget it." He said, waving a dismissive hand, "The only idea I got is throwing you into the ocean, but that won't work since the ocean would just end up bringing you back, anyway." Moana gave him a triumphant smile.
"You got that right, Mr. Demigod of the Wind and Sea." She said playfully. Maui rolled his eyes before getting an idea and smirking at her.
"Actually, it's Mr. Demigod of the Wind and Sea, Hero to All." He corrected jokingly. Moana snorted as she playfully rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say Maui." She said, beginning to walk away. Maui's eyes widened and he quickly followed after her.
"Hey, what's that for?!" He questioned as he began to walk next to her.
"We're looking for that object, aren't we?" Moana hinted with a wink. Maui sighed.
"I know that Curly." He said, sounding annoyed, "So let's go find this thing so we can leave."
After an hour of searching the island, they finally dug up the object. It was a stone that looked like the Heart of Te Fiti, but it was red.
The Heart of Te Kā? Maui thought, raising an eyebrow, I thought this was just a legend... But it's... It's here! But why...? Moana, who was staring at the stone as well, looked curious.
"What is that?" She asked, tilting her head to the side a bit, "And why does it look like the Heart of Te Fiti?" Maui sighed.
"It's the Heart of Te Kā." He said, closing the hand he was holding it with into a fist, "It was supposedly created by someone who wanted to recreate the destructiveness of Te Kā. It was meant to do the opposite of creating life by destroying it. Its creator used some type of curse on it, and it was that the island that possessed it would be cursed. I guess they fled this island since there are no sources of food here." Moana looked confused.
"If...its destruction supposedly caused the fire, why didn't it consume the whole island already?" She inquired, still curious. Maui opened his hand back up before tossing the stone on the ground.
"Because, Te Kā's wrath consumed the life of dozens of islands within one-thousand years of my absence." He answered with a sigh, "The Heart of Te Kā? Well, since it isn't something belonging to a goddess and Te Kā doesn't have a Heart" — he snorted as if he was trying to hold in laughter due to his unintentional pun — "the Heart we're seeing here, well...it can only consume an island within...maybe two or three years. But the island's food sources may slowly die off within...maybe half a year." Suddenly realization hit him before he added, "So the villagers must have fled this island a year-and-a-half ago..."
"Maui?" Moana then asked worriedly, "I-Is it supposed to be pulsing like the Heart of Te Fiti does?" Maui quickly turned his attention to the stone to see a flashing pattern that resembled a heartbeat, but he noticed Moana going over to pick it up before swiftly sticking an arm out in front of her to stop her.
"What are you doing?!" He whisper-shouted, a look of worry on his face, "You can't just run over and pick it up or bad things are gonna happen!" Moana snorted.
"Yeah, that's what you said about the Heart of Te Fiti." She said with a roll of her eyes before thinking about their conversation, "But...on second thought, I won't touch it." She then glanced back at the stone before adding, "But I am curious on what'll happen if I do touch it." Maui gave her a stern look.
"Moana, don't." He warned, his tone serious, "I swear if you do I'll..." He trailed off as he glanced at the stone, having noticed it stop glowing from the corner of his eyes.
While Maui didn't remember what could happen if she had touched it while it was pulsating, he knew something bad could possibly happen. He decided to wait a few seconds to make sure it wouldn't start pulsating again. Once he was sure it wasn't pulsating, he picked it up.
That was a mistake, however, since it started pulsating again, the pattern seemingly keeping his attention.
"M-Maui?" Moana asked worriedly, but she received no response as he continued to stare at it, "MAUI!!"
She glanced around worriedly as she tried to look for something to break his attention from it before quickly climbing a tree and grabbing a leaf from it before letting herself slide down it and running towards him. But before she reached him, the pulsing stopped.
Confused and concerned, she asked, "Maui?" She recieved no reply before yelling, "Maui, this isn't funny!" She then knew something was off as the demigod turned around to face her, his face showing no emotion.
Oh no... Moana thought, slowly backing away, He can't be... I-Is he?
Okay, I decided to end this chapter here because it's at 2K words already and I thought this'd be a good place to end it.
As for what happened to Maui in the ending, I dropped a hint earlier on in the chapter as to what was going to happen to him. If you found it, please do not say what it is nor where it is found in the reviews. The next chapter will reveal what happened to him.
I tried to look online to see if there were any cursed objects in Polynesian mythology but I couldn't find anything in the results except for a curse put on someone from the mythology (I don't remember the name), so I made up my own cursed object. I couldn't really think of anything but an idea popped into my head not too long after I tried to think of something, and I tried to make it something that could possibly be canon in the Moana universe. So I hope it doesn't suck (since in my own head I was kind of worried it would).
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Also feel free to drop a review, I appreciate any feedback I can get (as long as it isn't flames)!
April, OUT!!
Edit (3/5/20): I know there's probably a lack of adventure in this by Chapter 5 and in Chapter 6 due to what I wanted to have happen to Maui, but I promise in Chapter 7 there will be adventure. So sorry if I disappointed anyone. But still, if you read this chapter and think there is and will be adventure in this, you're not wrong! So stay tuned!
