After her chat with Maui, April took a deep breath and walked to her boat, looking back at him as she grabbed it to push it back into the ocean. She noticed him watching her with what looked like a sad expression.
Once he noticed her looking at him however, he glared at her and asked, "What? Aren't you going to visit that beady-eyed bottom-feeder?" April rolled her eyes with a sigh as she held up her staff to put it on the boat, causing Maui to force himself to hide a wince at her raising it.
"Well no shit." April said, an attitude in her voice, "I'm going to apologize for not kicking your sorry a–" She was cut off by a chuckle from Maui and she glared at him. "What's so funny now?" She asked out of annoyance, reaching for her staff.
"I'm sorry, you kicking my butt?" Maui asked, trying to hold in laughter but failing as more chuckles came out, "Yeah, like when is that ever going to happen?" April grabbed her staff then suddenly pointed it at him as it started to glow blue, causing him to wince a bit and think that maybe what he had said wasn't such a good idea.
April smirked at his wincing and slowly began to walk over to him before saying, "Right now, if you want me to." Maui just rolled his eyes, silently cursing himself for doing something stupid.
"Just go find Tamatoa, April." He said with a sigh, no longer looking at her, "I'll just be here, alone..." She was confused as to why he had sounded sad but thought he was trying to get her to feel bad so she tossed her staff onto the boat and started to push it into the water again, not looking back. She only looked back as she hopped on the boat and started to drift away.
Knowing it'd take one day to sail to Lalotai, April looked back at Maui's island, seeing it as only a speck in the distance.
I know he might hate me for this, but I gotta check on Tamatoa. She thought, knowing how much Maui hated Tamatoa after their big fight, I mean, they - or at least, we - were friends for a while, and I still can't believe Maui had torn off his leg, just to get the Heart for the humans instead of telling Tamatoa that he'll give him the Heart after the humans were done with it as long as he didn't use it to create an army or something.
She then doubted that Tamatoa would even be happy to see her, but she'd hoped the fact that she had yelled at Maui for removing Tamatoa's leg as they left would be enough to show that she cared for the giant crab. She then sighed as she pulled on the rope, straightening the sail so she could at least sail faster.
Maui, deciding he was tired of being stuck in one spot, sighed as he decided to try to get up again. He took a deep breath as he slowly moved his arms to his side to push himself up.
Okay Maui, you can do this... He thought, trying to think of a way to push himself up so he wouldn't feel so much pain. He remembered Te Kā had struck his right side and he was glad April had jabbed at his left side more with her staff instead of his right. Then again, she had stayed on his left side during their conversations and only poked at his upper-left tattoo on his back and also at his left side.
He then decided that his right side would be in a huge amount of pain if he had rolled onto it, so he decided to roll onto his left side. It wasn't as painful as he thought it'd be, but once he used his left hand to push himself up, a searing, stinging pain shot through his right side. He squeezed his eyes shut and sucked air in through his teeth as he fully sat up, finally allowing himself to breathe once the pain had finally subsided. Due to being able to hold his breath for long periods of time, his breaths weren't very heavy, just soft.
He looked at the fruits April had left for him and reached for one, deciding he should wait a bit before making any other attempt at fully standing up.
Stupid curse... He thought, biting into the soft flesh of a mango, If it hadn't blasted me out of the sky, I could've been a hero! The mortals would've loved me and what I did would've been enough for them! Then I'd be loved and... He let out a frustrated growl as he pulled at his hair with his free hand, being careful though so he didn't end up with a clump of his own hair in his hand.
Realizing he had lost everything – love, respect, his hook and two very close friends – he felt like doing something he never thought he'd ever do. He felt like crying, just to let his feelings out. He felt miserable as he placed the fruit he was eating down and put his face in his hands, the tears beginning to fall from his eyes.
She's right, I am a terrible demigod and friend... He thought, only looking up from his hands to look at where April had gone, seeing the trail made by the boat before it had entered the deeper water to allow her to sail, Why else would the gods stick me here if I wasn't?
After that thought, he felt his ego starting to deflate. The slight stinging feeling from his burns didn't help either, only reminding him of his defeat against the giant lava monster who had risen up from a pile of rocks in the ocean to take him down.
Watch, I have a tattoo of it. He thought sarcastically with a roll of his eyes before looking for a new tattoo that could be on his body. He began to look around the front of his body and his arms to see if a tattoo could be there.
He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing nothing there, but upon twisting his body to check his back, the stinging sensation from his burns returned, but he knew that newer tattoos could appear there, so he once again held his breath. Then he saw it: there – on the upper-right side of his back – was a new tattoo of a giant lava monster with him falling out of the sky right next to it.
Letting out yet another growl of frustration, he let himself fall onto his back, letting out a tiny yelp of pain from the feeling of the sandy ground hitting his burned back.
They all hate me... He thought, staring up at the now orange-and-purple sky, April, the mortals, the gods... Hell, I wouldn't doubt that Tamatoa already hates me for just taking his leg and leaving him in Lalotai to suffer. He then sighed, closing his eyes and hoping his time on the island would be short and that the gods and everyone else could eventually forgive him.
Seeing the setting sun on the horizon, April couldn't help but wonder how Maui was doing on that island, all alone. She remembered his pain and the fruit she had given him and hoped he'd be alright. No, he would be alright. Besides, they both were found drifting on the ocean by the gods, raised by them then given the powers of a demigod – and in her case, a demigoddess – once they were old enough to fully understand those powers and use them.
She remembered it took a whole year of training to get the hang of their weapons and use the powers the weapons gave them before being granted immortality and being released out into the world, free to do whatever their hearts desired. And that was when Maui considered going back to the humans, just to help him cope with his abandonment and feel loved again.
She knew that without his hook, he'd be powerless against whatever creature came out to attack him, and while she wanted to believe she didn't care, she really did. Part of her worried that due to his pain and the loss of his hook, he was vulnerable to attacks by his enemies or anything that wanted to pick a fight with him. But she remembered the island looked uninhabited by any living creatures, so she felt he'd be alright and hoped he would be despite the emptiness of the island.
As she looked behind her into the distance, she saw stars starting to appear in the sky, looking pretty faint due to the light that was left in the sky from the sunset that was now behind her. She couldn't help but notice a constellation in the sky resembling Maui's fish hook. Maybe the gods were displeased with him for stealing the Heart of Te Fiti, but April figured that was there for a reason. She had no idea why though, because knowing him she had doubts that whoever found the island would be able to get him to help them locate the Heart. So finding and restoring the Heart would prove difficult with how stubborn he was.
She had hoped though that there would be someone who could force him to help find and restore the Heart, but for now, that was only a hope.
The sun shone brightly as the huge mountain to Lalotai had started to show in the distance. April had been up all night navigating the boat in order to control it so she didn't end up off course. She smiled as she straightened her sail to catch wind and get to the island faster.
Lalotai, here I come! She thought happily, feeling glad she had gone just to apologize to an old friend of theirs. She felt guilty about leaving Tamatoa, but she had instead decided to try to yell at Maui for taking the leg of the giant crab, even following him out of the lair but her words seemed to fall on deaf ears since he refused to listen to her, only yelling back at her. And yes, they did exchange a few hurtful words between each other.
"So you're just going to abandon him in that cave?!" She remembered yelling at him, "Yeah, seems like the thing a half-human would do, since your parents had done the same to you." Her strategy during arguments like that was to pick at his weak points, just to get him to change his mind about the whole situation. But it didn't go so well, since they'd both been abandoned and in this type of situation Maui could easily fire back at her.
"Yeah? Well, you were abandoned too." She remembered him saying back, "And you're also half-human... Unwanted by your parents, no matter what you try to tell yourself."
As she remembered those words, they still hurt as badly as when he had said them. She still denied the whole part of being unwanted though. She had stuck to her beliefs that their parents just couldn't take care of them, but she still had her doubts. That's what she got for living with – and being friends with – a guy who thinks he was unwanted.
After the memories, she just sighed, hoping the giant coconut crab could forgive her as she docked her boat on the shore and got off, changing to a hawk and flying to the top of the mountain.