Tamatoa was in his lair, having already gotten up and learned to maintain balance without his front leg for the past few days. He was thinking of what to do before he saw a familiar figure in the entrance to his lair.
"Oh..." He said, sounding as if he didn't care what she was visiting him for, "It's just you, that annoying demigod's sister, right?" April rolled her eyes as she entered the lair.
"Look, I'm not his sister." April mentioned as she walked up to the crab. "And I'm truly sorry for what he did to you..." She added as she looked at the ground, sadness in her voice, "I told him yesterday after his theft of the Heart went wrong that he could've told you that you could have the Heart after he used it for the mortals as long as you didn't use it to create an army."
"Look, babe" — April held in the urge to cringe as Tamatoa had said that — "do I look like I care about what that semi-demi-minigod does?" He then perked up as he remembered her mention Maui's failure to steal the Heart. "But I do care to hear about his failures. Gives me something to rub in his face for the next time I meet him."
"Um, well..." April started, shifting from one foot to the other, unsure of whether she should tell him or not, "I'll tell you. But you gotta promise me that you won't mention this failure out loud to him, or he'll either think or know that I told you about it since I told him I was visiting you, okay?" The giant coconut crab just nodded, and April was glad that he was still on friendly terms with her.
She then started to explain everything that had happened involving Te Fiti and what happened after and Tamatoa looked amused before letting out a villainous chuckle after she had finished explaining.
"Man, the gods must hate him." He said with a smirk, seeming to have enjoyed what she had told him, "That little demigod causing me pain, stealing the Heart then getting knocked out of the sky by a raging lava monster? It's a win-win for me!" April hesitated a bit to tell him about the constellation in the sky that she had seen the night before as she just nervously looked at her staff.
Should I tell him? She thought, turning the handle in the palm of her hand, I mean, if I do tell him, he might get angry... She then took a deep breath.
"...Actually there's a giant fish hook constellation in the sky." She said as she looked up at him and winced slightly, expecting an angry reaction from him. Instead she got a puzzled look.
"There's what?" Tamatoa asked, confused, "Why would there be a–" Then it happened as he snapped a claw shut, causing April to wince again and back away a bit as he glared at nothing in particular. "Why is there a giant fish hook constellation in the sky?! It's not like he's special enough to be remembered!" April hesitated for a bit, afraid to anger the crab even further as she tried to think of something to say.
"Maybe they want someone to...rescue him...?" She tried with a nervous smile, "Y-You know...to find and return the Heart."
"Pfft, yeah... Good luck to them when it comes to trying to get him to return the Heart." Tamatoa scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief, "He'd most likely take it again and give it to his precious little humans." He said the last word mockingly. "Or if a human has it he might just try to convince them to keep it."
Not if I have something to say about it. She thought, glaring at the idea of that happening, If he did that instead of returning it, I'd freaking kick him where I know it hurts!
Maui woke up with sunlight glaring in his eyes as he sat up and rubbed them. He then looked at the pile of fruit next to him. Suddenly he realized something: he wasn't in pain from his burns anymore! He smiled as he quickly got up in triumph, a huge smile on his face. But a stinging pain spread through his right side, and he grunted in pain before sucking air in through his teeth as he placed a hand over it.
Okay, maybe that was a bad idea... He thought, teeth still clenched in pain, I should really work on that next time I get burns on my body.
As the stinging pain subsided, Maui looked down at the fruits April had left for him the day before. He then grabbed a banana, deciding to search around the island for something he could use to escape, but he knew he couldn't think without at least something to hold him over as he searched. Besides, on an empty stomach the most he would be able to think about is how hungry he was or, possibly, food.
He opened the banana then started on his way as he took a bite from the soft fruit, hoping it'd be enough to at least hold him off until he thought of something. He started to look around as he continued to eat the fruit, hoping to get his brain working so he could find a way off the island. He walked a short distance on the island before coming upon a cave.
Well, if there is no means of escaping I could always live in there. He thought with a shrug as he began to walk into it.
Inside the cave, he found a large, smooth rock that seemed to stretch to half the height of the cave's ceiling and to the right – closest to the entrance in front of the wall – was a hole in the ceiling that light had shone through. Those were the only things he had found in the cave.
He examined the rock closely, as if to see whether or not he could do something with it. He then smiled.
"You're going to make a fine work of art." He said as if the rock could actually hear him, "All I have to do is find something to carve you with."
"So are you going to be okay down here while I'm gone?" April asked after they had caught up a bit, "I mean, if you need me to stay I can."
"No, I don't want to hold you back from whatever you're going to be doing next." Tamatoa said, lying down on his legs, "Besides, you've got adventures to go on, don't you? You know, people to help?" April sighed.
"No, I gotta make sure the big guy's safe and has food." She said with a roll of her eyes, "But if I didn't have to be stuck watching over him – which I'm sure is what the gods want me to do – then I'd definitely be going on adventures. But you gotta do what you gotta do..." She then smiled at Tamatoa before adding, "But I'll make sure that once he gets off the island, he owes me. And big-time, too." They both then chuckled.
"Well whatever he owes you, make sure it's great." Tamatoa said with a smile. April giggled, already having an idea.
"I will." She said, "And first all I gotta do is hit him with my staff" — she twirled it in her hand — "and tell him that he owes me something shiny for me to give you for stranding us on the island in the first place. Or, I could do something to humiliate him. Or both, like telling him he owes me something shiny to give you or else I'll do something to humiliate him."
"Ooh, do both!" Tamatoa said, excitement showing on his face, "That should be interesting." April chuckled.
"Okay, I'll do both for ya." She said with a smile, "And I'll let ya know what his reaction is." Tamatoa grinned.
"I can't wait for that day to come!" He said, seemingly overjoyed, "And when it does I will laugh in his face."
"I'll come visit you soon Tamatoa." April said, still smiling at him as she backed away to leave, "And, if you want, I will keep you updated on stories of his failures, since I know you love those." Tamatoa's grin seemed to grow.
"Oh, yes, I'd love that!" He said, seemingly moving in an excited manner that only a crab could, "But I promise I won't tell him anything you don't want me to tell him."
Because he's tried to be tough, but apparently he doesn't have hard enough armor. The giant crustacean thought to himself, stifling a chuckle, Poor, helpless, possibly broken Maui.
Okay, so...I decided to throw in a reference to the song Shiny where Tamatoa sings "You've tried to be tough, but your armor's just not hard enough" in the ending. I just decided to change it around a bit. Why I did that reference is because I wanted it to connect with Maui's failure to steal the Heart and take down Te Kā for this fanfic.
I won't be covering every single day that Maui's been in exile on the island since that's a very long time, but when I see an opening to add the day of his rescue, I will. This just became a story in itself, and the first chapter was originally supposed to skip to the day of his freedom, but these ideas just came to me as I went, like detailing what had happened after his defeat against Te Kā.