Author's Note: GUYS guys guys guys heeeeeey, I have to tell you something! One of my incredibly fantastic readers was kind enough to draw a fanart inspired by this story!

You can check it out after at .com, on the "Mercy's Blog" page. Please do go check it out, and follow the link to Tabakerko's portfolio, too. There's some beautiful work, there, worth more than one look.

Okay, okay. I'll write a chapter now, I really will, but I just…I'm really excited about this art.

Okay.

Anyway.

Back to the story. I got this.

Chapter Twelve

Maui wasn't sure how long he slept. The warm bed was just a little too small, and he kept waking up in the dark, wondering for an alarming moment where he was before remembering, taking a deep breath and passing out cold again.

When he finally did open his eyes for good, he still felt a little dazed and achy, but he found that he could sit up straight without terrible muscle spasms. Moana was seated in a chair across from him against the wall, chewing angrily on her lip and frowning fiercely into empty space.

"So," muttered Maui sarcastically, "I take it everything went well with the council, huh?"

"Ugh," groaned Moana, sounding immensely frustrated. "I mean, yeah, it went…fine. It's all fine. It's not like I let them throw you out of the village or anything."

"So…they did try," muttered Maui, wincing. "Yeah, well, it's not like I didn't see that coming." He sighed. "Look, Moana, maybe it'd be better if I got out of here. Having me around doesn't seem like it's gonna make your life any easier, and I don't really want to start anything, not right now, anyway, so-!"

"What?" Moana's eyes widened. "No way! You're not going anywhere. You have to put the island back in the sea, remember?"

Now it was Maui's turn to stare. "Right…right now?"

"Huh? No, of course not," mumbled Moana. "I mean, after we've made up with Hine-nui-te-po and appeased the anger of the sea, obviously, right? We'll have to put the island back, so my people can get to the ocean again."

Maui just shook his head, impressed despite himself. "You really aren't gonna give up on this. You think you're still gonna calm down the sea?"

Moana subsided a little. "I…well, of course I am," she said, with just a bit less enthusiasm and gusto. "I have to, I mean…there has to be something I can do. My people need me."

Maui grinned.

"That's our Moana," he chuckled. "Why am I surprised? I should have known you weren't a quitter."

Moana just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I guess," she told him, "but just saying 'I have to fix this' isn't much in itself. I mean, you should have seen the way they looked at me in the council chamber when I told them that I didn't know what we were going to do. You could almost taste the disappointment in the air, and everyone just looked at my Dad like he was going to have the answer. I couldn't even get them quiet by myself, so he had to command the room for me, or whatever. Maybe…maybe I'll never be the Chief that they need, but-!"

"But," interrupted Maui, "you're the one that they've got, and frankly, if you ask me, they're lucky to have you. Maybe you don't have all the answers yet, okay, but, hey, at least you're trying. You got your heart in it, like always." He shrugged. "Wouldn't be you without that reckless kiddy enthusiasm of yours."

"Hey!" Moana glared at him. "It's not 'kiddy,' it's-!"

"I bet none of them made any helpful suggestions anyway," Maui went on. "I mean, other than 'let's drive Maui off Motunui, or send his head back to Hine-nui-te-po on a plate,' or something."

Moana winced. "No one…actually said anything like that last one," she mumbled. "Not…not in so many words, anyway."

It got close though, didn't it, thought Maui, his heart sinking. Yep, I can see it in your eyes. Mortals; they never cease to disappoint me. Then again, it's not like I can make a good case for why this isn't my fault. It…it pretty much is my fault. There's, uh, no way around that one. But, hey, my intentions were…not…not honorable, exactly. Good? Sort of? Nevermind.

"Look," he said aloud, "what I'm trying to say is that you're absolutely, one-hundred-percent Chief material. Anybody who's willing to go diving into the realm of the dead, on a moment's notice, without a plan, to save her people from, literally, the queen of the zombies is exactly the kind of Chief I'd want if I were ever to go in for the whole villager thing. That's somebody you can count on to have your back, which is a big deal. Take it from a guy who always works alone; having an ally is huge. Your people can depend on you, and that's more than just something, that's everything."

Moana, startled, took a moment to respond.

"I…I didn't just go down there just to save my people, you know," she said slowly, after a while.

Maui shrugged. "Yeah, I remember. You had a debt to pay to some attractive troublemaker who saved your life a while back. Well, you can relax now, Moana. You and I are square. All debts are off. Deal?"

He reached out, offering a hand for her to shake, but Moana just stared at it, then planted her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"You know," she began hotly, "for a super powerful demigod, you can be awfully stupid sometimes."

Maui blinked. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's right, you know." Unexpectedly, Moana's Dad, Tui, walked through the open door and into the house, pausing to nod somewhat uncomfortably at Maui before crossing to sit by his daughter. "You did very well in there. People are frightened, but they are also encouraged by your determination. They may not show it, but they're proud of you, and you give them strength…just as I knew you would, Moana. You should be pleased."

"Thanks." Moana gave him half a smile. "I'd be a lot happier, though, if I had some idea how I was going to follow through on those promises I made…yeah, that'd be great."

Suddenly, she yawned, and looked a little embarrassed.

"S-sorry," she mumbled. "I guess I'm a little tired, too."

"No kidding," returned Maui. "I had to hold up an island, so you had to hold up an island AND the most powerful demigod in the world at the same time. I think it's your turn for a nap."

He grinned. Moana opened her mouth, shut it quickly, pursed her lips, and then tried again.

"Maybe," she began. "I would, except…you're kinda taking up all the space in my bed."

There was a brief pause while Maui processed that.

"I'm…wait, this is…this is YOUR bed?" He coughed, uncharacteristically embarrassed, and swung himself out of the bed as hastily and gracefully as he could. "W-well, hey, why didn't you say something earlier? Uh, anyway, it's all yours, now. Thanks for, um, the loan."

He and Moana just looked at each other, neither of them apparently quite sure what to say next.

"You know what," he said suddenly, wincing with the realization, "I bet the bed smells like sweat now, because-! Yeah, that's, uh, that's pretty gross. I am… really sorry about that."

"No! No, no no, no. Really, it's fine!" Moana's voice sounded just a little higher pitched than usual as she waved her hands frantically in front of her. "Don't worry about it! I'm just glad you're feeling better, haha. I mean…are you, actually, feeling better?"

"Oh yeah. Me? I feel great. Just like myself again. Good as new!" Maui nodded emphatically, making quickly for the door. "And I am going to go, right now, so that you can get a little bit of your Chiefly beauty rest, and I will see you…later! Yeah. Uh, sweet dreams!"

"I…don't know if that is such a good idea," muttered Moana, shooting a doubtful look at her father.

Tui nodded and got to his feet.

"It would be my privilege to show you around the island," he said, inclining his head politely in Maui's direction. "Or…what's left of it, anyway. If you would follow me, Maui of the Wind and Sea."

Maui gave Moana a frantic look.

"Oh…great! Well, doesn't that sound like fun." She didn't sound entirely convinced. "You two boys will probably have…well, so much to talk about!"

He's going to take me out there and try to set me on fire or something, thought Maui, sighing to himself. He's waiting for Moana to be out of the way so that he can shove me off a cliff or try to feed me back to the sea. It's been nice knowing you, Moana, but something tells me that Hine-nui-te-po's merciless wrath is nothing in comparison to what your Dad'd do to some guy he thought was giving his little girl too much of a hard time. Yeah, we're going to have a LOT to talk about, that's for sure. Oh boy.

"Uh, thank you, sir," said Maui as deferentially as he could, forcing himself not to send Moana any more frantic danger signals with his eyes. "I would love to see the island. Yeah. I'm looking forward to it."

Taking a deep breath and without a backwards look, he followed Tui out of the house, feeling Moana's nervous eyes on his back as they went.

The former Chief of Motuui walked silently into the center of the village, with Maui trailing behind. There were a few women clustered together there, talking animatedly amongst themselves, but they all froze and the conversation died away as they noticed Maui approaching.

"Ah, Tui." One of the women, Moana's mother, Sina, detached herself from the group and came over to greet her husband, while the other women hastily dispersed. "Giving our guest a tour of the village? That's a nice idea. Where's Moana?"

"Resting at home," Explained Moana's Dad. "She's had a difficult day."

"I don't have any doubt about that," sighed Sina, shaking her head. "I'm trying to decide which one was more of an adventure; meeting the goddess of the underworld, or facing up to those crotchety elders. At the moment, I'm inclined to call it a draw."

"Hmm," murmured Tui noncommittally.

Maui cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, uh, sir…and ma'am. Look, I have a feeling I know what happened during the village council meeting, and I think I know what you brought me out here to tell me. You don't have to, I get it. I can be gone before she wakes up, no sweat. I don't…really, I don't want to give her any more trouble. You don't have to ask me twice."

He meant it sincerely, even if sincerity wasn't something that Maui was terribly used to, and Moana's parents must have seen it in his eyes.

"Oh, no you don't," cautioned Sina, pointing an admonishing finger at him., but smiling as she said it to take out the sting "You're not getting out of this mess that easily."

"Moana would be devastated if you left us," agreed Tui.

"Of course she would." Sina nodded. "She's always been something of a fan of yours, ever since she was a little kid. Her Grandmother, Tala, could quiet her down in an instant just by promising to tell her the story of 'How Maui snared the sun!' That was her favorite for years. If mother changed even the slightest little thing about the storytelling, Moana would always notice and call her on it and make her tell it again, correctly this time. They used to laugh quite a bit over your stories…" She wiped away a tear, shaking her head.

"I remember," murmured Tui, smiling to himself.

"Oh, and I remember," Sina went on, with a mischievous glint in her eye, "a story that your mother Tala once told me about a little boy named Tui who, after listening to the story of "How Maui pulled up the islands," he crept out to the fishing boats one night and got himself into terrible trouble when he decided to start casting all the fish hooks into the water at the same time, to see if he could pull up a little island of his own. He was going to build a fort on it and hide there from his father, who wasn't very happy about the way he kept running down to the beach instead of paying attention to his lessons."

Surprisingly, Moana's father coughed and ever-so-slightly flushed.

"So," Sina went on, "Moana comes by it honestly, in the family way."

"On the subject of the ancient legends," began Tui hesitantly, "there was…well, a favor I wanted to ask of you, Maui. I'm aware that I'm imposing, and on a guest, at that, but-!"

Maui, who for thousands of years hadn't been in the habit of doing favors, said "no problem. You name it. After all, I owe you one. What can Maui, hero of men, do for the village of Motunui?"

He grinned, radiating the bravado and confidence that he was sure a powerful demigod should radiate, and Sina smiled.

"With the ocean so far away," she explained, "we're going to be eating coconuts and sweet potatoes for weeks. We're going to need some protein, or we're all going to start getting sick."

Maui just nodded and waved that away with one hand. "No problem, I got you covered. Some healthy, balanced, nutritious mortal meals, coming right up. Um, excuse me."

Ridiculously relieved, he turned on his heel and started towards the cliff that had once been Motunui's beach. He paused for a moment to get his bearings so, as not to get lost on the way back, and heard Tui and Sina talking in low voices, voices that probably only his legitimately superhuman hearing could pick up at this distance.

"You didn't have to tell him about the fishing boats," Tui was saying, gently admonitory.

Sina just laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face, and on his! Honestly, our trickster god seems like a nice enough young man, don't you think? A little awkward, maybe, and he does have a tendency to almost destroy the world, but you can tell that he's got a heart in there somewhere. That counts for a lot."

"Moana certainly thinks so," muttered Tui dryly.

"Moana's a smart girl," Sina reminded her husband. "She's remembered something very important about Maui that I think all our wise, cautious village elders have completely forgotten; she remembers that a demigod is part god, and part human. Humans, just like all of us, are prone to making mistakes…"

They headed off together back towards their own home, leaving Maui feeling warm and confused inside, staring down at the sea.

Author's End Note: I have to get up early tomorrow to take a client of mine to the hospital (this is not part of my job description, but sometimes my authors become personal friends.) I had to take the day off work to do that, so after I get home from the hospital I'll be able to write a little bit more. I'm looking forward to that.