Author's Note: I'm sorry about not updating yesterday, guys. Thanks for your patience. My old college roommate came in from out of town, and we spent our New Year's Eve at my favorite drag bar making new friends with some very lovely drunk people, and watching probably the best Cher impersonator that has ever been. Subsequently, I got home and completely failed to get any work done.

I'll remedy that right now.

I do hope you all had a lovely New Year's Eve, and that you're looking forward to a successful 2017. Thank you all for helping make my year a little more wonderful already!

Chapter Twenty-Two

Shackled to the familiar wall of the goddess's throne room, Maui had no choice but to wait…and Moana didn't come.

Meanwhile, with every passing moment, Hine-nui-te-po seemed just a little more pleased with herself. She didn't deliver any more speeches on the faithlessness of mortals, but instead she just stared straight ahead, watching the door that led to her throne room, smiling that terrible, triumphantly miserable smile as, moment after moment, then hour after hour, no one came to rescue her prisoner.

Maui tried not to be surprised; he really did. He tried to remind himself that he'd known all along she wouldn't come, that she didn't have any reason to come, that she was smart enough to realize that a world without him would be a safer, more rational, less mischievous world in which she could lead her village back to the ocean, to be the wayfinder she'd always wanted to be.

He did his best, but in the end, it wasn't any use. The longer he had to watch the door, waiting for her probably not to show up, the more that painful little knife twisted in his chest.

He had been so sure, so sure that she would come. He'd meant something to her, hadn't he? Something she'd said she wasn't willing to give up. He'd heard her say it; she did care about him. She'd promised the ocean that.

Then again, he reminded himself bitterly, she doesn't owe me anything anymore, remember? 'All debts are off?' Gah…I'm an idiot. She's never coming back.

Hine-nui-te-po yawned dramatically, stretched, and got up from her throne.

"I wonder," she murmured conversationally, "what's taking Ngaire so long with breakfast, hmm? Perhaps I'd better go see. After all, you must be hungry, and I'm very strict about making sure my prisoners get their last meals. It's a little idiosyncrasy I've picked up, you know, after thousands of years of thinking just how best to accommodate the deceased. I do try to be a reasonable ruler. No more suffering than absolutely necessary, you know…although in your case, I may be having just a little bit of a splurge. Guilty pleasure. You won't tell anyone, will you?" She laughed.

Shooting him a dazzling smile, the goddess turned on her heel and headed out the door, leaving Maui alone, never having felt so not-hungry in his entire life. The very idea of food turned his stomach, which was tied up in enough nervous knots already.

All right, he thought, trying to shake himself out of the dull half0-panic, and pulling experimentally at the shackles on his wrists. Maybe, now that she's gone, if I just-!

Unfortunately, he didn't have any time to try escaping. Not moments after the goddess left, Ngaire, the blond, sour-faced Turehu girl, came hurriedly in through the door, carrying the dreaded tray full of fish.

Maui's stomach dropped, and his heart did an ugly sort of somersault in his chest.

Ngaire shot him a dirty look, leading Maui to suspect that she still hadn't forgiven him for the little trick he'd played on her when he'd last escaped from Rarohenga.

So mch for charming my way out of here, he thought, frustrated.

"Breakfast," she muttered sulkily. "I hope you choke on it."

"Hey, don't be like that," retorted Maui, trying to keep his tone light despite the pounding of his heart. "I mean, I'm gonna die one way or another, right? You might as well be civil. We're about to be neighbors…for the rest of eternity. Let's not start things off on the wrong foot, okay?"

He shot her a shaky grin, but she just shrugged and rolled her eyes.

Ngaire started to bend down to deposit the tray in front of him, and then, unexpectedly, something went wrong. The water around her rippled sharply, and then, in a flash, the red and gold woven robes she wore flew off her back and were carried away in an unseen current.

Maui blinked.

"H-hey!" Spinning around, Ngaire stared behind her, but there wasn't anyone there. Apparently without thinking, still carrying the tray, she got hastily to her feet again and rushed off after the robe, which was already disappearing through the throne room door.

Maui watched her go, not quite sure what had just happened, but wanting to believe he had a pretty good guess. In the back of his mind, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't completely convince himself that what he'd just seen was only a taniwha's trick, or maybe one of the underworld spirits getting bored and playing games with the Turehu.

There's only one person I know, he thought, who pulls off last-minute, nick-of-time saves like that almost as well as I do…and it's Moana.

This time, it was the rush of adrenaline and that hesitant pang of hope that made his heart beat faster, much faster, and, just in case, he got up into a crouch, ready to bolt if the need arose.

Maybe, he thought, just…just maybe she came for me after all.

This time, he didn't have to force the grin. He almost felt like singing.

Moana was very surprised when a red and gold robe came hurrying towards her through the water, landing on her shoulders with a splash. As far as she could tell, it was pretty much identical to the one that the Turehu girl had been wearing when Moana had watched her go into the throne room carrying the sack only minutes before.

"Wow," she whispered. "Thanks! Really nice work!"

All around Moana, the ocean bubbled and burbled, obviously pleased with the praise.

"Okay." Nodding to herself, Moana squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and started to get up from her hiding place behind the rock. "Now, it's time to-gahh!"

Before she was even fully on her feet, the ocean sprayed her directly in the face with a jet of water. Startled, Moana sat down hard on the ground again, just in time for the pale-haired Turehu girl to come rushing out of the palace, holding a laden tray and looking absolutely enraged.

"Heeeeeeey," screamed the girl, waving her arms emphatically and glaring around at all sides. "Where the hell are you? Who the hell are you? Give it back, I NEED that!"

As Moana pressed herself against the rock, barely breathing to avoid being noticed, the girl dumped the tray she was carrying onto the ground, spilling fish all over the sand, and stormed off into the depths of Rarohenga somewhere, probably chasing after the mysterious specter who had run off with her clothes.

Slowly, watching the girl's retreating back, Moana tried standing up again.

"Thanks," she whispered to the ocean. "once we're safely out here, and when we start telling this story to the kids in the village, I'm definitely going to make sure they know that you were the real hero this time; that's a promise. For now, though, let's go get Maui."

Moana felt the water rushing along beside her as she again began marching purposefully towards the two taniwha.

At first, they seemed totally disinterested in her presence. Then, as she got closer, they both turned lazily and regarded her with blank, blink-eyed stares. It wasn't until Moana got right up to the gates of Hine-nui-te-po's palace that either taniwha made any real effort to stop her. The one on the right leaned slowly in towards her, cocked its head to one side, then the other, and then, spreading its large, leathery wings ever-so-slightly for balance, it stuck out its snakelike tongue and very gingerly tasted her shoulder.

Moana froze.

It wasn't a slimy or really unpleasant sensation, she reflected nervously. It certainly didn't feel the way that she'd ever have expected being licked by a dragon to feel, and it wasn't all that scary, either, as long as she didn't look too long at the rows of giant, sparkling, pointy teeth lining the taniwha's only slightly-open mouth.

After only a moment, the first taniwha apparently lost interest, and the one on the left took its turn. This one, Moana decided, was actually slightly larger, and the coloration around the jaws and eye sockets was a little different, too. This one did look scary, but it also looked bored. Moana held herself perfectly still, and carefully reminded herself to breath as it tasted her. Then having taken even less time than the first taniwha, it pulled its head back and settled into its guarding position again.

Unhindered, Moana took two hesitant steps towards the palace, and then hurried through the archway before either dragon could change its mind.

The inside of the palace was sincerely, breathtakingly beautiful. It was brightly lit with candles that somehow didn't let the water snuff them out, and full of the dancing, colorful, shimmering patterns made by the sun as it shone through the sea. There were hundreds of dark wooden archways leading off in every direction, and, for a fleeting moment, Moana wondered where they all went and how many people might live in this place. Were these all the homes of the dead chiefs that her mother and grandmother had told her the legends about, chiefs who had done great deeds and were honored by the gods with a special place in the afterlife? Did the goddess just have a lot of servants who lived in the palace to look after her needs? What exactly were her needs? Through one doorway, Moana thought she could see an earth-oven, which didn't make a lot of sense, considering the dead didn't need to eat, did they? What was the oven for?

The idea that the oven might be used for some kind of burn-related torture crossed Moana's mind, and she suddenly wasn't nearly as curious anymore. Maui was through one of these doorways, and, she decided, it was probably the one lined with blue coral and seemingly perfect pearls, jewels of the sea that marked the goddess's throne room, maybe. At least, pearls were the sort of thing that Moana would have expected an under-the-sea goddess to decorate with. It occurred to her that it might not be a bad idea to do a little more research on the ruler of the kingdom of the dead, just in case her people ever needed that information in the future, for any further adventures in the underworld that she hoped she, personally, didn't have to have. Why was it, she wondered, that the humans knew so little about the gods? Prayer and presents would probably be a heck of a lot easier if they had just a little more insight into what the gods were really like, and it was honestly just a little strange that there wasn't more information about this in the ancient legends. Then again, it wasn't as though a lot of people ever came back from vacations in Rarohenga. Moana made a note to meet with the council on this subject if she ever made it out of here alive.

"There," whispered Moana. "Let's try that one first."

Beside her, the ocean rippled its agreement, but it sounded almost as tense as Moana felt.

"We're out of options," she reminded it. "I get how stupid this is, but what else am I supposed to do? Look, let's just go in there and play it by ear. Who knows, maybe she's not home."

The ocean made a doubtful burble, but Moana ignored it.

Carefully, as quietly as she could so as not to drawn any unnecessary attention to herself, Moana crept through the doorway and into the throne room of the goddess of the dead.

The moment she entered the room, she saw Maui crouched on the far side of the room, with one arm chained by the wrist to the wall behind him. His eyes were wild and dark, like he'd been under some sort of stress or terrible strain, but Moana was insanely relieved to see that, otherwise, he seemed totally unhurt.

"Maui!" She started to rush towards him, but the look on his face changed abruptly, stopping her in her tracks. His mouth had fallen open in surprise, and for a moment he looked horrified.

"M-Moana," he mumbled. "You…?"

Moana suddenly had a suspicion that she knew what the problem was.

"What? Me? No, no, no, no, no. Nope. Look." Blowing on her forearm, she displaced a bunch of the white sand, revealing the much healthier color of skin beneath. "See? Good disguise, though, right? It was the ocean's idea. Oh, man, though, I didn't think it'd be good enough to fool even you!"

She grinned hopefully.

"Uh." Maui blinked, then swallowed hard and shook his head.

"I think," he muttered, "that you may have just taken several years off my life…and that shouldn't be possible, for, uh, obvious reasons."

He smiled again, and it was a real Maui smile, full of brazen sunshine, which warmed Moana up from the inside out. That, combined with the intense relief, made all the cold, wet, and misery of the realm of the dead feel like it had faded away.

Author's End Note: Don't worry. I promise to write all about Maui's reaction to the moment of Moana coming to rescue him, but we'll need to see that from his perspective, obviously, so that'll be the very beginning of the next chapter. For now, I have a few things I need to take care of, so I'll see you all tomorrow!