Author's Note: Hello friends! I have two headaches, but I really want to write…so I'll try. If the chapter turns out too terribly, then I'll stop, I promise.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Maui was uncharacteristically quiet for most of the voyage back to Motunui. He had a lot on his mind; possibly more than he'd had to think about for the last several thousand years.

He watched Moana steering from the prow of the boat, one hand resting lightly on the mast as she scanned the horizon with that calculating, concentrated, half-squinty look in her eyes, and her hair all over the place in the breeze. She was remarkable, striking, beautiful in sort of a weird and unexpected way that didn't really tie in with the concept he'd once had of what great beauty was supposed to look like.

Contrary to popular myth and legend, Maui was neither totally comfortable nor very experienced in love. Oh, there had been women; actually, there had been hundreds of women over the years, mostly star-struck mortal girls who'd grown up on their elders' tales of gods and monsters, girls who were dazzled by the idea of being an adventuress who won the heart of a bad-boy hero. Sometimes, they were pretty young wives of village chiefs who ran off for a temporary escape from a husband twice or even three times their age. Maui was their rebellion, and, in a little way, they had been his. In the end, though, no one ever got hurt. The girls would go back to their homes, full of the excitement of having had a little harmless legendary romance they would be able to tell the grandchildren about, and Maui sailed off to another island, another village paradise, having temporarily satisfied his taste for companionship, and comfortably but completely alone.

This was different. This time, he was uncomfortably aware that if she left, he'd feel the absence. He'd already felt it, years before, starting the moment he'd flown away and left her to sail back to Motunui after they'd restored the Heart of Te Fiti. That had been a strange surprise, especially since she'd been just some little girl he'd known for only a few days. It hadn't made any sense. He'd figured it'd pass.

It wasn't going to pass, he realized now. Moana was someone inexplicably special, and Maui was starting to get nervous. He was way, way out of his depth and, as far as he could tell, she hadn't even really noticed yet.

Hine-nui-te-po had noticed, though. Maui wondered to himself if he'd known already, or if she'd been the one to make him realize just far in over his head he really was. Maybe it was really some complicated combination of the two, or maybe it didn't matter.

"Maui?" Moana called his name, and Maui snapped out of his romantic reverie so fast that he almost gave himself whiplash. "Um, everything okay? You're awfully…pensive? Seasick?" She gave him a teasing, slightly malicious little grin, and Maui's heart did that unsettling somersault thing again.

Oh man…I've got it really bad, he thought, snorting a self-deprecating little laugh under his breath. Yep, I'm in trouble.

"I don't get seasick," he said aloud, making a face at her. "Demigod of the Wind and Sea, remember? Hey, and I taught you everything you know about sailing."

"You taught me some things," Moana admitted, "after the ocean forced you, but most of it I learned by doing.

"The only reason you didn't end up drowned in the first place," Maui reminded her, "was that the ocean had your back…until you found me. After that, let's be honest, it was mostly me."

"You helped," agreed Moana graciously. "Okay? I'll give you that."

"So generous," Maui muttered, rolling his eyes. "Are we there, yet?"

By way of an answer, Moana pointed across the prow of the boat to where something larger than it should have been was looming on the horizon.

"Oh, yeah," mumbled Maui. "I forgot that it's a mountain, now."

"Yes." Moana frowned. "So, about that…do you think that maybe, now that the ocean's on our side and everything, you could put Motunui back?"

"Uh…." Maui, unfortunately, had forgotten about that as well . Shooting a glance at his injured right hand, he rubbed uncomfortably at the back of his neck and muttered, "So, um, about that, Moana. Listen, I-!"

"Oh, of course!" Moana followed his gaze, stared at his hand, and then shook her head emphatically. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even think. You're injured. You can't move mountains right now. It's okay, it can wait! But, I mean, you know, when you're feeling better, if you could…maybe get the village back down to the water level so that we can go fishing again, that would be amazing. We can talk about it tomorrow, okay?"

She smiled, all sympathy and sincerity and impatience, and Maui couldn't bring himself to admit to the sinking feeling in his stomach.

"Y-yeah," he agreed, grinning desperately. "Sure. I'll, uh, take care of it. No sweat."

"Great!" Moana beamed. "I knew I could count on you! I'm sure everyone will be so relieved. They're probably getting pretty hungry by now, actually."

I really hope you're right about that whole counting on me thing, thought Maui, sitting down in the stern and watching as they drew closer and closer to Motunui.

Someone in the village must have been on the lookout for them, because most of the people were clustered around the square when Maui arrived in hawk-form, with Moana on his back. Tui and Sina rushed to embrace her as Maui became human again.

Not quite a human, he heard Hine-nui-te-po reminding him in the back of his brain. More monster than human, right? Ugh.

"Come on, Maui!" Moana was grinning at him with one eyebrow raised. "Aren't you going to tell everyone about how you bravely offered to sacrifice yourself to protect our people from the ocean? Mom, Dad, talk about a real-life hero! You would not believe this guy!"

There was a murmuring and a whispering all around him, and Maui became aware, to his surprise, that several of the villagers were nodding and smiling at one another, pointing and gesturing in his direction without any trace of malice or suspicion.

Moana winked at him and then leaned over to whisper in his ear. "See? I told you that you'd win them over eventually! I guess bringing the Chief back in one piece not once but twice made some real headway. You're welcome!"

"Heh." Maui chuckled. "Thanks?"

Sina rushed forward and gave Maui a big, undignified, and totally unexpected hug, reminding him instantly of Moana, which made him feel like grinning like an idiot.

"Maui of the Wind and Sea," she said, taking a step back to smile at him, "thank you for not letting our daughter drown, get eaten by sharks, be killed by the goddess of death, or accidentally destroy the island. She's lucky to have found you…really."

"We are all very fortunate," murmured Tui. "Please, I ask that you remain in our village as our guest for at least the next few days. We'll have a feast in your honor…and I'm sure a certain young woman would be more than pleased if you were here to help her celebrate the beginning of her twenty-first year, which, I'm pretty certain, is only a few days away."

"Oh!" Moana looked startled. "I…actually, I totally forgot. Oops."

"Having a birthday, huh? Nice." Maui nodded. "Uh, yeah, it's not like I've got any big plans. I could stick around for a few days…I mean, if you want, Moana."

Maui, Tui, and Sina all turned expectantly to Moana.

"Yeah." Moana nodded, smiling at Maui. "Yeah…I'd like that."

Maui felt that stupid smile coming on again, but he turned the urge to grin into a cough, and made a point of looking serious and thoughtful.

"Well, in that case," he announced, "how can I say no? It would be my pleasure to grace your twenty-first birthday with my presence, Moana of Motunui. A hero has to be where his people need him, after all."

"His people, huh?" Moana laughed. "Sure, okay. In that case…I need a hero."

Maui bit down hard on the stupid grin, which he was now having a really hard time keeping under control.

"After all" Moana reminded Maui. "you still have to put back the island, remember? You have to stay until then, at least."

Maui's face fell, as the ugly truth came back to kick him hard in the back of the brain.

"Oh, yeah," he muttered. "I did say I would do that, didn't I. Yep. That happened."

That seemed to excite the rest of the villagers even more, and Tui and Sina looked so pleased that Maui began seriously considering transforming himself into a beetle and hiding under the nearest rock, which wouldn't have fit so well with his new image as village savior.

"Actually," he began, slowly backing away from the group of expectant onlookers, "if you guys don't mind, I've gotta…you know?"

"Oh. Of course." Tui nodded at him, and Maui took the opportunity to hurry off into the woods.

Once he was finally alone and could no longer hear the voices of the villagers, probably discussing him back in the square, Maui walked slowly through the trees until he found the biggest, tallest, thickest, heaviest-looking totara he could. No mortal man would have been able to uproot the thing without a few axes and several enthusiastic helpers. It would have taken the strength of ten men, and so it was exactly the sort of thing that Maui should have been able to do with a little masculine grunting and minimal amounts of sweat, blood, and tears.

Laying his fish hook on the ground at his feet, Maui squatted down, wrapped his arms around the tree, squared his shoulders, and lifted with his legs.

Nothing happened. The tree didn't even shift in the dirt.

"Nnngh…" More aggressively, Maui pulled, tugged, wrenched, squeezed and yanked, but the tree remained still and upright, completely undisturbed by his efforts.

After straining for several minutes, Maui gave up, exhausted, and sat back on the ground, staring dejectedly at the tree trunk.

He'd been afraid that this would happen. As it turned out, he was more human than monster after all.

The fish hook still works, he realized. Me, on the other hand…I'm busted. No more super strength, no more special demigod gifts and talents. I'm about as mundane and mortal as it gets, unless you count the "turning into a hawk," thing, which is bound to go over great at parties for however long I have left. One thing's for sure, though…I'm not putting Motunui back in the sea any time soon. You can pull an island out of the water with a fish hook, but you can't push it back in with one. This is…really bad.

Picking up his hook, he stood for a moment staring at the tree, then shook his head, straightened himself up, planted a smile on his face and strode back out to meet the village, acutely aware that it was time to tell someone the truth before he made any more promises that he couldn't keep…probably.

Then again, he reflected, let's not get ahead of ourselves. There might still be…some way out of this. I'll sleep on it; that's a good idea. Man, I don't think I've ever been so tired…

Author's End Note: A point about Maui and mythology; it is somewhat unclear whether or not Maui actually had super strength or any kind of special god-given powers, or if his only magical gifts came from the fish hook itself. For the purposes of this story, we're assuming that his demigod status did give him some special talents, like the ability to pull islands out of the sea, etcetera, and that it wasn't all just because of the magical fish hook. I think it can really be interpreted either way in the legends, and so I'm taking some liberties here. Thanks for understanding!

Oh my dear sweet tapdancing merciful lord, it's after midnight, I'm supposed to be staying away from the computer, and I just realized that tomorrow is Thursday. Auditions for my next play start tomorrow. I need to be asleep, like, an hour ago. Please excuse me. I was never here. You never saw anything, right?