Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Moana. All belong to Disney and the story's creators. I only own Lahela.

Can you believe how close we are to the end already? This is going a lot quicker than I anticipated. I expect to only have two more chapters after this one. So I feel a second adventure might be needed after this one is wrapped up. Just a thought floating around.

I hope you enjoy the story. Thank you to those that have reviewed and keep letting me know what you think!

- ShadowMoon2430

Chapter 7

They made it. Lahela wasn't sure how, but she had never been so happy to see a beach. As the goddess walked out of the water, she dropped down into the sand and laid there, face towards the sky as she took a deep breath. Things could have gone worse. They were alive and in one piece.

"We're alive," Moana cheered as she followed after the goddess before sprinting by her. "We're alii" she suddenly stopped and muffled her startled scream.

Confused by her reaction, Lahela turned over and spotted just what had caused Moana to yell. It seemed that Maui had tried to shapeshift again as they made it out of Lalotai. It did not go as planned though. The demigod now stood on his own legs, however the upper half of his body was a shark. The goddess quickly covered her mouth with a hand as she tried to contain her laughter.

Maui was oblivious to what was happening. "Listen. I appreciate what you did down there."

Moana tried her best to respond and keep a serious face. "Mm..hmm..."

"Took guts. But..." Maui tried to carry on, but Moana's strange behavior was too much to ignore. "I'm sorry. I'm tryin' to be sincere for once, and it feels like you're distracted."

"No, no. No way."

As Moana tried to cover up her amusement, Lahela walked over to help.

It seemed hard to believe. "Really? Cause you looking at me like I have a ... Shark head."

By that point, Lahela had joined the pair, though she was still trying not to laugh.

"Do you have a shark head, cause I ...?" He trailed off as he raised what should have been an arm, only to see a fin instead. It just wasn't his day.

As Maui kept his tone serious, the girls finally settled into a more somber mood as they listened.

"Look ... The point is ... For a little girl, child thing, whatever, who had no business being down there, you did me a solid. But you also almost died. And I couldn't even beat the dumb crab." He paused as he glanced at Lahela. "Not even with help, so chances of beating Te Ka. Bup-kiss." He sank down onto the sand in surrender. "We're never making it to the Te Fiti. This mission is cursed."

"It's not cursed," Moana protested.

"If it were really cursed, we'd probably still be down there." At Lahela's input, Moana shot her an annoyed look. The goddess simply shrugged. "I'm just saying."

Maui pointed to his head as an argument. "Shark head."

"It is not cursed," Moana said as she went to get his hook, struggling before she dropped it into his hands.

As Maui grabbed his hook, he transformed in hopes of returning to normal. When he looked over however, he realized he was mirroring Heihei. He frustratingly transformed again before it finally seemed right… Only to fall over thanks to having a shark tail as his legs. "Cursed," Maui mumbled into the sand. "What can I say, except we're dead soon."

"Quit being so dramatic," Lahela said as she rolled her eyes and rolled him over as she pushed him with her foot.

Maui continued. "We're dead soon."

"Can't you at least try?" Moana pleaded, tired of his attitude.

Surprisingly, Maui obliged her request. "Giant hawk." The results were the same as before though, and with each failed shift, his mood fell more and more. "We're dead soon."

Moana sighed as she looked at the demigod before turning towards Lahela. "I'm gonna find out boat, just… try to talk some sense into him."

Lahela didn't expect much better results but nodded as Moana walked off. Once she was some distance away, Lahela looked back at Maui and watched as he tried to shift again before finally getting back to his normal form. "Maui," she said quietly and waited for him to finally turn his attention from the sand. "I know things didn't go as planned, but you'll never get past this if you let it get to you."

Maui looked up in misery as he sat on the ground. "If this is supposed to be a pep talk, you suck at it."

"It's not!" Lahela snapped as she stomped her foot. She didn't understand how he was so infuriating sometimes, but she knew getting upset wouldn't help. She took a breath before she sat down across from him. "Look… I just… If you don't get your act together, I don't have high hopes for the end of this. Moana has too much at stake to stop now, and I promised I would help her." She paused, unsure what to say. It was times like this when she realized just how much of her time until now had been spent speaking to just the ocean.

"I'm not much help if I can't shape-shift."

"But you can! I don't know what your problem is, but a little time and thought will probably help."

Maui stood up then, kicking sand around at the same time as he glared at her. "You don't have to worry about your powers suddenly disappearing. You've always had them and always will, no questions asked so don't act like you know anything about my powers."

"I don't know, okay. I'm sorry, but you have to help! We are so close and I can't keep doing what I was before."

The demigod shook his head as he pushed past her. "I don't have to do anything. Feel free to help the kid reach Te Fiti. Let me know how that goes."

Lahela couldn't take in anymore. She tried to keep herself in check, but she couldn't. Without waiting another second, she let out a scream of frustration as she shoved him suddenly. "I can't! I'm not a fighter! What happened with Tamatoa was terrible, but you weren't the only one struggling down there. I had no idea how to help you or Moana. I thought I could help, but my powers were useless down there. What if my powers do absolutely nothing against Te Ka as well? I could at least keep Moana away from Tamatoa but I had no way of helping you down there either. I am way over my head with all this but I'm going to keep going. You know why? Because Moana is. If Moana, a mere human, can push through all of this, then there is absolutely no reason why we can't."

Maui stood there with an unreadable look on his face as Lahela caught her breath. She seemed to completely miss the dark clouds that were filling the sky. It was just one more thing that he was starting to figure out about her. Rather than wind, she was bringing rain it seemed. "You do realize it's a lava monster we'd be facing. With your rain, you're a lot better off than me helping right now. If you're smart though, you'll get her to turn around before everyone ends up dead instead."

Lahela's face fell as she looked at him hopelessly. "I get it now. You just won't believe in yourself. You've doubted this trip from the beginning. If you weren't so against it, maybe then you'd be having better luck. Do as you please then."

She turned around then and sat at the edge of the ocean, leaving Maui standing several steps behind her.

"I don't know how you thought any of this would work out," Lahela spoke quietly to the Ocean as it kicked up against her feet. "This journey is crumbling to pieces. I don't plan on abandoning Moana, but maybe Maui is right. We barely got away from Tamatoa. If things go worse than that, then we're dead."

She knew the ocean wouldn't reply, so she was surprised when a reply came from behind her.

"Who knew there was heart under all that rage?" Maui smirked as he sat down beside her. "I'm surprised you cared enough to want to help me."

"W-what?" she stuttered, startled by the question.

"In Lalotai, you said you wanted to help me. I'm sure I'm on that last of people you don't want to die. And here I thought you hated my guts. After all, you did punch me when we first met."

"Well, you did throw me across the island so I think we should be even," she retorted.

"Just admit it, I've grown on you. Now you realize how awesome Maui is." He playfully pushed her shoulder then.

Lahela scoffed at his words. "Now you're just fooling yourself. But… I guess you're not that bad. Don't go inflating that ego of yours though!"

Maui studied her face a moment, letting the silence sit before he smirked at her. "Now you're the one fooling yourself." That smirk turned into straight out laughing as he watched Lahela start to blush and turn away from him. "Who knew the goddess of storms blushed so easy?"

"I'm not blushing! It's cause you are so frustrating!" Lahela stormed away then, trying to ignore the blush on her face and Maui's laughter as she walked down the shoreline.

As the goddess walked along the water, she tried to leave that entire conversation behind her. She honestly wasn't sure if that helped or not. Maui was at least in a better mood, but he never said he would help either. And then there was the strange behavior before she walked off.

She didn't have time to dwell on her thoughts as she saw Moana walking back towards her.

It was clear to Moana the second she looked at Lahela that she was quite flustered. "How did talking with him go?"

Lahela looked back towards where she left Maui. "I'm not sure…"

Moana glanced up towards the sky. "Based on the clouds that suddenly showed up, I'm guessing that things didn't go so well."

"No, I mean, it was rough to start with, but I think things improved. Maybe."

Lahela quickly continued when she saw the puzzled look cross the girl's face. "He wasn't as depressed when I left at least, but he still hasn't agreed to help."

"Oh…" She kept an eye on the goddess as she paused. "Anything else happen?" she asked with curiosity.

"No," she shot back quickly. "Why would you think that?"

"No reason, you just look awfully flustered is all." Moana teased as she walked back towards where they left Maui.

Lahela pouted as she walked beside her. "That's cause I can't have a conversation with him without wanting to punch him."

Moana laughed then and shook her head.

"Why is everyone laughing?" The question simply made her laugh more. Done with it, Lahela pushed Moana causing her to stumble partly into the water. "You're all hopeless!" She left the girl laughing, ready to get moving.

Lahela and Moana stood by the boat, ready to leave as Maui settled back into silent pouting.

Moana marched over to Maui as Lahela worked on getting the boat ready to sail. "Alright, play time is over. Get up."

"Why?" Maui asked halfheartedly. "You're gonna give me a speech too; tell me I can beat Te Ka cause I'm ... Maui."

Moana gave him a stern look. "No, but we are getting off this island. Lahela and I are leaving if you would rather not be stranded again." She walked off then, thankfully followed by the demigod. A few minutes later and with very little issue, they were off at sea yet again.

This time it seemed it was up to the girls to reach their next destination without Maui's help as he currently sat while being completely useless.

Their course was straight and the sailing was smooth. There was little to worry about at that moment. It was during this quiet moment that Moana decided to poke the sleeping bear.

"How do you get your tattoo's?" Moana asked Maui as she looked at the various pictures adorning his body.

"They show up when I earn them," Maui muttered.

Moana leaned over then as she pointed to one in particular. "How do you earn that one?" When there was no response, she moved on to another tattoo. "What's that for?"

"That's man's discovery of Nanya."

"What's Nanya?" Moana questioned.

"Non' ya business," Maui snapped before turning away from her.

That didn't hinder Moana though. "I'll just keep asking." Then she pointed to another one, this time the one on his back. "What's that for?"

"You need to stop doing that." Maui snarled, but she just stepped closer, persistent. "Back off."

Lahela, who had been staying out of it but listening, tried to warn Moana. They didn't need to make things worse. "Moana," she said grabbed her arm.

Moana simply pulled her arm away and continued. "Just tell me what it is."

"I said back off."

"Moana, leave him be."

She turned to Lahela then. "Why? It's important, I know it is. I suspect you know as well." She turned back to Maui then. "Is that why your hook's not working?"

Silence fell as neither the demigod nor the goddess spoke. Maui continued glowering at Moana as Lahela shifted a guilty look between Moana and Maui. Lahela had heard the stories, she was fairly sure why Maui didn't want to talk about it. And Moana may have had a point. They both knew there was a reason why his powers weren't working. She suspected even he knew that. What she wasn't sure of was if pushing him anymore would help at all.

Despite their silent words, Moana wasn't going to stop now. Maui would listen. "You don't wanna talk? Don't talk. You wanna throw me off the boat. Throw me off. You wanna tell me, I don't know what I'm doing. I know I don't. I have no idea why the ocean chose me. You're right. But, my island is dying. So I am here. It's just me, you and Lahela. And I want to help. But I can't, if you don't let me."

When Maui finally spoke again, the somber mood was easy to feel. "I wasn't born a demigod. I have human parents. They... They took one look and decided they didn't want me. They threw me into the sea like I was nothing. Somehow, I was found by the Gods. They gave me the hook. They made me... Maui. And back to the humans I went. I gave them island, fire, coconuts. Anything they ever wanted."

Lahela sat quietly as she pursed her lips as she watched Maui, trying to imagine going through such a thing.

Realization dawned on Moana then and her next words were quiet. "You took the heart for them. You did everything for them so they'd love you."

Maui weakly shrugged. "It was never enough."

"It's one thing I didn't miss when I stopped answering prayers," Lahela added, mostly to herself though the others heard anyway.

Moana glanced at the demigod and goddess. With so much history between them and other humans, she could only imagine what they've seen, good and bad, from them. Maui still needed a push though, she just hoped her words would reach him. "Maybe the Gods found you for a reason. Maybe the oceans brought you to them. Because it saw someone who was worthy of being saved. But the Gods aren't the ones who make you Maui. You are."

Something clicked. It seemed it was just what he needed to hear. "Okay," he grinned as he looked at the girls as he jumped up to take his spot steering them forward. "Next stop, Te Fiti."

Lots of feely moments this chapter, and up next is the action! We've come so far, but for all my intentions of getting Maui and Lahela together, she's just too stubborn right now. Definitely let me know if you'd be interested in seeing a sequel though.