NOTE: My First Fanfiction in a Long Time! First Moana fanfic as well. (I've been binging on it like crazy this month.) Please bear patience with me. Had inspiration from a couple other stories but adding my own twist. Will be a two-segment story. Tried to stay true to the characters as well as the mythology and culture surrounding them. (Plus a few Disney Easter Eggs.) Rate and review please and thank you.

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney or Moana. Just saying.

"Regular Speech" 'Mental thoughts' Mental Speech from Gods/Goddesses

Enjoy!

"And so, as a token of both forgiveness and thanks for returning her heart, Te Fiti gave Maui a brand new fish hook." Her audience was captivated. Little eyes are drawn in close to her every word. A quiet chorus of 'oohs' and 'aahs' were heard. Only the smallest girl spoke up.

"What did Te Fiti give you, Moana?" The Master Wayfinder smiled.

"The second greatest gift I could ever ask for, a new canoe," as she gestured behind them to her gift on the shore. The children stared at it in awe. But the small girl spoke again.

"Why is it the second greatest?" Moana giggled at the young girl's curiosity. And soon a chorus of 'why?' and 'what could be better than a canoe from Te Fiti?' Moana laughed.

"Because, after we left Te Fiti, Maui had shown me something. It was a new tattoo he was gifted by the gods. And on that tattoo was an image of me, our canoe, and the heart of Te Fiti. And he said that now he had a mark of a good friend. You see, throughout our great adventure, we became good friends. And there is no greater gift than making a new friend. Especially a friend like Maui, Shapeshifter, Demigod of the Wind and Sea, and Hero to All." Her audience applauded and she shuffled them back towards the village. Their lesson (and story) of the day, finished. As she turned around, Moana noticed her curious friend waiting by the canoe. Chuckling to herself Moana made her way over.

"Lani, it's time to go back home. I'm sure your mother will be looking for you." The young girl looked at Moana and her back towards her canoe at the swirl on her sail.

"Moana, where is Maui?" Lani asked. This caught Moana off guard. But with a gentle smile, she spoke what she felt was the truth.

"Lani, Maui is a demigod. Which means, that while he and I are always going to be friends, he has a responsibility to mankind. I can't tell you where he is. But if I could guess...I would say he is off pulling more islands from the sea for us to find, that he is fighting the Kakamora and other vicious monsters so we can sail the Ocean without fear, and that wherever he is, he has a part of me with him. And he knows that part of him is always with me." As she spoke, Moana began to stare out into the ocean; a small smile on her face. And in that time, the sun had begun to set. The ocean barely lapped at her feet on the cool sand. The gentle sea breeze had her hair blowing clear off her shoulders.

"Do you miss him?" Moana shook her head as little Lani startled her again with another question. She looked at Lani with a confused glance as the question sunk in and the weight they carried. She looked back out into the sea. And recalling how long it has been since they last saw each other.

With another smile, she replied, "Very much." After a long pause, the little girl seemed to have one more question.

"Do-do you think-I can meet him?" Moana looked back and her smile grew.

"Maybe, someday," at Lani's discouraged look Moana bent down so she was eye level with Lani, "I'll make a deal with you. You hurry home; and the next time I see Maui, I'll personally make sure you're introduced to him. Deal?" Lani happily agreed and once the shake was done she scrambled away squealing to tell her mama the good news, leaving Moana alone at the shore.

Moana's smiled began to fade. She went back towards the Ocean; staring into the sunset. Five years. It has been five years since they restored the heart. And it has been a year since she last saw him. He flew over her family as they sailed together months after restoring Te Fiti's heart. Once they reached this island, he disappeared, only to come back and have her join him on a new adventure a few months later. This was their routine for the better part of the past few years; and in that short time they grew even closer. But then, after her birthday last year, he left. Only this time he hadn't come back to see her. She knew he had come by time and again. Some of the fishermen and way-finders mentioned seeing a great hawk as they sailed nearby. And twice she had found a gift left by her canoe. And both times the Ocean acknowledged their sender, Maui. The first was a few seedlings that grew into sweet and tangy fruit. They weren't yellow like bananas, or red like her clothes. It was a like the color of a perfect sunset. That color were red and yellow perfectly melded together. The smaller ones stayed this color throughout. The larger ones had a pinkish-red color on the inside. They were moist and sweet and yet tangy at the same time. They grew a wonderful grove on the island and sent some back to Motunui.

The second gift was special to Moana. It was a conch shell. But unlike any other conch shell she found, it played music. She didn't realize it until one day the wind had blown through it just right and a sound came. And from then on, Moana played with the shell until she had managed to play a few tunes. This gift she kept for herself and only played in the evenings far from everyone in the village. It was thinking of Maui that she pulled the shell out of her bag in the storage compartment of her canoe. She then sat down against her mast and began to play.

************-M_E_A_N_W_H_I_L_E-*************

"CHEEE-HOOOO!"

Maui had made his way to the Realm of Monsters and had just stolen off of Tomatoa's shell. The crustacean yelled in fury at the return of his sworn enemy and called upon his horde of horrendous beasts and monsters. Maui was surrounded. But all he did was give a smirk. Because why would he worry? He was Maui, the Shapeshifter Demigod of Wind and Sea; Hero to all. With a wave of his fish hook, Maui began to clear himself a path. It was long and arduous, as for every monster he defeated, another three would take its place. That didn't include the insufferable Tomatoa who managed to flip himself over off his shell from the last visit the demi-god bestowed. But that didn't stop Maui.

"I have to admit it half-shell, you have cooked up some interesting new monsters since my last visit. But I gotta take my leave since I got what I came for," Maui laughed.

"You haven't seen half of my new monsters yet! And if you don't give me back my treasure, I'll make sure you never live to show it off!" Tomatoa roared.

"Uh, hello? Demigod? With a magic hook? I'm invincible! You can't kill a demigod!"

"Who said I was killing a god?" Tomatoa cryptically replied. Maui rose a brow in confusion, only to ignore the crab's statement as he was just about to reach his exit. A large geyser ready to burst.

"Yeah, well, like I said crab cake, I'll see myself out. Cheeeehooo!" And Maui dove himself into the bursting geyser to quickly make his way to the surface. Tomatoa glared venomously at his escaping foe when he soon saw a few wispy shadows hovering near the water bubble; awaiting his command. Tomatoa darkened.

"Get him." The wispy shadows disappeared.

Maui gasped as he catapulted out of the ocean before splashing back to it. When he resurfaced again he checked himself. He felt he was missing something. It was a moment later he realized his lucky find was out of his grasp. He dived back into the water. There it was, slowly sinking back into the realm of monsters. With practiced ease, Maui transformed into a shark and reached for it. Once his prize was in his teeth, he turned to find a forest of a strange jellyfish between him and the surface. Where did these jellyfish come from? No matter, he could maneuver through them as a smaller fish. And so he changed into a small clownfish.

As he began to make his way through the forest the jellyfish seemed to converge on him. He started to get stung every which way he went. Using his hook he returned to his normal state and swung at the bulbous underwater masses. Many scattered. The few that remained stung even worse on his tattooed limbs. He struggled to break free. His lungs started to burn. It was then he had an idea. Using his hook, he changed into a whale; which deterred the jellyfish and cleared a path for him. Quickly changing back to his human form, Maui grabbed his treasure and hook and then raced to the surface. His body was aching for oxygen. Upon breaking the thin barrier between water and sky, he gratefully gulped in the air, and made for his canoe. It had drifted towards the rocks away from the beach. By the time he reached it he was drained from his escape. He didn't feel like using his hook at this point. So he left it and his prize on the wood and used the underwater rocks to climb onto his canoe. When he reached the top stone he slipped down hard a step and felt a sharp pain in his heel. Grunting through the pain he heaved himself onto his canoe.

Once he finally caught his breath he assessed the damage. A cluster of sea urchin splints caught him in one of his heel tattoos. Upon closer inspection everything looked no worse for the wear; so he removed the splints and observed in his prize. A beautiful jade comb. It was green all over, like the Heart of Te Fiti; with tiny pearls inlaid with swirled carvings. And on the top of the comb was a beautifully carved flower made out of mother of pearl. It suited Moana perfectly. He saw it while he was trying to sneak up on Tomatoa to retrieve his hook years ago. At the time, he didn't think much of it because he was so hell bent to retrieve what was his. But after saving Te Fiti and the world, he'd come to feel he missed a wondrous opportunity in obtaining the comb for Moana. But today, he made good on his plan to give it to her. He smirked.

"Well, buddy? Ya think Moana is going to like her new comb or what?" He asked his tattoo copy. The Mini-Maui gave a big thumbs up for the gift. Showing a montage with Mini-Moana jumping into his arms and kissing him after receiving it. Maui the demigod rose an eyebrow at his animated friends.

"Seriously? Come on, we all know that's not what she'll do. I mean, yeah, it'd be nice if she kissed me...but…" Maui sighed. His mind went to the young Wayfinder. In the few years since he met her, he had made several attempts to visit. And at first, it was great. He flew along with her as her tribe finally voyaged again to their new island. If he needed a hand, he asked her to come with him on an adventure. But as he watched her in the past few years, he saw the beautiful young woman she was becoming. It grew harder not to stare at her. Her curves started to fill out just a little. She was still built slim, but she had all the evidence to draw in male suitors and not be seen as a child. She was desireable. And he couldn't find the ability to face her without staring or acting foolishly. True, he had a few lady companions in the past. But this was different. This was Moana. She saw through his bravado and wheedled away at his vulnerabilities. She was the only one who actually hit him back and gave as well as she was given. And when he was down to his most miserable self, she continued on to restore the heart of Te Fiti. She was a true hero. And so he simply left her his gifts and continued to catch up on what he was missing for the last thousand or so years. But this time, he was ready. He was going to visit her properly, like a good friend should.

"First things first, I'll need to resupply to make it to Moana's new island. Te Fiti is a 2-day journey from here. From there it'll take close to a week to get to the new island. Whatcha think pal?" Mini Maui gave Maui a ready fist bump. And with a grunt and a slow stretch, Maui began to set course for Te Fiti. His foot had already numbed from the pain.

Several leagues below, Tomatoa was listening in on the report from his monsters. The results of his attempt were foiled. But not yet wasted.

"See if you can draw the Kakamora's attention Maui's way. Let's see how Maui does afterward," he chuckled as he made his way to his lair. Oh yes, his course for revenge may yet be completed.

Dawn had arrived causing Maui to jolt awake. Had he been sleeping? No, he couldn't have. He's a demigod, demigods don't sleep. And even if he wasn't he was still the best Wayfinder around (save one). He felt the current. Cold. He had veered off course. He must've fallen asleep. But how? Oh, but first, a drink of water. He woke up feeling rather parched. As he drank water from its skin he realized he didn't feel as refreshed after sleeping. He knew he was drained from the battle of Lalotai, but still. To fall asleep? And even more so to still feel tired. No, Not Tired, DRAINED.

The last drop from the skin told him he had finished the skin dry. He realized he drank more than he thought. He checked his supplies. He was down to his last two skins. That was ok, he just had to savor them as he adjusted himself back on course. He may have veered off course, but he was still more or less heading in the right direction. He'd just arrive at Te Fiti later at night. No big deal. The morning mist felt cool on his skin, sending a shiver down his spine. Why did he feel so cold all of a sudden? Before he could continue his train of thought, a horn in the nearby distance rang. He froze. Had they already built another series of ships? The banging of their drums solidified his theory on who it was. He turned and faced a massive ship full of the Kakamora.

'Well, I guess I wouldn't hurt with the morning exercise.' He cracked his neck and readied his fish hook for battle.