Finally, the canoe began to sail into a thick fog.
Maui stood up on top of the mast to better see the way. Smiling, he looked down at Aukai, who looked ahead while standing at the front of the boat. He noticed Aukai looking back at Moana, who took the boat's helm and was currently checking the current.
Maui smiled. It was obvious that Aukai was in love with her. The demigod noticed it in Aukai the past few weeks as he taught them how to wayfind, but he wasn't sure of the pirate's feelings. Until now.
Maui then looked down at Moana, who looked up at him.
"What?" she asked.
"I figured it out," Maui said. He then jumped down and showed her a tattoo on his back, which began to move.
"You know," he said, "the ocean used to love when I pulled up islands... 'cause your ancestors would sail her seas and find 'em. All those new lands, new villages. It was the water that connected 'em all.
"And if I were the ocean... I think I'd be looking for a curly-haired non-princess... to start that again." He turned to Aukai and continued.
"And as I said, the water connected the new lands and villages. But it also connected all different peoples.
"And again, if I were the ocean... I think that a shaggy-haired not-Prince-Charming... would make a good bridge between different peoples."
"That is literally the nicest thing you've ever said to us," Moana said with a smile.
"You probably should've saved it for Te Fiti, though," Aukai added. Maui just smiled and said two words.
"I did."
He then gestured to a large island that resembled a sleeping woman in the distance as he said, "Moana and Aukai of Motunui... I believe you both have officially delivered Maui across the great sea."
He then whispered screaming as Mini-Maui and groups of people on his arm began to mouth what he whispered.
"Moana! Aukai! Moana! Aukai! You're both so amazing!"
Moana and Aukai both laughed as Maui got serious again.
"It's time," he said, holding his hand out. Opening her necklace, Moana placed the heart of Te Fiti in his palm.
Maui picked up his fish hook and looked over at Te Fiti's island. Lava began to burst from the barrier islands. Te Kā was waking up.
Furrowing his brow in determination, Maui cracked his neck and rolled out his shoulders. He was ready for round two.
"Go on," Aukai told the demigod. "Go be a hero."
"Cheeeehoooo!" Maui whooped as he jumped upward. Transforming into a hawk, he began to fly towards the island. The heart was clutched in his talon.
"He'll be fine," Aukai told Moana. "Our mission is almost over."
Moana sighed as her smile fell.
"That's what I'm afraid of," she admitted. Aukai looked at her as she began to explain.
"For as long as I can remember, I've wanted to go to the ocean. But my parents never let me. What if when we go home, it'll be the same?"
"It won't," Aukai said with a reassuring smile.
"And what if it isn't?" Moana asked. "What do I do then?"
"Well, that's the best part, I guess," Aukai answered. "You find a new adventure."
Maui continued to soar towards the island when a fireball shot out of the smoke. Spreading his wings, Maui dodged more fire blasts as he neared Te Fiti.
But Moana and Aukai gasped in fear as Te Kā screamed, rising out of the smoke and knocking Maui out of the sky.
"Maui!" Moana cried in worry.
"Jeez, can't the universe let us have this?" Aukai asked as he and Moana set sail towards their friend.
Falling towards the sea, Maui grabbed the heart and his fish hook before transforming back into a hawk, dodging Te Kā's second swing at him. But the third one knocked him into the ocean.
After seeing the heart fall from his hand again, Maui transformed into a shark and held the glowing rock in between his pointed teeth.
Te Kā screamed as she threw a fireball into the ocean, narrowly missing Maui, who changed back. He then turned into a little fish, held the heart in his teeth again, and swam away.
Moana and Aukai maintained their course when they noticed something. Te Kā tried to reach for them, but her hand fell into the water, extinguishing the fire.
Maui flopped on deck before turning back to normal. Moana checked on him as Aukai took the helm.
"Right there!" Moana shouted at Aukai, pointing at an opening between the barrier islands. Nodding, Aukai began to sail towards it.
"What are you doing?" Maui asked.
"Finding you a better way in!" Aukai answered. Maui looked at the opening before looking back at his opposite.
"We won't make it!" he shouted as Te Kā looked at them.
"Yes, we will!" Moana argued.
"Turn around!"
"No!"
"Moana, Aukai, stop!"
"We can't!" Aukai argued. "We've come too far!"
Just then, Te Kā raised her fist. Maui's hook began to glow as he raised it.
"Moana!" Aukai shouted as he shoved Moana out of the way. The fist and hook clashed in a flash of blinding purple light. A split second later, the boat was sent flying miles away.
A millisecond between the flash and the boat getting knocked back, Aukai felt a sharp pain in his gut.
——
When the boat finally stopped, Moana checked the damage.
One side of the canoe was untied and the sail was torn. Opening the storage compartment, she saw that Hei-Hei was fine, but he looked sick to his stomach.
Maui sat at the front of the boat, his back facing her. Aukai was curled up at the foot of the mast. He was holding his stomach, which made Moana think he must've gotten sick or something.
"Are you guys okay?" Moana asked. Aukai gave off a weak nod.
"Maui?" he asked.
Standing up, Maui turned to face them. The look on his face was beyond anger. His hook was cracked, sparking with violet electricity.
"I told you to turn back," he said to Aukai without looking at him.
"I thought we could make it," Moana said as she stood up.
"'We?'" Maui asked.
"I thought Aukai and I could make it," Moana corrected.
"We can fix it," Aukai said as he struggled to his feet, still clutching his stomach. "Nothing's unfixable."
"It was made by the gods," Maui growled. "You can't fix it!"
"Next time we'll be more careful," Moana promised. "Te Kā was stuck on the barrier islands. It's lava, it can't go in the water. We can find a way around." But Maui had other ideas.
"I'm not going back," he said.
"We have to restore the heart," Aukai groaned, leaning on the mast.
"My hook is cracked," the demigod said. "One more hit and it's over."
"Maui, you have to restore the heart," Moana said.
"Without my hook, I am nothing," Maui argued.
"That's not..."
"Without my hook, I am nothing!" Maui shouted, interrupting Aukai. Moana's breathing became heavy. She was scared.
Opening his hand, Maui dropped the heart onto the deck.
Moana picked up the stone, a look of anger on her face as Maui made his way to the back of the boat.
"We are only here because you stole the heart in the first place," she said.
"No," Maui argued, "we're here because the ocean told the two of you you're special and you both believed it."
Taking a breath Moana began to speak.
"We are Moana and Aukai of Motunui. You will board our boat..."
"Goodbye, you two," Maui said as Moana continued.
"...sail across the sea..."
"I'm not killing myself so you can prove you're something you're not!" Maui snapped.
"...and restore the heart of Te Fiti!" Moana finished, holding the heart in front of her. "The ocean chose us!"
"It chose wrong," Maui said.
Turning away from the teens, Maui held his hook in front of him. It flashed purple before he transformed into a hawk and flew away.
"Maui!" Moana cried, but it was too late. He was gone.
"Leave him," Aukai groaned. "We can... finish this ourselves." He tried to step towards Moana but fell to his knees as he held his stomach tighter.
Moana gasped. Aukai wasn't sick. He was hurt.
Laying Aukai down, Moana dragged him to the sail so he could sit upright and look at her. He winced as he held his stomach. With shaking hands, Moana moved his hand out of the way.
A dark red spot stained his white shirt.
"You're gonna be okay," Moana said as she reached for the heart. "I don't know if this will work, but the heart has the power to create life itself. Maybe it can heal you."
"No," Aukai groaned. "No, Moana. I can't let you waste any more time on returning the heart. I can't let you do this."
"I can't let you die," Moana croaked, tears burning her eyes.
"But if you save me instead of taking the heart..." Aukai choked, "then you... you will die."
Moana processed his words. Aukai didn't say the world or the island. He said she would. It was then she realized something. He did everything they went through for her, not the island or the world.
He loved her.
Reaching for his sword, Aukai drew it and handed it to Moana.
"Take it," he choked out. "I know it won't help against Te Kā, but you might need it once you restore the heart. You never know... what you'll face."
Moana took the cutlass. In Lalotai, it felt awkward in her hand. Now it felt right. Looking away from the steel blade, she looked into Aukai's sea-blue eyes as tears fell from her walnut-brown ones.
Aukai's eyes began to close as he whispered five final words.
"You were my new adventure."
"And you were mine," Moana sobbed. It was right there, right at those few minutes, she realized something.
She loved him.
Smiling softly, Aukai let out one final breath as his eyes closed one last time.