AYDA

Stonepeak Bay

The boat ground against the sandy black beach of our once-proud island and I woke with a start to find myself staring at the mini-Maui that decorated the real one's chest. I gave a wide yawn as I blinked up at his face, a doofy smile spreading over my lips.

"You're home." Maui said, in a tone that made my heart twist in a manner that I was unused to. It sounded like... He didn't plan to stay on Motunui with me, despite all that we've been through together.

"You are staying, right?" I asked with my hopeful gaze trained up on his face. He looked back at me with a mix of guilt and conviction, like a rock, and I knew that the argument had been lost before it even begun.

I sighed pitifully and pushed myself away from him, hugging my arms. "After everything... You're just going to leave like that?" I asked in quiet, dangerous tones. Maui didn't respond, which was very wise of him considering the anger that was building inside my heart.

I jumped from the boat into the shallow water of the beach before stomping towards the palm forest. I was utterly confident that Maui wouldn't leave, at least not without saying a proper goodbye to me. And to do that, he would have to chase me down in my village-

"Goodbye, Princess." He said from behind me. He pulled a rope and the sail flipped open, turning the boat away from the beach. I jumped and spun towards him quickly, only to find that he was too far away to swim from the beach.

"Maui, the stones!" I cried out, in a panic over the state of both the demigod and the canoe.

Stonepeak Bay was known for one thing and one thing only, destroying our canoes. The way Maui was sailing, it would take both him and the boat directly into the heart of the Bay, where the whirlpool sucked any craft towards the middle.

I reached out with both hands and captured the wind after three tries, my panic was causing my focus and control to be very lax. I pulled my hands back towards myself quickly and the wind reversed directions, puffing the sail out and swinging the bar that connected the sail to the mast back and forth wildly.

Even the Ocean was aiding me, turning the currents of the bay toward the beach. But even she could not reverse a whirlpool the size of the one that I now saw. I watched helplessly as the current caught the bow and jerked it to the side, throwing Maui off-balance. He gripped the mast, but the swirling water was pulling him closer and closer to the center, eventually turning the boat at a 90 degree angle to the water.

Without any other choices obvious to him at the moment, Maui let go of the mast and crashed into the wall of the whirlpool, thinking that he could fare better without the heavy canoe getting in his way.

I couldn't stand it anymore; I had to do something. I dropped my bag and dove headfirst into the most dangerous water known to me, even though my every instinct cried out against it.

The water was lukewarm and unpleasant as my head and shlulders breached the surface. I could feel the pull of the current even from afar, and I had to fight to avoid being bashed against the pillars of rock that rose from the sandy bed. I looked closely for the familiar body shape and long black hair, but it took me too long.

The water was clouded with something thick and red, something that looked too much like blood for comfort. I began to swim into the pull of the pool, shooting along at twice the normal pace.

Finally, I saw him. He was lying pinned against a rock, a thin trail of air bubbles seeping from his slightly open mouth as the pounding water pressure pulled the air from his very lungs. I swam closer and reached out for his hand, which was floating limply.

At the last moment, several things happened simultaneously. I snagged Maui's hand with my own, the whirpool caught me, and the Ocean pulled me back. It all happened within the span of a second, so fast it made my head spin crazily, but as I discerned which way was up and where Maui was, I realized we had another problem.

I was running out of air, and fast.

I began to swim for the surface, my lungs aching for the sweet taste of oxygen. Maui was too heavy to carry, but with the help of my power propelling the water beneath him upwards, I was able to drag us both to the surface.

I encountered yet another complication as I clung to a rock in the Bay, gulping air like it was the very nectar of life itself. The shore looked so, so far, and I could already feel the exhaustion dragging at my bones.

Darkness crept at the edges of my vision, but still I tried. I swam for all my tired body was worth, every breath was a fight for survival.

Finally, finally, my fingers scraped through sand instead of the waves. I scrabbled and skittered up onto the beach with many difficulties, many of them being dragging Maui out of the water.

I had no idea where the extra boost of energy that I was receiving could have possible come from, but I knew that I was saving my demigod's life, and that was all that mattered.

Somehow I managed to tilt his head back, opening his airway, and pinch his nose to give rescue breaths, the way that all children were taught on Motunui. I braced my hands against his chest and pushed down, with my failing strength, once, twice, and a third time.

My arms gave out just as Maui sat up violently, coughing like his lungs were going to come out. I was slumped across his lap as he spit water to the side, shaking and exhausted.