***
November had arrived where the humans lived, bringing a sense of winter along with it. It seemed warmth and light had gone and died long ago. The leaves had fallen quickly and steadily, like raindrops during the wet season on Motunui. The sun refused to come out of its hiding spot behind gray clouds, and everyone's moods began to take a toll because of it. The lack of heat could have helped with our glum moods, too. Although I love the heat and am tolerant to the cold, I had to wear my warmer celebration outfit for a few days while the humans were getting the furnace fixed. (The furnace wasn't completely broken, it still kept us from shivering, but it wasn't pleasant heat.) Idina was in the process of making/finding me a cape, but I hoped the house would get warmer before then. I didn't want her to go to all that trouble.On one particular day, it was especially miserable. Sleet pounded the metal gutter outside She's bedroom window, the sun had taken another off day, and every doll was huddled on She's dresser like penguins, keeping together for comfort and safety.
Something, probably the sleet, was causing the power lines to wiggle. Every time the wind started howling, the lights in the house started to flicker. It was very much like being in a haunted house, when I had only learned existed when She visited one for Halloween. The darkness would not last more for a millisecond, but every time it happened, hands and throats got squeezed a little tighter.
Olaf and Idina screamed in unison, both of them trying to jump into each-other's arms. Due to size, Idina was successful and Olaf was not.
I felt bodies scrambling around me in the newfound darkness, looking for some familiarity to hold onto. A friend, a partner, the dresser, anything. They were desperate and afraid. I was afraid, but not willing to hug, unless it was my pets. Both Pua and HeiHei were already snug in my arms for protection from the dark.
"Just a power outage," Loki said. He didn't have to try to act calm and collected. He just was. Almost always. Maybe he had been expecting it? "Don't worry. It'll be back on soon."
"How can you be sure?" I asked.
His eyes glimmered blue in the sudden darkness. My own eyes still had to adjust. "It's common for these sorts of things to happen when it gets cold and stormy. Nothing unusual."
"Okay, but... we could still use some light."
"Aren't there candles in the living room?" Steve asked.
"Fire? No, no! No fire. Please." Olaf begged.
We all had to suppress a sigh. That may have been our only chance at light, now gone.
"Alright. Okay. No candles, then. Flashlights."
"Like we know where those are." Elphaba groaned.
My mind was spinning. Everyone was arguing all at once, and it looked like we were going to be without electricity for a long time with the humans gone. Was it starting to get colder in here? Was that my breath I was seeing? If only we had some light, then we could find a way to stay warm. I clutched my necklace in desperate hope.
Wait... my necklace.
I remembered that when I first arrived last December, I had come in a box with two Moana character necklaces. One was for me to wear, and the other was a larger one for a human. She never wore it. She had outgrown the stage and size of costume jewelry. But She still had it. It was still in my box, and I had seen that last week, but where? No matter. I would figure out the details later. All that mattered was telling the group, because the human-sized necklace wasn't ordinary. Inside the faux abalone shell locket, the manufacturers made a Heart of Te Fiti replica, and they made it to glow. It might not be as bright as a flashlight, but it was something. Something I had to tell everyone else about.
"Hey guys? Guys? I have a- oh geez," Politely raising my voice wasn't working. I cleared my throat, preparing to yell. "Hey! I got something shiny for ya!"
Loki raised an eyebrow. "What was that, Moana?"
"I have something that could help us. A replica of the heart of Te Fiti." I took off my necklace, holding it out for everyone to see, if they could in all the darkness.
"Well, that would be great, if only we knew what that was." Kristoff murmured, his mood off-kilter from the unsettling atmosphere.
"It's a glowing green stone from my movie. I'm sure it will provide enough light without using fire or electricity, and once I get it, we can all find means of keeping warm."
I felt Anna touch my arm. "That's a great idea, Moana, but where is it?"
I looked down at my feet, a little embarrassed. "I don't really know. Not off the top of my head. But I'm sure it's in my box. That's easy enough to find. And when I do, I can bring you all the heart and we can use it to help from there."
"Do you really think it'll work?" Olaf whimpered.
"I think we should at least try," Elsa fought for me. "Just be careful out there in the dark. And be back soon. We'll be worried about you."
Loki folds his arms behind his back, appearing proud. "So Moana offers herself up as tribute. I have to say I'm not entirely surprised."
"Is that an offense, or a compliment, or...?"
"A compliment from Loki is almost unheard of, but I'd say that it is," My lolo, Magneto, stepped up behind Loki, pushing away his cape. "Let me go with you, Moana."
I smiled thankfully at him. "Of course. I could use the help."
Magneto followed me to the edge of the dresser closest to the door. Everyone speaking in my ears, their voices blending together into a grateful coo. Some dolls patted me the shoulders, like, "congratulations" and other tugged at my skirt, like, "good luck and don't forget about us." Some of them were already shivering a little. Anelle wanted to make sure I wouldn't.
"Here, take this," she offered up her cape, taking it off the dresser and draping it over my shoulders. "It's getting colder. You'll need it."
"Thanks," I fastened the velcro clasp at the neck, and immediately my shoulders were bathed in happy warmth. And as bad as I felt taking it, Anelle, like most Frozen dolls, came with winter clothing, and I, like most Moana dolls, did not. "We'll get things fixed. I promise. Take care of Pua and HeiHei for me, will you?"
I grabbed Magneto and fastened his key-chain clasp on my oar, then jumped from the dresser and down onto the floor. A chilly, light-absent hallway stretched before us, then the great unknown. I wasn't sure where exactly my necklace was, but I had a good idea of it's location. Besides, I'm always up for a challenge.
"Bring back sum-mer! Bring back sum-mer!" Anna and Elsa started to cheer, and the other dolls took that on as well. The crowd was really roaring for me.
"Mo-ana! Mo-ana! You're so amazing!" A little voice inside of me cheered along with them. For a second I was so caught up in the praise, I wondered why we were even needed to go on this quest, because I was feeling warm and glowing all over. I was a light.
"Moana? Ready?"
"What? Oh, um, yeah. Let's go."
"Caught up in the glory, are we?" Magneto smugly crossed his arms, then rubbed them to drive away the chills.
I stuck out my chin. "No."
"Careful not to let them get to your head. It might make it bigger." He clocked my knee with his fist.
"Hey!" My knee buckled and I hit him back, harder.
"Now that's just great. We're trying to productive here and you just gave me a concussion."
"Sorry," I said. "But you're right. We need to get to work."
My best guess was that the box was on the house's first floor, so we started with the stairs. But there were at least five different rooms down there. It's an awfully big house for someone less than a foot tall.
"Where should we start?"
"The dining room. There's a cupboard by the table. Maybe one of humans put my box in there."
"Doubt it," said Magneto. "But this try's as good as any."
"Exactly. I'll check in there. And you're what- two inches tall? You can sneak around the floor and check under the table."
Magneto began to grumble. "Yeah, I'm sure a giant tattooed box will be just, you know, stuck to the bottom of the chairs."
"I'm desperate, okay? Just look."
Unfortunately we were unsuccessful in finding the box, but I didn't think we'd find it in there anyway. The cupboard contained nothing except placemats and table centerpieces for traditional dinners, and the only think I thought might be of use were the placemats. If worse came to worst, we could use them as blankets for the smaller dolls.
"Okay, no luck," said Magneto, but not in a ticked-off way. "Where next?"
"The parlor," I decided. "There's not much in there. Anything large would be easy to find."
It was just across the way from the dining room and past the stairs. I was right about the parlor- it didn't hold much, just a bookshelf, a sofa, and an heirloom sewing machine. On the wall were a few pictures outlined in black frames, and on the side with the doorway, a white box with a plastic cover.
Magneto saw me studying it. "That's the thermostat. It monitors the temperature throughout the house. There's two buttons, and up arrow and a down arrow, for creating more or less heat."
"I wish it were working." I muttered.
"Wishing gets you nowhere," Magneto said matter-of-factually as he crawled under the sofa. "But action could get you somewhere."
"Right," I said, mostly to myself, clutching my necklace for good luck as I hoisted myself up the bookshelf and continued climbing until all the levels were certain to be box-less. "Nothing here." I called.
"Me neither. Unless you count dust bunnies as a good source of light. Although," Magneto came out of hiding just enough so that only his head was showing. "It's nice and warm under here."
"Great, but that's not what we're looking for yet," I grabbed Magneto and carried him to the next room, the living room.
The living room was a wide, open space, and the room most used by the humans. Many family portraits, sitting places, and wilting potted plants were organized around, which would have felt homey if it hadn't been for a freezing draft coming from somewhere unidentified.
"It's as cold as your heart in here." I smirked.
Magneto growled. "Not in the mood for jokes, Moana. No matter if they're good or not."
I pulled my cape closer around my body. "Where's that breeze coming from?"
"The fireplace. The humans didn't close the flue after last night's fire."
"Can we close it?"
Magneto shrugged. "You can try, but I wouldn't bet on your chances. The thing's ancient. Sometimes even the humans have trouble moving it."
"I think we should try." I ripped off my cape and tossed it to Magneto so I could work and move freely if need be.
He wrapped himself in it and snuggled up at once, like how the dogs do when they're going to bed. "Take your time." He said, his voice relaxed.
I approached the fireplace with caution. I knew nothing about the ins and outs of working a house, and the flue was certainly darker than everything else. I knelt at the bottom of the flue, the surface dusted with black soot and charcoal from the logs burned last night. My knees were pierced with the rougher pieces, but I payed them no mind. Besides, the chill was a big enough distraction of pain. That would stop soon enough if I could help it.
From feeling around in the chimney area, I found some fresh logs, an ash grate for holding them, and a set of three candles. Unfortunately, they were the battery-operated kind on a timer, so I couldn't turn them on. Guess we'd still be looking for the heart.
But there was also a lever up in the flue, a cast iron one that felt stubborn to move. Apparently I had to pull back on it to close the flue and block the wind from coming down the chimney, so I put my feet up against the other side of the wall to thrust my entire body weight into the pull.
Creak-creak-creak... clunk.
The lever shifted forward and I was thrown backwards onto the floor.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," I groaned, rubbing the ash off my legs and hands. "I don't know if it worked. Looks like it got stuck halfway through."
"At least you blocked it a little bit. That'll still make a difference. Now is your box in here?"
I turned around to face him, unhappy. "Didn't you check whenever I was working on the flue?"
"No, I didn't move at all. It's warm in your cape, okay?"
"Give that back," I snatched it from Magneto, leaving him to grovel on the floor. "And it's Anelle's cape. Look under the furniture if you want to be warm."
I guess Magneto knew he was in trouble, because he obeyed. But while I was checking behind the entertainment center and coffee table, I started to hear him sneeze over and over.
"You okay?" I repeated.
"There's a peanut butter treat under here that one of the dogs left," he moaned. "I forgot I'm allergic to peanuts."
"Are your allergies bad?"
"Not sure. Rather not risk it, though. I'm coming out."
"Okay. I'm not finding anything either. Let's check the kitchen."
Magneto sneezed again and wiped his nose. "Oh perfect. The place you're least likely to find peanuts."
"Calm down. We'll keep you away from them."
I could feel my temper growing short, as well as the cape as I kept wrapping it tighter. It was helping, but not enough. I could only pity Magneto. First this sneezing spell, but he was also shivering uncontrollably. We had to finish soon.
"Not- achoo!- here."
"You're not doing so well, lolo. Why don't you go back upstairs?"
"And let you continue the search alone? Achoo! Never."
"But you're ill. And freezing. You need help," I said. Savoring my last bit of warmth, I whipped off Anelle's cape and blanketed it over Magneto. "I'll be fine. Go."
"No. I'm not leaving." When Magneto tried to follow me but ended up just falling over the cape, I scooped him up in my arms and started to carry him around, my eyes darting left and right, cursing the humans for hiding the box.
"Why are you so stubborn?" I scolded.
"Because- achoo! I remember now- I know where the box is," Magneto sneezed. "And you're one to talk about being stubborn."
What? He had known all along? Why was he playing games with me? "Where is the box, Magneto?" I growled through clenched teeth.
"You're funny when you're mad. Your box is in the basement. That's where everyone else's was kept, right from the day they were found."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" I cried. "Stay here, lolo. I'm going to find it alone."
I dumped Magneto by the end of the basement stairs, knowing full well from the day Nessa got frozen that he couldn't do steps. Now I knew what Nessa felt like.
"Moana! You can't go down there! The basement's always been degrees colder than the rest of the house! Without Anelle's cape, you'll freeze."
"Not if I'm fast." I said determinedly. I began taking the basement steps two at a time, no longer afraid of the secrets that were held down there, only the cold. My only regret was that I left my oar upstairs with Magneto.
Maybe it was my imagination, but I could have sworn my breath was visible in the basement, looking like mist that clung to the bay on early mornings on Motunui. Or at least I imagined it to be that way. This was not the beautiful kind of mist that promised a smooth day of sailing ahead, this was the kind of mist that told you your time was running out.
Looking around, I found a shelf that contained a bunch of rectangles at different sizes- our boxes. Not caring that I made a mess, I ran over and began pushing them all aside. Elsa's box. Steve's box. A box that belonged to someone I didn't recognize, nor took the time to fully look at.
At last, there was mine at the very bottom. Some items were still inside, but it didn't look like much. I could only hope to see the necklace. Find the necklace, and I'd find the heart.
I picked up the box and dumped out all of its contents. I didn't exactly have the time to poke around inside. A couple of things bounced out. Twist ties that held me in place to the packaging. Assorted shells She planned to make into crafts. A doll-sized basket.
And no heart of Te Fiti.
I felt like crying, if dolls could. My foggy breath came out in short, shallow gasps as I started to panic. I got on all fours and began feeling around for the necklace, wishing more than ever that my fingers might cross over something large and textured... but they never did. I began throwing boxes left and right out of frustration. Maybe, just maybe, if I cleared a large enough spot, the necklace would come out of its hiding place. My powers to control the ocean weren't helping me now, but if only I had Magneto come down with me, he could have. The necklace contained traces of metal to give the heart its greenish glow. I could have ordered him to use his magnetic powers to find it. I could have, I could have, I could have...
But I didn't.
I cleared out the entire shelf. Boxes were strewn all over the carpet, and the humans would be sure to notice. I didn't care. Let them find me. Let me break the Code of Dolls. I was no hero to them anymore. What would they think of me if I returned to them empty-handed?
"Gah!" I heaved another box at the wall and buried my head in my hands.
Clink.
I removed my hands and opened my eyes. There was a shine in them, so I blinked once, twice, wondering if dolls really could cry.
But when the shine was still there, and it was green, I realized that wasn't me.
Something had fallen out of the box I had thrown.
I crawled over to it and picked it up. It was a capsule, a blue and white one, with ridges all over like ripples in the sea. When I closed it, the green shine went away, and when I lifted the latch and opened it again, something inside pulsed with a bright green light. Wait... pulse? Wasn't that like a heartbeat?
"I got it! The heart of Te Fiti! It's here!" I called.
Magneto didn't yell back, so he must not have heard me, or maybe I didn't hear him from the invisible crowd cheering in my ears again. Hope, once lost, and now found, was the color green.
I hurried to put back my mess and went to the bottom of the basement stairs, holding up the heart triumphantly. "Hey, lolo! You up there?"
"Achoo!"
"I'll take that as a yes. Look! The heart of Te Fiti! We got it!"
There was no other response. My smile began to crumple. "Lolo?"
"Moana..." Magneto coughed.
"Magneto!" He sounded really bad. I had to get to him.
When I came up the stairs, I saw him shaking there in a ball on the floor. How long did I leave him up here for him to be acting like this?
I crouched down and picked him up. "Oh, lolo, this is all my fault."
Magneto whimpers, the weakest he's let himself be seen. "No. You were trying to help. You told me to go upstairs."
"Yeah, but I also know that you can't climb them," I sighed, feeling defeated all over again. I pulled the human-sized necklace chain around my body like a satchel and opened the locket for Magneto to get a glance. "Look. The heart of Te Fiti. Now we'll be able to save everyone." But I didn't save you, I wanted to add, but thought it was too depressing to say.
I was about to start our trek up the stairs again when Magneto poked my shoulder. "There's one way I think you can help me- achoo!"
"How so?"
His kakamora eyes flashed. "Use your powers. I'm sure a good submersion in water will clear out my nose and get rid of these allergies."
"But then you'll drown."
"I think we should at least try."
I bit my lip. Magneto wasn't thinking. He was sickly, and he was cold. I was cold, too, and desperate to get the heart up to the rest of my friends, but the rest of my friends weren't having allergic reactions to peanut butter. I decided to give it a go. I would just have to make sure the ocean wouldn't let Magneto drown.
Calling upon my powers, I summoned water to flow from the faucet in the kitchen down to a water glass on the floor. Once it was filled to the brim, I shut it off, proud that the ocean had obeyed and only a few drops were split in the process.
"Good work, ocean. Thanks," I whispered, then turned behind me, reaching for Magneto so he could get his bath. "Alright, lolo," I said in a louder voice. "Time to go in the dunk tank."
But Magneto stood there by the glass. His smirk let me know he was no longer sick.
"What? How?" I stammered.
"I just wanted to see you do your powers again. I'm perfectly fine."
"But your peanut allergy..."
"Isn't that severe. Did you really think I would rather risk drowning than sneeze a little?"
Suddenly I was feeling very stupid. "Why you...!" I threatened, pointing my finger at him, but I couldn't think of anything to say. "Just for that you get to carry this necklace upstairs. And I want you to use your powers to do it."
Magneto looked fearful. I got the hint that this wasn't him acting this time. "I can't. If I take the necklace upstairs, everyone will be there waiting, and then my powers will mess with all of their magnets. You have no idea how dangerous what I have can be."
"Oh." I guess he was right, but I also didn't think to question it. Why would everyone have magnets inside of them? And I had seen him do his powers before and I wasn't affected, so what did that mean? Maybe it didn't matter right now anyway. We had had a big adventure, and I was ready to just call it a day and go upstairs.
"Whatever. I'm going to need that cape back."
Magneto handed it over, and I took up my oar in the living room and fastened his key-chain clasp to handle.
"Think we should bring up a few of those placemats in the dining room?"
"Yeah. I saw those earlier." When I went to grab them, I was still thinking about all that had happened, all within the span of probably a half an hour. "Hey, you're Marvel, right? Why don't they call you the 'trickster god'?"
"In case you haven't noticed, I'm no god. Loki's character is."
"He's barely that," I rolled my eyes and selected a few more placemats for the trip. "A trickster, I mean."
"Well, we're not exactly like our characters, are we?" Magneto said. "For example, you've definitely got more of an ego than the real Moana."
"Shut up," I teased. "You've never even seen my movie."
"No, but maybe I should."
"She owns it. Maybe once we get this whole power outage thing behind us, we can all pick a day to watch it."
Magneto gave his approval, and I gave him the placemats to hold onto. We got up to the room quickly, but when I got up there, something was amiss. When I pushed open the door, I saw everyone gathered on the bed, sitting close together, talking and shivering, two color-changing candles lighting their deeds.
"Hey, Moana! Great to have you guys back! Come on in, we found these rainbow candles for light while you were gone. They're battery operated and not even on a timer! How cool is that?"
"So much for the heart of Te Fiti," I said under my breath. "Well, Magneto and I brought these placemats that we can use for blankets."
"Oh, awesome! We're freezing in here."
We joined the party and passed out the placemats, the bigger dolls getting one each and the smaller dolls sharing one together. Magneto was now freed from my oar, but he still insisted on following me.
"You gonna tell them about the heart?"
"Maybe one day," I said. "But I think I'd like to see their surprise when one of them goes to open it and they find a glowing green orb inside."
"You sure you're not the trickster god?" Magneto asked.
"Yup. Here's your blanket. Enjoy." And with that, I threw a placemat on his head, covering him completely. I liked to think it took him a long time to get out of that.
Iohini makamaka,
Moana of Motunui
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