Watashi-tachi no uta

"SAYONARA HARLOCK-KUN!SAYONARA OTOU-SAN!"

The sweet and melancholic sound of an ocarina broke the silence, the field outside the town was brightly lit by the huge Moon, it seemed close enough to touch; a human shadow sat on a rock in the middle of the plain, alone, she was a very young girl, with long, blue hair and a beautiful but sad face.

She looked up at the sky dotted with bright stars with a pale smile on her lips; suddenly, the maid stopped playing, clutching the ocarina between her slender fingers: "A year has passed.." she sighed, "Where are you, Otou-san? Harlock-niichan...".

The lonely cry of an owl made her sadder than ever, she felt a heavy heart for the lack and suffered from the remoteness of the father and who now considered an elder brother.

Mayu had grown and was able to distinguish itself from what was right and what is not, he knew, the documents Harlock had left her spoke clearly, to be the daughter of the most fearsome pirate woman and the greatest engineer the human race has ever known.

She was proud of her parents, but would have liked to know; from what he could remember, Harlock was the closest thing to a father he never had: the girl did not know much about them, apart from occasional memory of her mother's face, framed by long, fire-red hair, and the large hat of his father, these were the only things she could remember.

Often, Mayu dreamed of both of them and in those dreams there was also Harlock, they were all together, happily.

"Hey, finally I found you!"

Tadashi suddenly appeared before her, frightened by the unexpected entry; the boy was clearly tired and panting for the long run: "indeed," she mumbled, "the Centre is quite far away..."

"What are you doing here? Mazu-san was looking for you from the dinner time." the scientist asked her, "We were all worried about you" her friend said, sitting beside.

Mayu sobbed: "Nothing, I was only thinking..." the girl whispered, clenching the fists, "Please... Come back home together...".

"Sir, the changes required to the database have been recently completed," the secretary chirped, handing him a stack of sheets and documents, "The Ministry of Public Security is waiting his command.".

The President smiled, pleased with itself: "Well, miss. Well done, my dear... Give the order to start, I put everything in their hands." he giggled, sitting at his desk in the office.

Bowing respectfully, the woman left the room, closing the door behind.

The President grinned, rubbing his chin satisfied: "soon, the long standing problem of those damned space pirates will be resolved; and my office will save, I will definitely re-elected. No one will take the defense of a handful of criminals, although Mazone People were defeated thanks to them. I hate the idea of sharing the same earth with these bandits. And this time, I will not give. Harlock's pirates will be erased by the Earth.".

The man burst out laughing loudly, enjoying the idea that his ministers had suggested, " Soon, all will be over .." he murmured, clasping the fingers, "Kirita was stupid, he could kill them at any moment, yet his ineptitude has led to failure. But this time, there will be no failures."

"Yuki, open the door, quickly!"

The agitated Maji's voice drowned for a moment the sound of rain and thunders, knocking at the Observatory's door.

The younger scientist immediately opened it, letting dry the engineer and children who were with him, they were trembling with cold and they were terrified, clung to the technician as they would with a life preserver in the middle of the ocean.

"What's happened?" Yuki asked worried, grabbing some towels to dry the kids, "Tadashi-kun was afraid you had taken away by the soldiers..." she whispered, hugging the youngest of the group to reassure her; Maji sat on the chair beside the fireplace, suddenly seemed to have aged twenty years, his eyes were dull and sad, full of anger and resentment.

"Those selfish-bastards..." he growled furiously, "we can't stay here, we must leave!" the engineer said firmly.

"Where?" she asked quietly, taking a medikit from a shelf, "We still have a responsibility to these children," the girl said, beginning to heal the wounds of her friend, "If only the captain were here..." Maji sighed.

"But Harlock is not here," Yuki scolded him, "and he would tell us to fight, I'm sure." the scientist nodded, looking the engineer into the eyes, "We have to be strong, we still are the Space Pirates. And we must protect the kids.".

"That's right."

Both turned their face towards the door, discerning the shape of Tadashi through the darkness.

"Come on kids, get down, Mazu and Mayu are waiting for you." the boy said gently, pushing them urgently towards the stairs to the shelter.

After, Daiba entered into the room, grabbing some things: ""The situation is serious ..." he said quietly, without crossing the gaze of his companions, "our names have been re-branded as undesirable, we are deemed worse than beasts …" he growled, clenching his fists worried and angry.

"I was saying before to Yuki-chan" said the man, standing up," this Earth selfish and ungrateful would never deserved to be saved.".
But the dark thoughts from the chief engineer dell'Arkadia were interrupted by a sudden and unexpected sound of bombs and explosions, the earth quaked, dropping Yuki, who slammed his face on the floor.

"Everything okay?" asked the boy, helping her.

New shots fell near the Observatory.

"At the shelter! cried Maji, helping Tadashi to carry fainted Kei.

They were hours of pure terror.
The children were crying in despair, clutching each other for comfort; Mayu tried to reassure them, now playing her ocarina for hours, but she could not solve anything.

Sad, the girl curled up next to Yuki, the girl hugged her friend with affection: "Where's Harlock?" piped the smallest, falling asleep shortly after.

Tadashi covered Mayu with a blanket, stroking her face weary and scarred.

"It is the end?" the former Harlock's official murmured, pale and frightened;

a pan hit him with surgical precision on the head: "Do not talk nonsense!" snapped Mazu seriously, "Tadashi Daiba, you're not a whining child who wants the teddy bear because he had a nightmare!" cried the old woman, shaking his shoulders violently, "Take back. If the captain could see how you're doing, a slap is assured, perhaps even more than one." Mazu said.

Suddenly, a strange noise, as some laser cannons, broke the night's silence, following by a lot of cries and yelling, it was happening something, they were absolutely sure.

Mayu woke up, the young girl began to play the ocarina with all her strength, the tears fell quickly through the cheeks: "HARLOCK!" she yelled; there was a moment of suspension, as if time had stopped, then heard the sweetest voice in the world, the voice of their beloved, and never forgotten, captain: "Tadashi, Yuki .. Are you here?" the pirate asked, with almost worried tone beyond the heavy door that sealed the hiding place.

Yattaran opened quickly, in the con of light, the silhouette of the young pirate seemed even more beautiful than ever.

"HARLOCK-KUN!" Mayu cried, hugging her big bro, "Ohi, princess..." the man smiled, "Are you okay?" he asked, looking to his mates and to the children: "Let's go, Meeme is waiting for you. We'll never more see this place."

The starship Arkadia departed, leaving forever the land for which all of them had fought and suffered so much.

They would never come back, they knew it.

The Sea of Stars would be welcomed them as heroes.