Sorry for my formal english, but I'm Italian and this is my first FF in english. I have to translate it, so this can take me a while.
Shizuru point of view
If I close my eyes, I've almost the sensation that I can still feel Mai's words echoing in my mind. I've never been able to know if, when she said those words in that night long ago, she knew how truly they was.
"Captain, there are things that we can´t manage, but we have only to live them. Only the Time will bring us his answers".
The Time. Tonight, time almost seems to has stopped. There´s an odd sensation in the air: the quiet silence that comes before the storm. The wind is blowing amongst the camp, bringing the smell of unknown flowers, redrawing the barchans of the desert as he likes.
She´s sleeping, on that spartan couch. We can´t afford a good camp, not here, on this planet forgotten by the Gods. Four tents against a bare rock is all that we have. There´s a cave, here, and there is where the Vector is sleeping, hidden from the eyes of the world. And about me, what that I need, the only, single thing that I really need is lying by my side. Watching the quiet espression that only the sleep can give to her face, I wonder what kind of dreams the night could bring her.
And so I start to chase the wakes of my thought, that thought I wish I can erase from my mind, while my eyes follow the spiral of steam from my cup of tea.
Outside, somewhere, I hear the voices of Youko and Midori, starting a little fight, suddenly repressed when it changes the direction of wind.
Tomorrow is the great day.
Tomorrow the Vector will sail in the heart of the Universe. And I´ll be with them.
But for tonight, only for this last night, I´m going to let the memories rule, here. Tonight I´m going to let live again, for the last time, Captain Shizuru.