I keep getting drifted away from my original story. I still HAVE to see Once Upon a Time in Mexico. [Whine...Sands...come to me..*puts him inside my pocket*] Oh yeah, I'm also behind on my school work because I'm too busy thinking about fictions. Damn. It's like a plague.

Lip Balm

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"Jack Sparrow, be it known that you have…for your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature. The most grievous of these to be cited herewith: piracy, smuggling, impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy, impersonating a cleric of the Church of England, sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, general lawlessness and escaping from the hands of most punishable death. And for these crimes you have been sentenced to be on this day, hung by the neck until dead. May God have mercy on your soul."

"Another job well done, mate," Jack said with a quick wink. "Can't wait to 'ear you say it next time."

The officer, hearing the repeated words gave a grim smile and pointed towards the crowd. How will he escape this time. It's a mystery to all of us…First it had been Will Turner's doing. Then the trapdoor wouldn't swing open. And once, his crew had set a stool underneath the platform. And there was the one where he set fire to the building behind them and everyone had to run for their lives. Port Royale is being unwillingly forced to face it. Fate did not want to see Jack Sparrow dead.

The atmosphere was thick with whispers. Not from the heavy suspense as it were the first time, but more because the anticipation was pulling a nagging nerve. Finally, the drum roll stopped. A silence hung in the air and a few children stopped chasing each other and looked up towards the wooden platform.

"At another time, then," Jack said as the trapdoor swung open.

Norrington was sure that today would be the last time Captain Jack Sparrow would open his eyes in a nearby tavern, or be found drinking until drunk and wobbling in the street, terrorizing maidens. He had double, triple and quadruple checked that the trapdoor was working. He made sure that Will Turner was kept in view at all times. He even had a few men guard the Black Pearl and her crew. The building behind them was safe from all fire. And this time, Norrington was sure, fate would weep over Jack Sparrow's dead body.

It all happened too fast, as it always did at every escape. The trap door gave a creak as the un-oiled hinges swung back and Jack Sparrow boots came protruding from underneath the platform.

And then…whirr. The sound of something whistling in the air. The rope uncoiled itself from the wooden ledge and fell down in a mass of rough cord on top of the platform. A small thud of a body hitting the ground was heard and the crowd burst into an almost inaudible chuckle. He had done it again. Captain Jack Sparrow had lived to tell yet another tale of a life and death situation. With much exaggeration, of course.

Or had it been too late?

The chuckles subsided and grim faces leaned towards the wooden platform. Small children peeped through a few small cracks, desperate to see the pirate captain. Had it been too late? Did Captain Jack Sparrow fall into most sudden death before the rope had fully uncoiled itself from the ledge? Did Fate weep?

"He's ALIVE," screeched a little girl, one eye still transfixed on the moving figure in the darkness. "He's ALIVE, MUM."

Elizabeth Turner gave a small smile as she placed a hand on Will's shoulder. She had almost been worried. Almost. Norrington, however, was more shocked than glad. He had, as said before, double, triple, quadruple checked to make sure that all his previous successful tries to grasp freedom once again was not repeated. And then he realized something. Captain Jack Sparrow does not repeat old tricks. Especially with a crowd.

Sure enough, there was a bang as a shot rang from the trap door and into the sky. A head popped out from underneath the platform, as Captain Jack Sparrow climbed out of the door, and sauntered to the middle, raising a hand for silence.

"Men," Jack said with a loud voice. "And ladies…this is the day that you will always remember as the day that you almost caught-"

With those words, Jack Sparrow leaped up from his position as a few men armed with all sorts of weaponry lunged at him, with open arms. Tipping his hat and jumping slyly over a large piece of wood, he kicked the block of wood back, tripping all three men at the same moment. Opening his arms, Jack bowed graciously and revealed a quick smile before running off towards the port for his Pearl.

"…Captain Jack SPARROOWW."

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