Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters nor the places (just the ones I added to the real story)! This is only a fictional story.
My first fic...be nice : ) eheh...thanks!

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Port Royal was bubbling with excitement. All over the strangely overcrowded streets at that time of the night, there were laughs and chants that suggested something abnormal was about to happen.

The higher part of the colony, with its colossal noble houses and palaces was flooded in intense, blinding lights and soft, melodious music. Everyone could see that thesource of all thatfuss was the Governor's palace with its old white, untainted walls and its humongous gardens where jasmines, roses and daisies floated along with the sweet warm southern breeze. The willows in the Swann's Residence gardens rocked as their branches waved in the pleasant, gentle wind. The moon hanging in the sky embraced the land with its mystified light, recalling days of glory and ancient, impossible loves.

The poorer side of Port Royal, even far away from the epicentre, was throwing its own jolly party in the lower lanes of the city; the human mass grouping outside the modest houses enlarged as the time went by.

All around the island there were cheerful faces and exultant people with their senses affected by the large amount of alcohol they had drunk. Not that it was weird to see drunken men stumble across the dark alleys, but in that night, it seem their number had doubled, or even tripled due to the late-opened taverns. That magnificent day of joy and glee was ending the best way imaginable: a royal ball. A royal ball which everyone knew what was for. Everyone, except a certain group of strangers…

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In the northern end of Port Royal, two sentinels guarded the docs. The two men were sitting comfortably in the wooden platform, their boots and socks hungup an old rope from a decadent ship anchored nearby, their feet splashing in the cool water of the calm and flat Caribbean Sea.

"Mullroy?" called one of them, bleakly

"What?" threw the other one. His bored eyes focused on the serene ocean in front of them and his head propped up by his right hand.

"For how long have we been serving the Port Royal Guard?"

"Twenty years." answered Mullroy without moving his eyes.

"Oh! Right! Thought so! Thanks, just needed to remember myself." said the first one following his mate's eye direction.

"Any time, Murtogg!"

A drowsy pause broke only by the distant sound of laughing and the remote jovial melodies. The two friends remained there, frozen, not moving one single muscle.

"So why, in the name of Mary, are we here drowning ourselves in this…dullness, while the others sit and banquet at the Royal Ball?" asked Murtogg in a monochord voice.

"Don't know..." replied Mullroy in the same tedious tone while his little attention was drawn to a small, decrepit boat that was approaching.

"Yeah…" concurred Murtogg, also watching the fragile vessel getting nearer and nearer, cutting the darkness surrounding the docs like a knife. "Me neighed!... I just wish something happened around here! It has been so long since the last time we had some action in Port Royal…"

"Yeah…" repeated Mullroy. "You know…I never thought I would say this…but…I miss Sparrow!"

"Me too, mate! Me too! At least he could shake things up a little bit for us down here, aye!"

"Definitely…It's strange, mate! Now that we're talking about him… you'll find this side-splitting! …but…I almost can see him arriving in that old boat like he didmore than eighteen years ago…"

"That's funny…! Me too. I almost can see him and his crew in that ridiculous nutshell!"

The two guards start laughing willingly, but soon enough their laugh was replaced by a weird sensation of doubt. They looked at each other gravely and then to the boat again.

"Not possible!" murmured Mullroy in disbelieve.

"After all this time, it's just…"

"Impossible!"

"Right!" agreed Murtogg, nodding. But the boat was way too close to have reservations anymore. "Wrong! Wrong, Mullroy! It is! It is Sparrow! Look!"

The both of them got up promptly and forced their eyes to focus the tiny boat that the dark environment insisted on hiding. It was drifting away from the doc.

"Sparrow!" shouted Mullroy to the darkened sea.

"Sparrow!" tried Murtogg. The boat had almost disappeared in the night again.

"Sparrow!" called the two guards, together. They waited, but nothing came for an answer. Nothing…just the gentle ruffle of the ocean and the emptiness of the dim sight.

"Naaa…!" complained Mullroy, throwing himself heavily on the wooden deck (his backside landing with a thud) and submerging his feet in the water again. "It was only our imagination, Murtogg! The desperate will of adventure that two brave soldiers such as ourselves undoubtedly have! No Sparrow!"

"Right you are, Mullroy! We just have to face our curse and forget about Sparrow. God! What a stupid way to start a shift!" whined Murtogg, disappointed.

"Told 'ya!"

Author's little note...: so...what do you think? please tell me...