Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Author's Note: I would like to thank my brother, Kouga518, for giving me this idea. If you're a Final Fantasy X-2 fan, check out his RikkuxPaine stuff. It's swell.
Author's Second Note: I know, that to some of you who have played the AQ Mini Game most of this information is based from, you'll note Valencia's father's name is actually Trey, not Diamundo. But... uh... "Non-Canon is the Best Canon" I always say. So, for the duration of this Fanfiction, it's Diamundo. Besides. I like the pun.
Author's Third and Hopefully Final Note: Zarek the Irismancer actually belongs to the winner of the Forum Fanfiction Contest winner, Chrysolite. Please, if you're reading this, Chrys, don't sue, I am but a poor Fanfiction writer!
Nope Turns Our There's a Fourth Author's Note: PUNS! YES! Horrible, horrible puns! Feel my Punny Wrath!
My Greatest Treasure
My name is Valencia Surehunter, daughter to famous explorer and treasure hunting couple Diamundo and Pearl Surehunter. My parents always wanted the best for me, and they did everything they could to make sure I had the best. And I mean the best EVERYTHING. The best food, the best shelter, even the best water, if that's possible. Sure, they had a habit of running off and leaving me with my mother's sister, Ruby, but it was for the best. They'd always come back and say "Val! We're back! And look what we got you!" That also was in their definition of "The Best For Me", bringing me back little trinkets, as they called them, from their expeditions. One time it would be a necklace of sapphires, or a diamond ring. Once they brought me a pair of golden hooped earrings that my father said belonged to the great Eysinkeyepeesedmiashelf God of Paxian decent. I wear them every day, as a reminder of my parents. One day, my parents went out on one of their expeditions and... just never returned. Eleven and an orphan.
My Aunt Ruby brought me up from that day out, and worked her tail off to get me a good education. Sure, I had to relinquish some of the material things my previous life garnered me, but I was still fed well, had a good home, and was well taken care of.
I think my aunt was the one who made me start looking at people and seeing what was really inside them. She could just look at someone and tell if they were sick, angry, depressed, in love, heartbroken, you name it. I picked up a little of that from her. She was a bit of a treasure hunter herself, but she prefered to stay close to home. She would go into the little antique store on the edge of town, and always come back with some nick-knack. My aunt had a horrible sense of adventure, but a fantastic imagination.
She would come back, sit me down at the table, and place that little nick-knack in the center and ask me: "Val? Do you know this thing's story?" And of course, knowing full well where she got it, I would always answer with "Aunt Ruby, you picked it up in an antique store!". She would smile, and I would smile, then we'd laugh, then she'd say "No, no, Valencia. That's where I got it. But that doesn't mean that's it's story! It wasn't born in that store... it had to get there... now what do you think it did to get there?"
My aunt and I spent so many happy hours around that table making up stories for all her little nick-knacks. There was the fifth century Zing Dynasty vase, which clearly had "Made in China" stamped on the bottom. Then there was the table ware set we had that was from the reign of Janna the First, even though it was a clearly modern design. We had so much fun making things up...
I often say I have two good qualities. My sense of imagination, and my sense of adventure. One was born in me, the other I had to develop.
When I became eighteen, my aunt sent me to Krovesport. She said that a Surehunter like me shouldn't be couped up in some little town. They should be free to roam in a big city! So with five hundred gold for food, tolls and drink, I became an orphan again... this time, by choice. I arrived at Krovesport, and it was obvious to anyone looking at me that I was hopelessly lost. So many people were trying to take advantage of my inexperience. But I was smarter. My parents always warned me that there were people like them; treasure hunters, who would steal from other people... bad men and women who would soon as deceive you as look at you. I just kept walking until I found my place.
I spent a year in Krovesport. I can't say it was the worst year of my life, but it ranks pretty high up on that scale. Soon, I was informed that I had a commission from a very wealthy man to retrieve a staff called the Irismancer's Retina from a rather infamous Irismancer named Zarek. The reward for it was a rather... weighty sum of gold and a job working for him. Well, I took the commision and managed to recover the staff. Turns out my employer, on Artix Von Krieger, was wanting to stop the world from falling into Zarek's hands, but was too short-staffed to do it himself. Honestly, if he was that short-staffed, how could one more do any good?
Anyways, I declined to 'work' work for him, but I did take his offer to move to Battleon, which was safer then Krovesport by about... a hundred less hooligans.
And Battleon is where I found and captured my greatest treasure. It was the rarest jewel known to man and elf alike. In the sun, it radiates like fire, and in the moon, it burns with a unnatural, beautiful glow. It's heavier then lead, but lighter then air. It's soft, yet hard at times and in places. It has a voice which is pointed, but kind. It has eyes which are accusing, but caring. And most importantly of all, it has a name which resonates only love.
The jewel I am referring to is, of course, called "Robina Hood". She is what keeps me breathing in this world, and what keeps me doing what I do. Sure, my work is dangerous, I know that more then anyone else. I know Robina worries about me when I do something drastic, stupid, or both. I worry too. But I do it, because when I come back, it makes seeing her more fruitful. I come back and I'm loved. I feel like my parent's sacrifices weren't in vein.
Robina is the greatest treasure I have ever had the pleasure... no... the honor to hold. We're opposites at times, and we can be the same. We can be two sides of the same coin, or the same face on seperate statues.
I say Robina is my greatest treasure. And I'm sure she'd say I'm the best target she's ever hit.