I haven't done any firefly writing in a long long time, so please be gentle. Feel free to comment, though. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sweaty palms grasped the torn and ragged edges of a yellowed flyer. It simply read "REWARD - 1 Million credits for the discovery of Fool's Gold". Each time she read it her eyes lit up like firecrackers in the night, exploding from the depths and illuminating the black sky above.

She looked up from the flyer and scanned her surroundings for the clue she had been searching for and there in the distance it was, a singular tree on the horizon.

It had been months since she set out in search of the treasure, but her determination had never failed, she ventured on sure that she could disprove the views of others. Some had said she didn't have the strength and others said it was nothing but a lost cause. But she knew deep down in her heart that it was possible if she put her mind to it.

She clambered down the rock face into the valley below, dodging boulders and cactii along the way. It would be a treacherous trek to the distant tree, but it would be well worth it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Laying deep beneath the tree would lay a small tin box that would contain the final clue to where the treasure laid. It had been placed there many centuries ago by a old and frail gentleman by the name of Bosco Fool, a notorious and well known ironmonger of the planet Arcadia. He owned nearly half the planet and months before his cancerous death he buried his most valued treasures in a far off planet called Dashdown.

It had since been rumoured that the gold had been found and the planet destroyed. However, several months ago it was revealed that this was a lie and that the Goodson Family had made up the story to prevent looters from uncovering the true story of Fool's Gold and made a series of clues for locating the treasure.

When the last member of the Goodson family died, a box of assorted journals and books was sold in an auction to a young historian by the name of Geoffrey Nickels. He discovered the journal amongst the box and went off in search of the hidden treasures, unfortunately his was captured by one of the rivalling generals of the Mesca War, and the journal was lost once again until the son of the General discovered the journal and revealled to the world the truth of Fool's Gold. Many disbelieved that the treasure even existed by the son continued and to this day he has created and deployed an army to find the lost treasure of Bosco Fool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a solid days travel with the sun pounding down on upon her back she had reached the peak where the single black tree stood. Collapsing down into the red dusty soil beneath the tree she began to cry, the tears trickling down the contours of her face, moistening the soil before her as the teardrops fell to the ground.

She cried not for the pain that she was suffering but for the joy of being the first to make it to the distant and rare tree, it was the final stage before finding Fool's Gold.

She parted the moistened soil and dug down into the depths of the tree's rooted mass, searching for the cool hard box that encased the final clue in finding the treasure.

Instead she heard the sound of a barrel cocking and a icy cold pressure against the back of her head. She stopped digging and raised her arms and turned slightly to see a familiar face that she had once betted would never make it to the first clue.

She knew that she was first there and she knew that others would follow her and try to steal anything she found but for it to be the longshot was something she didn't expect.

A dry and crackling voice whispered, "Being dead first, doesn't make you any less dead."