HM: The search for the Value of Life

[Roam]

Okay, you see... It's not help with a game, but I most certainly do need help. It's actually referring to a fanfiction, but I didn't see anywhere else to ask this question, not to mention it probably wouldn't get any attention in the fanfiction section. If I need to post this somewhere else, please tell me.

Some of you may know of a site that existed long ago called Harvestmoon4ever.net. It's gone now. However, there was a fanfiction I read on it titled "the Value of Life" and I have always wanted to reread this fanfiction. But now that Harvestmoon4ever.net has disappeared, I can't find anywhere that it's hosted. Fanfiction.net does not have it. It was about hunter-turned-farmer who had been bitten by a snake. I was never sure which of the Harvest Moon games it was set in.

Do any of you happen to know where I could find this fanfiction? Thank you for your time.

[Butterscotch]

I moved this to Writer's Workshop for you.

I haven't heard of this story, though. I know you're not sure which game it was set in, but are there any details you remember about it?

[Roam]

Oh, thank you.

Hm... I remember it was about a hunter who had been bitten by a poisonous snake. The venom worked slow, and there was no known antidote, but the doctors said they'd look. Because of this, he only had one year to live. He decided to spend that year running a farm. The girl in it was an OC (I know, poorly handled OCs can be an immediate warning flag for story quality, but the writer actually did a good job. In my memory, the story was fantastic. Granted, I was only around twelve when I read it, so my perception was possibly skewed...) I don't think it ever explicitly said what game it was set in. Unfortunately, I can't remember what set of NPCs were used, but I do think it was possibly set in A Wonderful Life.

He inherited the farm from either his grandfather, or his father. I don't remember which, but I'm leaning towards grandfather. He had received a letter inviting him to take over the farm, which he promptly brushed aside until he was bitten by the snake. He took on the farm, opting to not inform any of the villagers of his upcoming death. Not long afterwards, he met the girl by way of her stealing from his farm. That's about all I remember, aside from the ending.

[Juxapose]

Yes, I know this story. In fact, I was the one who wrote it. I am impressed that you Have tried to track down this story down to forums where I have posted other fanfics. I would love to e-mail you a digital copy, but sadly this story's fate is almost as trajic as it's contents. Allow me to explain what happened.

*Edit* sorry about that, I was on break when I started the post, and it was cut short.

HarvestMoon~4~Ever is a website that stands for the idea that Harvest Moon series will last forever. However, this site was self funded, and no monetary donations were accepted. During this time, I only had a part time job, and had little money. The site was owned, developed, and scripted by myself with no help other than donated fanfiction and fanart.

Two years after the website opened, an incident within my own family caused me to lose focus on my website, and no money was going towards it. I stopped paying for the site to help my family through a rough time for several months. Eventually, the server and domain which my site was on shut down the site because of lack of payments. 60 days after the site was closed, I had gotten enough money to reopen the site. However I was too late, and the server/domain had deleted all of my files that I had uploaded to the server.

I did back up the data in my own computer, however a virus had damaged several pages, and could not be restored. Some of the pages included three guides, the whole fanfic section, and over a hundred images. All of my fanfics in the site were corrupted, and thanks to Fanfiction.net, and several forums I've posted them in (including this one) most of them still exist. However, some of the fanfics are completely gone, including Value of Life.

I was so bummed out about the loss. I thought about re-creating the lost data, but that would take months of work, and fanfics can't just simply be rewritten. No matter how hard anyone tries, the feeling and charm from the original cannot be duplicated, even by the original author. So sadly, the fanfic itself is gone, just like the main character in the facfic in the last chapter.

But even the saddest stories have a glimmer of hope. I do believe that I have published the fanfic in another Harvest Moon forum some time ago. Which one is it, I do not remember. Is it still around is also another question I cannot answer. But if the forum is still around, then the fanfic is still alive somewhere.

[Roam]

Wow! First of all, it's nice to meet you. Secondly, it's terrible to hear what happened. I'm sorry, it sounds as if you've been through a lot of trouble. I can only hope things have gotten brighter for you. It's very unfortunate about the loss of the fanfiction, as it always is with works of art. I understand the trouble with trying to recreate it. It's a shame about the site deleting the files... Technology sucks sometimes. In any case, I'm glad to hear there's still a possibility that it's still floating around out there somewhere on the internet. It was a lovely story. It made me cry, though, honestly. But that's not really a surprise.

Hopefully, one of us will one day be able to find the story. Thank you for taking the time to reply.