Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VI, its character, or lore.

Fanning the Flames

Relm had always thought her friend was too obsessed with fire. And those flame rods, what was there to be proud of in using them? They were just tools. It would've been more interesting if he cast the fire spells himself.

He never listened to her when she talked like that though. He liked fire, loved his flame rods, and wouldn't hear anything else. His parents just made it worse, spoiling him the way they did. Who needs that many magic rods?

The same people who own a house large enough to fit the entire village in. Go figure.

Well she'd had enough of listening to him brag and boast. Flame rods this, flame rods that. She'd show him real fire. When she went over to play that night, she brought one of her grandpa's books with her. Her grandpa was a big monster guy, knew all sorts of things about all sorts of monsters. Even kept books full of the information! Pictures too, though many of them weren't very good. Her grandpa wasn't much of an artist, but he did occasionally take her along on his trips. When he took down new monsters then, she'd draw the pictures for him. Those came out much better, she thought.

The one she opened to, as she and her friend sat playing in his over sized house, wasn't one she'd been with her grandpa when he found. It looked promising though. It was made of fire and an all around neat sounding fire monster – the Flame Eater.

If nothing else, maybe it'd eat all the flame rods.

She pointed the page out to him. "See this? This thing's so much cooler then your flame rods."

The frown on his face was instant. He didn't like hearing things like that, but he wandered over to look anyway. "It's just a big ol' ball. What's so neat about that?" He waved it off. "And just a picture too. I'd wanna see the real thing."

The devilish grin she showed off then tended to get her in trouble before she even did anything. Adults were just too serious. Other kids saw it as a promise of things to come. "That's why you're lucky to have me for a friend!" With a flourish, she whipped out her painting brush. "So let's see this thing!" The boy watched with wide eyes as she spun her brush through the air, streaks of color following it in a trail as she brought the picture together.

Then it faded. Nothing happened.

A chuckle bubbled from him while Relm tapped the brush against her leg, thinking. "Maybe I didn't draw it right?" She took another glance at the picture in the book and made a face. Grandpa's sketch was no help. Maybe she needed to give him some art lessons. "Well, whatever. Let's give it another try!"

~ Ten minutes later ~

Laughter bounced off the walls as Relm stomped her foot over the latest failed portrait. She was about ready to toss her brush, or maybe use it to bash that hyena of a boy rolling around on the floor. He'd gotten more and more amused as her string of useless attempts went on. She wanted to throttle him.

That wasn't the worst of it though. She couldn't understand why the magic wasn't working. Admittedly, it always worked best when she had what she was trying to paint right in front of her, but there was no reason she shouldn't be able to draw it from a book. Still, her works were copies, not original creations, so they had to be accurate. After all, painting something that didn't exist didn't accomplish much. What could it do? How did it move? These things didn't come from her mind. The magic was finicky that way.

Grandpa's picture couldn't be that wrong though. She had to be missing something.

Once again, she turned to study the old book. The thing looked simple enough, kind of like a Bomb, though her grandpa had made a mess of the details. You couldn't hardly make out its limbs or eyes among all the squiggles and wavy lines. No matter where she put them, it just came out wrong, even goofy.

She paused, a thought occurring to her. What if it didn't have any of those things? It hardly made sense, it'd just be a big ball of fire and ash without them, but heck, she'd try anything at that point.

Raising her arm once again, and ignoring the muffled giggles of her friend, she went to work. Back and forth she flicked her painting brush, the image set in her mind. No frills, just the basics. Boring, but correct. She hoped. Colors filled the air, settling into the outlines she intended for them as she blended the mixture of oranges, reds, and browns. Finally, it came together, completed, and she held her breath as she took a step back from it. Waiting.

It pulsed. Light and heat spread over it as it hung in the air. It rotated in place, a sense of life about it, and she grinned as the room grew quiet, the laughter dying out.

Success.

"Wow," her friend muttered, coming to his feet. "Is it alive?"

She shrugged. "More or less. I usually don't paint things to last for very long, but it'll stay until I don't want it to anymore."

Hesitation was in his steps as he got closer to it, his hand out. Reaching, but not touching. "What does it do?"

Now that was a good question. She paused, then, "Well, my grandpa labeled it the Flame Eater, so maybe it eats fire?" She snatched up one of the errant flame rods. "Why don't we see?"

"Hey, don't break my flame rod!"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just going to use it, calm down. Geez." With a flick of the rod, she ushered a stream of fire from its tip and cast it into the Flame Eater. Sure enough, rather then burn the thing, it got pulled in somehow, intensifying the fiery glow about it.

"That's kinda neat, let me try." The boy snatched up another of his rods and wasted no time in sending another ball of fire into her creation. The Flame Eater lit up further, looking more and more like a giant ball of fire. "Hah! That's-" he'd looked to her with a grin that fell into a frown. "What's that?"

Relm glanced down. Between her and the Flame Eater another creature had appeared, it's little arms flailing as it bobbed in the air. It's bright eyes and jagged mouth seemed to laugh at her as it swelled like a balloon. Her heart thumped in her chest. She'd traveled often enough with her grandpa to know what the little guy was.

"Maybe it works like the big guy. " Relm glanced at her friend in time to see him point the flame rod at the new creature.

"No! Don-" The fire shot from the rod and the creature's body devoured it. She threw her arms up out of reflex a moment before the thing exploded.

Her vision spun as she found herself staring at the ceiling, the rough wood of the floor beneath her. Fire licked at the edges of her vision, and the odd cackling of the Bomb creature danced around the room. Though that may have been her imagination, seeing as how the room was spinning around her. It was odd how the darkness swallowing her vision mixed with the ever brightening room.

The screams of her friend felt far away as he dashed from the room, leaving her behind. Ungrateful, that's what he was. See if she showed him any more tricks. If she could just move... to dismiss... the...

Darkness swarmed her.

A/N: First off, special thanks to Shadow's Interceptor for helping me out with some beta reading!

I've been thinking for a long time on how to work a Thamasa scene, and this is the one that stood out to me the most. I've got a few ideas on what I'll do from here, and it hopefully won't take me another 6+ months! My original work from NaNo last year has kinda taken over my life though, so we'll see!

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it!