Frankie Carter/Over the Rainbow

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Pacing nervously back and forth while the egg timer slowly ticked down she felt a small twinge in her abdomen. Nerves…it was just nerves. Three minutes never seemed so long. She fought the urge to peek at the small white stick laid flat on a paper towel on the bathroom vanity. The twinge grew more insistent as it morphed into a sharp steady throbbing. The force of it caused Frankie to double over. Panic flooded through her as she tried to use her regen powers to cure whatever was making her cramp. The blossoming pain grew stronger spreading down through her trembling legs. Her knees buckled and she collapsed in a tiny heap on the floor. Her vision blurred and as she finally lost consciousness she thought she heard the tiny ding of the egg timer.

A slightly sweet smell she couldn’t identify wafted through the air. Frankie opened her eyes and eased into a sitting position. "I’ve got a feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore." The large circular space was filled with a soft golden light. Frankie’s attention was held by a tall athletically built middle age woman wearing what looked like a thin piece of black linen wound around her body barely covering her breasts and hips. A large ruby pendant hung around her neck and more rubies were entwined in her dark brown hair. Heavy gold rings decorated her fingers.

The imperious woman glided across the room and smiled at the scrapper. Looking down at Frankie the woman spoke, "We finally meet. I’ve waited a long time for this day." A very confused Frankie slowly stood and was greeted by a swift backhand across her face. A trickle of warm blood ran down her chin as the deep cut on her mouth began to heal. Completely off balance Frankie reacted instinctively reaching out to leech the life force out of her attacker. A surge of dark power ran through her…stronger than she’d ever felt before. The woman held out a bejeweled hand and casually grabbed the darkness gently cradling it as it dissipated. The scrapper stepped back, "Oh…sonuva..."

"Have a seat. I have a story to tell you," A roomy chair made of shadows and mist appeared out of thin air.

"Nah…I’m good. Really," Frankie swiped the back of her hand across her already healed mouth. "So, what the hell is going on?"

"Rude child. You will do as I say!"

Frankie felt an uncontrollable urge to sit. The nebulous chair felt much more substantial than it looked. It was obviously constructed of the same dark power that she employed. Despite herself, the scrapper was intrigued and wondered if she could do it, too.

"Um…so okay then. I’m sitting in your very nice chair. Wanna tell me what is going on and who you are and why I’m here and…well…let’s start there. Oh…and please?"

"I am Ernmas. Where you are is completely beyond your limited comprehension. Let’s just say it’s a different dimension from your own."

Frankie couldn’t stop herself, "Sweet!"

Ernmas gave the petite blonde a forbidding look. "This dimension is where your powers originate. Don’t you feel unusually strong here?" Frankie nodded, trying not to antagonize the irritated woman any further. "You... and a few others like you... are somehow able to tap into our world and use the power which binds our universe together. A power we can control and bend to our will. What you access is such a small inconsequential amount that we’ve never felt the need to do anything about it."

Frankie opened her mouth to comment when the woman gave her the look again.

"Something happened some years back. I had a child. A sweet-natured, smart and extremely gifted daughter whom I loved more than I knew was possible. Her command over our power was extraordinary. I of course spoiled her completely. I even indulged her when she began to tell me about her new imaginary friend. A girl her own age named Frankie."

Frankie gulped, now worried, "This isn’t good, is it?"

Ernmas began to pace rapidly in front of Frankie. "She told me that terrible things were happening to her dear friend and that she wanted to help her. I thought my child just had an overactive imagination. My child…Mhor. One day she told me she was going to go to her friend and she’d protect her. I thought nothing of it. Just another story spun out of her very creative little mind. Mhor was just going to her room to play pretend."

The pacing stopped and the agitated woman knelt in front of the petite blonde. "I felt it…a great surge of power. I ran into her room just to see her step through a hole she’d created between our worlds. For a moment I saw a tiny dirty blonde child reach out for her and then I saw my daughter devoured…absorbed by that wretched creature. I saw you."

Frankie was stunned. Morgan wasn’t a second personality? She had been a real person who Frankie had somehow absorbed? As a hundred different questions ran through her head Ernmas' large fist shot out, smashing forcefully into Frankie’s stunned face. The blonde heard a crunch and felt her nose breaking. Blood gushed down her face even as her regen powers immediately began to repair the damage.

The woman hissed, "I was forbidden from trying to retrieve her. I didn’t have the power necessary to go to your world, let alone return. I needed help and no one would aid me. So, I trained and studied. I made sacrifices and bargained with foul demons to gain greater control. I managed to create a small opening so I could at least see into your world. ....Do you have any idea what I saw?"

Frankie wasn’t sure what the lady had seen but guessed it probably wasn’t rainbows and butterflies.

"I saw you... but my child no longer dwelled within you. However, I could sense her. I was able to find her... but my sweet, beautiful child was no more. She has a new body, one that she stole. She’s become twisted and sick, consorting with the insane. She doesn’t know who she is…she is lost. Because of you I’ve lost my only child forever. Now all that remains of her is that…that monster."

Frankie concentrated trying to call up as much dark power as she could. This woman was going to kill her. Frankie spoke trying to distract her captor.

"So…where’s Daddy?"

Dark eyes flashed with fury. Ernmas took a deep breath and regained her composure. She smiled coldly, "Stupid girl."

Just as Frankie was about to unleash all the power she could muster the tall brunette laid a hand on Frankie’s abdomen. "Now…now you are with child," her smile widened, "No…children. It’s only fair that as you took what was mine that I shall take what was yours."

The golden light in the room pulsed and Frankie felt a terrible twisting. "No!" She pushed out with all her power. The spasms increased until a great emptiness filled Frankie. The triumphant woman stepped back and wiped beads of sweat from her forehead. Frankie whimpered, "Y-You...you killed my babies."

"I would never kill innocents," Ernmas gently patted her own abdomen, smiling softly. "These children are now mine."

The chair disappeared and Frankie fell to the hard stone floor. Everything seemed to be spinning slowly. She reached out towards her tormentor as her vision dimmed. In the distance she thought she heard the ding of an egg timer.