Fairy Tail, and all its characters belong to Hiro Mashima
Millianna woke with a start, her whole body was aflame with pain, but she also felt extremely weary for some reason that she did not have strength to move herself.
"So this is how it feels...to have all my magic...drained." She lamented, with a dazed look on her face.
"You're awake. Good. I need you conscious and aware for what I have planned for you, my little kitty."
Millianna's cat-ear braids suddenly perked up, as if like real cat-ears, while her teeth gritted as she grunted in anger to the familiarity of that feminine voice coming from behind her. With renewed vigor surging throughout her body, spurred by her hatred, Millianna tried to face the offender who spoke, only to vainly find out that she was still physically restrained.
"Dammit!" She cursed.
Her lithe form was still in a spread-eagle pose but unlike when she was presented before Erza and Kagura in their fight as a hostage, the glob-like substance that engulfed her was replaced with two wooden poles between her. Iron manacles were connected to these poles and held her limbs firm by the wrists and ankles. Such a situation she was in caused her to flush in shame especially knowing well her captor is on a totally different level of power than her.
The place of her captivity was unlike any dungeon or prison-like area she was in. No. All around in her was an amorphous alien-like vista were dark and purple shadowy swirls churned about irregularly. The footing she stood upon is actually a small circular islet floating in this formless extra-dimensional space, its lower base tapers like a rocky clone pointing downward, while its top base was somewhat leveled and sported a dark flagstone-like surface. Tattered and broken walls outline the area where Millianna was being held. In spite of the gloomy surroundings the entire area was so well lit that anyone here could discern even the finest of details. All of this was part of Minerva's powerful magics.
"Kagura will rescue me, and when she does she'll make you pay dearly, you bitch!" Millianna struggled in her bonds as she further retorted.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Such a temper isn't good for you." The originator of the voice finally comes into view before the cat-girl, after circling from behind her. Minerva, one of the participants of the Grand Magic Games, and the most powerful member of the magic guild Sabertooth, Millianna finally got a close look of the one who captured her and place her in this compromising predicament.
"But then again," she reaches out to lightly grasp Millianna's chin. "I like such a feisty spirit. The more it would be enjoyable to break you." Millianna responded by spiting into this most hated woman's face. To the grimace of Minerva, the cat-girl's spittle found home right to her cheek and tried wiping it with her hand.
"Not feeling spiffy are we now, aye?" taunted Millianna while giving Sabertooth's most powerful mage one of her mischievous grins.
Minerva's eyes flashed dangerously with hate at such outrage that befallen her. She then gave a forceful slap to the face of her bound captive, followed with a powerful force magic, cast by her other hand, to Millianna's gut. The cat-girl's body arched backward while her head lurched forward, she got the taste of her bile as it surged up to her mouth, all the while the binding posts holding her in place. Millianna felt like losing consciousness again and could only half hear the commotion that abruptly transpired before her.
"Please! Stop it! You're hurting her. What has she ever done to you?" Pleaded a new voice.
"Shut up! This has nothing to do with you! You're only here as guarantee, to ensure Sting wins it for Sabertooth!"
To Millianna it seems Minerva was arguing with someone. Through weary and glazed eyes Millianna could make out the female mage of Sabertooth looking down on someone, someone or something small and reddish. Millianna thought she could make out cat-ears and a tail from the thing, and that it was sort of crying.
"Oh no you don't! Don't you pass out on me, my dear little kitty. The fun is just about to start."
Water was suddenly splashed onto Millianna's face causing her to come to from her stupor, her watery eyes eventually cleared and she faces again her hated captor. A floating bucket, controlled by Minerva's magic, hovered nearby which then finally falls with a couple of audible thumps to the floor. It rolls and came to a stop near the red furry bundle, which Millianna could finally make out. A red-coated cat standing straight like a human on its hind legs. "An Exceed!" She could recall seeing something like it in the Games, from Sabertooth, one sticking closely with one of its participants. "Of course! This is Sting Eucliffe's cat, er, Exceed," Millianna thought, and why does it look sad she wondered. Its teary eyes focused on her as it profusely sniffles. Is it crying for her? Millianna thought it is sweet of it to do so, worried perhaps of her condition. She has always loved cats and things related to cats, but she has a special fondness for Exceeds especially for a certain blue one from Fairy Tail.
"Hey there, I'm Millianna. What's your name?"
The red-furred Exceed finally addresses her.
"Lector." He replied, sniffling all the while.
"Its nice to meet you, Lector." She warmly smiled at him. Lector suddenly felt better inside upon seeing her smile at him. He tried to bring a smile for himself.
"How touching, however-"
Lector suddenly stiffens as he is engulfed by Minerva's force magic, helplessly levitating him off a few feet off the ground.
"I have no time to waste on such melodramatics."
Appalled by what is happening to Lector, Millianna attention turned again towards Minerva, glaring at her while vainly trying to break free.
"Stop it! Why are you doing that to him! Isn't he part of your guild?"
Minerva's lips curled into a sinister smile. "This thing? You must have been half-conscious during our conversation earlier." said Minerva, referring to the magically held and floating Lector. "As I said, he just insurance to make Sting do his job perfectly, so that my guild will triumph over all in the games. Proving that we're still number one in all of Fiore." Noticing the confusion in the cat-girl's face, Minerva continued to elaborate. "I've learned that feelings can make a difference in a person. It can either make them weak or make them grow stronger. I've learned that from Natsu Dragneel. I know now that his strength and determination comes from his strong feelings towards his guild, his...friends." She recalled the last few moments of Natsu's battle against Sabertooth's Twin Dragons, Sting and Rogue, where he single-handily defeated both of them. "Sting is the same. When he crippled my father, the strong latent power he used came from his strong bond with his cat-friend over here, whom he thought got killed thanks to my now worthless sire."
Millianna could not believe what she was hearing, coming from this calculating and manipulative woman.
"I promised Sting that if he defeats team Fairy Tail I'll give him back the cat, and him knowing what's at stake I'm sure the emotions boiling within him right now will be the mitigating factor that would give him the strength and means to make short work of Fairy Tail, just like what he did with my father." She then laughed her evilest which got into Millianna's nerves.
"You! You're-you're a monster!"
Minerva stopped laughing but continued to smugly smile at the cat-girl. With a wave of the hand she used to maintain Lector's immobilization he sent him flying to a side, releasing him from her magic. He hits the ground quite hard, rolling once before coming to a prone. He pitifully moans as he painfully tries to move from where he lay.
"You bitch! I'll kill ya! I'll kill you for doing that to-"
A magical force punch to the gut cuts Millianna off, causing her to double over in her bonds and struggle for breath.
"I've wasted enough time with the both of you." Minerva said, as she left Millianna's front side and circled again to the back of the torture posts. "It is time we check on the progress of your dear friends, shall we."
When Millianna finally recovered she notices a large magical visual screen, similar to the lacrima-vision magics provided to the spectators of the Grand Magic Games, before her. It showed her her two closest friends, locked in a fierce battle that could only be described akin to a fight to the death. Millianna could see it in Kagura's eyes. She's hellbent in defeating Erza, she might even try killing her for real. Ever since they've learned of Jellal's participation in the games, and being part of Fairy Tail at that, they've cast doubt in the Erza Scarlet's integrity. Millianna's friend or not, Kagura will do whatever it takes to get the truth out of her. To Millianna's horror that might seem to be case here as she watches the match of the two female fighters. Erza was being beaten in strides by Kagura. Ever armor she summons, every sword or weapon she brings out, gets bested by Mermaid Heel's greatest wizard.
"Erza...Kagura..." Tears begin to trail to the sides of her face, her aching heart going out for the both of them. Even though they have their reasons for fighting each other she wishes for them to be okay.
"That's right." All the hair in Millianna's stood up, as Minerva whispered to her ear from behind. "The reason why they're fighting is because, it is all your fault." The cat-girl tried to pay no heed to the Sabertooth mage's mind games but Minerava continued on her droning. "It is all because you are weak. You got yourself easily captured by me, and they are now fighting each other in order to try to save you."
"Stop messing with me, you witch!"
"You, a joke, a hindrance, a liability to the both of them. Why you even joining the Magic Games is beyond me, with that kind of silly magic yours."
"Stop it! That's not true! I've done my best. I'm asset to the team." Minerva's words were finally drilling to Millianna's mind, affecting her confidence.
"And for that you must be punished!"
The first strike came without warning. Millianna was taken aback when something hard and sharp struck and raked the small of her back, causing extreme shearing pain that she could not muffle a loud scream from her person. She was not even aware when Minerva pulled aside her dark cloak and exposed her back before the whipping.
"That's right, cry. Cry for me, sweet kitty." Minerva held a cat-o-nine tails before her while marveling at her handiwork on the cat-girl's back which showed a half-a-dozen or so parallel screaming red welts, a few already showing signs of bleeding. She then raised again the multi-tailed whip high over her and brought it down with all her might causing a second set of red welts on the cat-girl's lower back, crisscrossing the first set.
Millianna tried to keep from screaming by biting her lip and drawing blood from it, focusing on her own self-inflicted pain than from the one being subjected to her, but torture finally won over her and she screamed all the way to her heart's content due to the futility of her situation.
"...Erza...Kagura...somebody, save me-AHHHH!"
"Yes, cry! Cry for me. Let your intoxicating sweet screams bring me gratification!" Minerva laughed on in enjoyment as she continued torturing the cat-girl. All that Millianna could was twist and writhe and cry in agony in her bonds, while her lower back was becoming a bloody mess no thanks to Minerva's relentless whipping. Lector had finally come to his wits when he witnessed the awful spectacle. Recovering from the initial shock he covered his ears and closed his eyes, and began to tremble and silently cry himself on the spot.
"Please, make this stop." He murmured, praying to some divine intervention to save them, especially Millianna.
Eventually, even with his ears covered, Lector's keen cat hearing ascertained that the sounds of screaming and the wracking of flesh finally came to a stop. Opening his eyes and letting go of his ears, Lector noticed that both women were panting in exhaustion. Millianna slumped in her bonds, not minding her full weight hanging from the chains holding her to the posts. Minerva on the other hand appeared spent, sweat glossing over her fine dark skin, her blood-stained cat-o-nine tails dangling within her hand. A smile of satisfaction was plastered on her perspiring face.
"That...was exhilarating-" Her attention diverted to the magical viewing screen she conjured earlier in order to monitor the progress of Erza and Kagura's fight. It seemed Erza somehow manage to beat Kagura at her own game. When it was though that the red-haired swordswoman would own victory, a freak accident occurred that was meant for Kagura. Erza rushed in and pushed Kagura out of the way of the falling debris that struck and pinned her instead, to the ground.
"Serves you right, Erza Scarlet. Look where your pity for the enemy got yourself into." Minerva continued to watch the scene, but it appeared that Kagura did not take advantage of the situation, and instead demanded an explanation from Erza. The course of their conversation brought about a startling revelation that gave a bitter taste to the Sabertooth mage. "Pathetic, the lot of you!" spat Minerva, getting irate at the touching development on screen. "No matter, this serves as perfect opportunity for my triumphant entrance, to smite two birds with on stone!" She finally turned her attention back on Millianna, who seemed to be on the brink of unconsciousness, her expression softening but reverting back to its evil streak. "It's time my little kitty, you get to be reunited with your..friends shortly, after I give them a piece of mind." She then turns to Lester. "And you, if you know what's best for you, you sit still and do nothing. Understand?" Not waiting for a reply Minerva vanishes, having used her magic to go and confront where her two opponents were.
"This is my chance now" Lector mustered the strength and courage to patter toward where Millianna stood. "Hey, a-are you okay?" he asked upon reaching her. Millianna did not seem to hear, but Lector breath a sigh of relief when he noticed that she was still breathing. "It seems you're still alive. Thank goodness." His heart became heavy however upon seeing the bloody whip marks on her back, causing him to teary up again. "I'm sorry, that the lady did this to you. If-if I were only strong, strong like Sting...then perhaps...perhaps"
"It's okay...It's not fault..." smiled Millianna.
"Huh" Lector was not sure if Millianna was aware, or just delirious due to the damage done to her body, but her response, and that smile she made, to his concern for her alleviated somewhat the burden of self-guilt he was carrying.
"Thank you, Millianna!" he cried, and tightly cling to one of the cat-girl's legs. "Thank you, so-" Lector sensed it and sure enough Millianna's body began to glow and get engulfed with a familiar kind magic. "Shit!" Though Lector. "The lady has come get Millianna already! I have to move, quick!" The red-furred Exceed scampered onto Millianna's back and tried his best to covered himself and hold on tightly to the cat-girl's cloak. "I apologize, Millianna, but I must use you to try to escape. Hopefully this will work, it must!" The glow was getting brighter and more intense that through Lector's eyes the extra-dimensional space they were in was being burned out. "Wait for me, Sting. Lector's coming home!"