A strange buzzing slowly brought Peri into consciousness. Her arms were incredibly sore, but when she tried to lower them she discovered she could not move. Finally, her vision focused, and she took in her surroundings. The buzzing seemed to be coming from a blue glow that connected her arms and legs to an upright metal ring. Her wings had been bound to her body by a hard substance she couldn't name.
"Where am I?" she whispered, looking into the darkness beyond her cage.
"Welcome to Syndrome's torture chamber!" Syndrome exclaimed enthusiastically, walking from a desk with blinking lights to come closer. "Here you can experience near-drowning, electric shocks, total isolation, starvation, general uncomfortableness, and more!"
Peri struggled to break free. "Where are the others?" she asked, trying to be ferocious.
Deep in the darkness, two yellow eyes laughed cruelly. "We left them on the plains of Kansas," Pitch said, gliding forward. "Jack and Elsa were unconscious, and Frozone chose to stay with them. They abandoned you."
"That's not true," Peri said. "There has to be an explanation."
"An explanation, or a pathetic excuse?" Syndrome asked, sounding truly puzzled. Then he shrugged. "Huh. You got me there. Anyway, let's get started on these experiments."
Peri's whole body tensed. "What sort of experiments?"
"The ones where we find out what we can use you for!" Syndrome said excitedly.
He had moved back to the desk. After examining them for a moment, he pulled a lever and watched eagerly. A sharp, electric pulse surged through her. Peri screamed as her whole body convulsed. A few terrible seconds later, it was over. Gasping for air and eyes wide with fright, she stared at Syndrome, waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, look at those readings! They're off the charts! Tell me, what makes you "magic?" Is it some kind of special substance? There has to be some kind of scientific explanation."
"He's magic," Peri said weakly, glancing at the cat-like eyes staring at her from the corner. "Why can't he tell you?"
"Because I don't know," Pitch said truthfully. "And I'm hoping you can provide the answers I so desperately need to win this bitter war with the Guardians."
"Thanks for giving me a reason not to reply," Peri said.
Angered, Syndrome pushed a different button. It produced the same pain and reaction as before but gave different results. This time, he had found what he was looking for.
"Ooh, what are all those blue dots of your skin?" he asked.
Peri looked down and gasped. Somehow, the pixie dust that had been absorbed into her body and was sprinkled on her skin had become visible. Her entire body was glowing with billions of tiny dots, from her delicate feet to her shimmering hair. Even the hard white case which surrounded her torso and trapped her wings was shining from the underlying pixie dust.
Syndrome ran forward and ran a hand along her arm. A few pieces stuck to his glove and he fingered them gently. Delighted, Pitch did the same.
"Fairy dust," he proclaimed. He saw Peri close her eyes in despair. "I'm right, aren't I?"
"Technically, we call it Pixie Dust," she said quietly.
"I wonder what would happen if we took it out of her," Syndrome said eagerly, rubbing his hands together. He ran back to the desk and began pressing buttons.
"No!" she cried, desperate. "You'll kill me!"
Nothing was happening...yet. But she knew he was planning something when he pulled two other big metal objects forward.
"Then talk," Pitch said. "Tell us where your friends are hiding and what your plan is."
"If you wanted my friends, you should have taken them on the plains when you took me."
Pitch sent forth tendrils of dreams and towards her and created a second prison around the fairy. Suddenly, Peri was blind. She could not see or hear anything, even when she tried to look down for her glowing body and tried yelling for help. Nothing. Not only that, she had lost all feeling in her outstretched arms. The only sense she could sense was fear. Pure, uncontrollable terror. As she spiraled into a full blown panic attack, one sound came creeping in. It was unmistakably Pitch's cruel, evil laughter. This did not help the situation.
Finally, the sand receded back into Pitch's smirking form.
"Now those readings, those were way off the charts," Syndrome said. "I'm going to have to build new charts, just for you! What do you say to that, fairy?"
Peri was still trying to catch her breath from the last attack. Her whole body shuddered as she struggled not to cry. Smoothly, Pitch glided right up to face.
"Answer me," he growled in a menacing tone.
"We don't have our own headquarters, and we don't have a plan," Peri said. "We're nothing special!"
Pitch clucked his tongue pityingly. "Take it up to the next level," he said to Syndrome.
Syndrome nodded and began to fit the other two pieces of metal to Peri's ring.
"I'm not lying!" she insisted. "That's the truth!"
"No," Pitch said sadly. "It's what you thought was the truth."
"We were going to take your dust anyway," Syndrome said roughly as he slid the last piece into place.
Now, Peri was enclosed in a metal ball, with large black tubes connecting it to a jar outside. A moment later, it felt as if the air itself was being sucked out of the cell as the vacuums were turned on. Peri screamed as the wind whipped around her at an astonishing rate, taking the dust away from her.
It took ten minutes and three sessions to extract all of it. The third time, Syndrome inserted tiny tubes into her blood stream and used a mixture of his science and Pitch's magic to get every last speck. By the time they were finished and had placed Peri back in her original prison, she was utterly drained and devoid of magic. Her skin had turned from pale white to ashen gray, and without the suspension holding her up, she would have collapsed.
"Thank you for your cooperation," Syndrome said in false kindness. "Can you imagine the impact your contribution will have on science, weapons, and humanity in general?"
Unable to speak, Peri summoned the last of her energy and spat at his feet. She didn't even see his hand coming, and Pitch wasn't even sure what came first: Syndrome's slap or Peri's faint.
Syndrome was gone when Peri came to, but his partner was lounging comfortably, almost casually, on a nearby chair.
"Good morning," he said innocently.
"Where's the other guy?"
"Syndrome? He's gone off to his lab to have your dust and data analyzed." Pitch frowned irritably. "He does not understand that magic cannot be simply explained. He keeps insisting that magic is just science he doesn't understand yet." Peri looked at him strangely. "I'm sure you are wondering how our strange alliance came to be."
"Actually, yes."
"As annoyingly childish and stubborn as he is, we needed each other. I used to reign supreme, hundreds of years ago in the Dark Ages. Then the Moon picked the Guardians-North, Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny-to defeat me and chase fear out of the world. For years, I lay dormant, unable to regain my former power, until I met Syndrome. His technology was able to help gain the enormous energy needed to surprise the Guardians, including helping me create the Nightmare sand. Unfortunately, thanks to Jack, I didn't last long. But thanks to Syndrome, neither has my defeat."
"Ok," Peri said, thinking quickly. Maybe she could trick him into revealing part of his plan. "But why does Syndrome need you? Why are you hanging around?"
Pitch grimaced. "As much as it pains me, I am still in his debt. He has helped me twice, I saved him from death only once."
"Frozone said he thought Syndrome was dead," Peri remembered.
"After escaping a battle, his cape caught in a turbine and nearly killed him," Pitch confirmed. "I was able to use my magic and transport him back to the island while blowing up the ship. Everyone was convinced that he was dead."
"What stopped you from defeating us in Kansas?" Peri asked suddenly, hoping to catch Pitch off guard.
Instead, he only looked mildly amused. "I had what I wanted," he answered simply. "I defeated your group, and I had captured you."
"But you didn't defeat us. The others are still out there, and they're coming for me," Peri said. "Shouldn't you be scared of us?"
Pitch genuinely laughed. "Me? Fear you lot? That…that is really good. Why should I be afraid of you?" He walked over and leaned into her face. "I have defeated you once, and now I'm destroying you little by little, bit…by…bit. And to think, you thought you could guess what was going on in my mind." He looked at her almost hungrily. "So innocent… Well. I'll soon fix that."
Refusing to be frightened, she glared at him. "Jack, Elsa, and Frozone are still coming, and they'll be mad!"
Again, he looked at her in a mixture of pity and confusion. "You trust them so much. But why would they come after you? Elsa is almost too afraid to move, Jack is used to being a loner, and Frozone didn't even believe you existed. And, honestly, it's not like they need you. You're the weak link. The real question is, why are you still hanging around?"
Suddenly, the doors slid open, letting in a blast of sharp light. Syndrome's silhouette stood in the doorway triumphantly. Blinking in the light, Peri didn't even see him, she was so shaken.
"I don't think Peri likes it in here," he declared. Pitch rolled his eyes and glanced back at him. "It's too dark and dingy. Let's move her outside."
"No!" Pitch yelled. "I can put up with your other unpredictable moves, but not this. Sunlight brings hope, which we cannot give her."
"Hear me out, hear me out!" Syndrome said, holding up his hands in a placating manner. "She has no magic, and her wings won't work with the brace on." He began giggling hysterically. "She'll be helpless to the locals."
Sighing, Pitch looked back at Peri's weak form, thinking.
"That could work," he said after a moment. "Throw her out."
Syndrome raced over to the desk and released Peri. She fell to the floor with a cry; her arms and legs had fallen asleep and would not support her. Pitch snapped, and a net of Nightmare sand surrounded her. Again, she felt the world fade around her into a restless slumber.
When she woke, she was alone in a wild, overgrown jungle. There were a few big, colorful flowers, but mostly there were thorny bushes and weedy undergrowth. Through the thick canopy of leaves, she could see a massive volcano against a clear blue sky. Peri spotted a bush with large, broad leaves, and slowly crawled under its shelter. In vain, she tried to tear off the restricting brace that her captors had left on her. But the material was too smooth, and if there was a secret to its release, she could not find it. Even if she still had her pixie dust, Peri would have been unable to fly, and now she wouldn't be able to run very quickly either since the brace extended to her upper legs.
Silent tears streamed down her cheeks as her entire situation hit her in a rush. She was stranded in a wide jungle with no means of defense, and with no hope of rescue. Pitch's words had hit hard.
He's right. Why would they come for me?
The tears turned into violent sobs that heaved through her body.
I wish Tinkerbell was here, Periwinkle thought desperately. If only I knew the magic that brought me here, I could bring her to me.
Suddenly there was a loud roar and sounds of a wild animal fight from somewhere nearby. Peri's breath caught in her throat and she tried to silence her grief.
And Fawn, she added.