Kidnapping

My ears were ringing with sound. I was lying on something cold and wet, but it felt nice. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt cumbersome. Slowly, my senses started returning to me, and the noise in my ears cleared up. 

"Alex, I swear to god that if you don't answer me,"

Sasha? Suddenly, everything that had happened came flooding into my head. I mustered all the strength I could to sit up. I put my hand to my ear to reply to Sasha.

"I-I'm sorry, I might have overdone it a little."

"Are you okay?! What happened? It's been half an hour!"

"I used two pretty intense spells against the cyborg in quick succession. After killing him, I think I passed out. I remember severing his head and then waking up face down in the snow I created."

"Are you able to get back to the college? We need to discuss our next move."

I took a second before deciding I had enough magic to teleport. I looked around to ensure I had my swords and teleported to Sasha. I stumbled afterward, and she caught me. 

"Goddamn it, Alex, be careful." Even though she was scolding me, she held me in a tight embrace and didn't let go for over a minute. She shared some of her magic with me, and my head cleared.

"I'm sorry, I have never hit my limit before. I guess fighting that many powerful enemies in a row will do that to you."

Sasha pulls away from the hug and looks me deep into my eyes. "Just don't scare me like that; Al assured me you were alive, but still." She looks away shyly with deep red cheeks. Even though we have lived together for a while now, it is primarily an act. We haven't made any move on each other yet. I could take on a giant cyborg and a murderous catwoman, but telling Sasha how I felt was a different kind of danger, even if I thought she felt similar.

"So what now? Do we still have time to prevent Miranda and Shawn from meeting?"

"Master Healer, I conclude that even if you prevent the meeting, Iona's danger to the timeline is too great for the Preservers to ignore. If you do not wish to kill her, only by taking her away from the timeline could you stop the Preservers' pursuit."

Sasha looks at me, puzzled. "How do we do that?"

I take a deep breath before answering. "By bringing her to the pocket dimension."

"You can't be serious."

"Remember when we used to talk about a perfect world, one where people didn't have to struggle to survive with leaders who cared about more than just themselves? We could create that together. Iona would just be the first of many."

"Alex, we were just dumb kids back then."

"You're right. Now, we have the power and opportunity to make our dreams come true."

Sasha turns away and looks into the night sky, "A place safe from the Preservers."

I walk next to her and take her hand, "Exactly."

She looks at me and sighs, "Okay, but how do we convince her to come with us? We can't approach her like a couple looking for a college girl as a third wheel."

"No, you're right. We will need to kidnap her and let Al explain the situation."

Sasha's face doesn't change as she stares unblinking. "You're insane."

"Do you have a better idea?"

Sasha lets go of my hand and sighs deeply while rubbing her temples. She finally lowers her head and lifts it to look back at the stars. "I didn't have 'Kidnap a College Student' on my bingo card, but here we are."

Sasha and I descend the staircase from the roof to the living areas. We conceal our presence and carefully avoid the students in the hallway as we make our way to our destination. We finally reach Iona's room. Using my ability to pass through solid objects, I enter the room. Iona was sitting at a desk alone, reading a textbook and taking notes. I wasn't sure if she had a roommate or if they would be back soon, so I put a little magic on her before teleporting all three of us in front of a portal to Al on the roof. 

"What the—where am I? Who are you?" Iona tries to back away, tripping over her own feet and falling backward. 

Sasha speaks up first in a gentle voice. "It's okay; I know you have no reason to believe us, but we are actually protecting you."

Iona scoffs and tries to get back up. She looks around and sees that she's on the roof of the building. She looks past Sasha and me to the portal waiting for us. "How did I get up here?"

This time, it was my turn. "Magic."

Iona looks at me blankly. Sasha sighs and rolls her eyes. "That isn't an excellent explanation, even if it is correct."

I step closer and reach out my hand to help Iona help. She hesitates. "I know it is a lot to take in, but we will try to explain everything. Your life was in danger even though you knew nothing about it. To keep you safe, we must step through that portal." 

"How do I know you won't kill me after?"

"You don't. You'll just have to trust that we want you alive."

I could see a million questions running through Iona's head. Sasha comes in with her own comforting words. "I promise that everything will be explained soon, and if you don't wish to have our protection, we will bring you back."

It pained me to hear, but she was right. We couldn't hold people against their will in our new base. If someone listened to what we had to say but still wished to return to their world, we would let them, even if we knew that the Preservers would destroy it shortly after. 

After a few seconds of thinking, Iona grabbed my still outstretched hand. I helped her up and led her to the portal. I stepped in first, Iona followed, and then Sasha. Sasha had given me a quick rundown on positioning the portal in an exact location, so we walked out directly in front of Al this time.

"Master Healer and Mistress Sasha, I am glad you have returned. This must be Iona."

Iona looked around the white void, with a small living space and a large computer as the only blemishes. She finally stopped spinning around and looked at us with curiosity instead of fear. "Who exactly are you guys?"

"I am Healer of Worlds. This is my uh- partner? Sasha, this is Al, a computer designed to locate people like you, people being hunted by the Preservers."

Sasha looked slightly upset by my description of her, but I wasn't sure what else to say.

"Healer... of... Worlds? And Preservers?"

"Allow me, Miss Iona." Al began explaining timelines, the Preserver's goal of maintaining them, and our mission to save timelines instead of destroying them. He said that Iona was important to the timeline, and due to an outside source (he didn't explain who caused the change), she was now a target of the Preservers.

Iona took a deep breath. "So, how can I help?"