It seemed the second they reached Alfheim, the natives met them with hostility. Their weapons drawn, they stared down the three demons with spite. Light elves couldn't ever hope to beat demons. What they were thinking, they had no clue. Asher couldn't help but think how ridiculous the whole thing was. He would've just blown them all away but Sixteen had a much more subtle approach.

"Please," He spoke softly yet strongly, "We mean you no harm. We've only come to retrieve someone. Then, we will leave."

"And who exactly would that someone be?" One of the oldest elves spat.

"You're not taking any of us!" An angered mother yelled.

"We do not want any of you. Considering you are not fond of demons, it's a good thing we're here for one. We're looking for a demon named Haven. We've been told he's here somewhere."

Light elves, well, all light creatures in general thought demons to be the most evil of creatures. Even some dark races hated them, not caring what their intentions were. Good or bad, all others saw demons for was their stigma. 

Hesitantly, the leader of the tribe stepped forward through the crowd. Surprisingly, he wasn't as old as you'd think. The grand headdress of beads upon his white hair symbolized his leadership. He gestured out to a mountain in the distance, "You'll find him there. Though I may not be fond of your kind, if you were able to remove him, you would earn my respect. He is the reason our village is suffering, but even the strongest in Alfheim do not hold a candle to him."

"Suffering?" Drake questioned, confused, "We were told he was a pacifist. We would he hurt you intentionally?" 

"I couldn't tell you if it was intentional or not. All I know is he absorbs sunlight in great amounts. So much so, our crops cannot grow. Our children and elders have become ill from a lack of sunlight, and our hunters have nothing left to hunt. The animals and plants can't survive without the sun's warmth."

"Trust me, it's not intentional. It's his curse. The sun in this realm is much smaller than the one on Earth. This one cannot manage to feed him and still have enough energy left over for the rest of the world." Sixteen gazed up at the mountain they'd been directed towards, "I must admit, I'm surprised he'd act so selfishly."

"What else would you expect him to do? Earth is disgusting, most demons aren't allowed in Asgard, and the rest of the realms are don't have sunlight." Asher said. 

Sixteen started to walk, the other two following. "That's very true, but even if Earth is vile, humans deserve to suffer. The elves don't. They've suffered enough."

"What exactly happened here? I was always told this place was thriving." Drake replied.

"To make a long story short, the entire royal bloodline was killed in a fire. No one stepped up to the plate to rule, so they all broke off into small tribes." Asher responded.

"That may be part of the reason why Haven has found comfort here. The tribal lifestyle reminds him of his people." Sixteen stated, "Let us hope that the light elves aren't to suffer like the Native Americans did."

He glanced back at the village they'd just left. From far away, it was easier to see how brown the crops had become. Even the mountain they were to climb was covered in bare trees. It was hard to look at that and imagine, in the small hut on top of the summit, lived a demon that was almost afraid to raise his fist. 

| | |

Beau pulled off his reading glasses a moment, rubbing his tired eyes. He could read plenty of languages but that didn't mean some weren't a struggle. Jasper was already long gone, taking a few of the others with him. No one was really complaining about the sudden change considering he wasn't a thought of fondly among most patients.

"Something wrong?" Felix asked his temporary boss.

He groaned. "After three thousand years you'd think he'd learn to write mostly in English."

"I think he purposely writes everything in ancient text so no one can read it. You know how he is with his privacy issues." He briefly rolled his eyes just thinking about it.

"Yes, I'm painfully aware. While he's off playing the role for his new harlot, I'm stuck doing his grunt work. I can't possibly manage to run this place and tend to my patients at the same time, even with your assistance. The question then becomes, do I trust one of the elves with my patients or make Finch take on that much work?"

"I'd go for the latter, to be honest. Even if it's a little mean to make Finch work that much, Emerson and Remington could use some psychiatric help themselves." 

"Unfortunately, I couldn't agree more." Beau sighed, "I'll go speak with him. Please go get me that damn witch. I'll need her to help me translate this."

"You really want to trust Dusk? With anything?" Felix questioned him. Thankfully, Beau was a lot more lenient about his sass. Jasper would've slapped him by now.

"It's our only option. She's the only one old enough to know how to read ancient Greek. She's easier to work with than you may think. You'll just have to give her a little intensive." He spoke suggestively.

Felix sighed to himself, wondering why he ever decided to take this job. As an aid, he only had to deal with a few patients. His weren't that bad either. But, as the warden's assistant, he has to deal with all the patients, the staff, and the members of the society. The position sounded a lot better when it was first offered to him.

He grabbed his keys and journeyed downstairs. The creek of the Rest Point gate alerted the patients that someone was coming for one of them. It's not like any of them cared. Interaction was great, but they were mostly fine on their own. 

"It's rare I see you down here." Shae spoke as he walked out of one of the rooms.

"Trust me, I don't like to be here... Bad memories and all. Beau needs Dusk's help for something, so I have to drag the witch upstairs. Somehow." He grumbled.

"Good luck with that. She's in a mood today. Her meds should kick in soon, though." He walked down to the next door to continue his rounds for the morning. 

Felix wanted to avoid hearing that confrontation. He knew Shae's most difficult patient was Ripper. Sure, him and Ripper didn't have a close relationship, but that was still his brother. He didn't want to be exposing to the typical fight that goes on between those two. It's not like walking into that witch's mess of a room was much better. 

Her disgustingly thin frame laid sprawled out on her bed. She wasn't wearing much other than an extremely short leather skirt and a crop shirt that barely covered her chest. It seemed she'd been deciding to present herself more like a woman these days. Dusk rolled over on her stomach, leaning over a pillow. 

"Mmm, you always smell good." She mused, "To what do I owe this visit?"

He rolled his eyes, "Save it. The warden needs to see you. He needs your help reading some ancient writing, and he said I can give you something in return if you help."

A smirk played at her lips. "Something? What kind of something?"

"Whatever you'd like, as long as it's within reason." 

"Hmm," She sat up and swung her legs over the side of her bed. Standing up, she replied, "I'll have to think about it. It might depend on how much work I have to do. I'm not cheap, you know."

"Could've fooled me." Felix muttered, eyeing her lack of clothing. He cleared his throat, "Would you mind putting on some more clothes? Even if Beau is more relaxed than Jasper, he's still the boss right now." 

"What? You don't like me like this? Or, is it that your dearest girlfriend would be upset if she knew you were around such a scandalously clad woman?"

He sighed as he turned for the door. "Please, just put on some damn clothes."

Dusk pouted, "Boo. You're no fun, just like all the other blowhards in this place." 

She can say what she wants, it won't bother him. He waited on her to turn back into her proper attire. For a witch, enchanted clothing weaved by their own magic was considered their uniform. He unlocked the door again and allowed her out. Usually she's only allowed out with cuffs on but she's behaved herself recently. 

They both stopped for a moment when they heard screaming from the room beside hers. There was some banging around, most likely a fight between Shae and Ripper. It's never not a fight with them. Dusk hated hearing it as much as Felix, if not more. She turned away and began to walk towards the gate. He quickly followed to catch up with her.