Chapter 19: Bait!

Emory and Athena had already began to make their way towards Athena's parent's home to see the collection they had talked about previously, in doing so Emory had completed the first step of his plan and now onto the next part; Getting Athena to agree to accompany him to the park, so he could complete the task entrusted to him by Michael. It should be easy right? Afterall he just had to ask.

"Hey Athena, you don't mind if we stop by the park before going to your house right?" Emory asked as he turned his head slightly towards Athena who had not said a word since they left Rose's diner.

"Heh? Really? I don't mind, but why the sudden detour" she said puzzled. Why would Emory, who she had to pay just to eat and talk with her suddenly suggest going to the park. "Maybe he finally realized the charm of having me around him" Athena thought to herself, feeling a sense of pride and satisfaction

"Well…it's a beautiful day is it not, it would be bad to waste it by staying indoors" Emory replied plainly.

"Really? I guess it is. Let's do it then" Athena said, looking up at the sky

In the isolated city of Noju, there wasn't much to be done whenever the weekend came knocking, students who were temporarily free from their academic responsibilities hang around the arcade or young lovers on dates find a restaurant or diner to eat at while they brew up their relationship over small talk, and then there was Emory who usually spent his weekend working his Part-time job at Ignacio's but that was not the case anymore.

Instead he was out in the open, a beautiful girl by his side on his way to the famous 'Joy Park', the park was a place where people of all age from all over the city would come to relax, it was a recreational park as well as an amusement park, the sheer size of the park alone was enough to make it an attraction to the public. It was one of the two main reasons as to why people bother to come to a boring and isolated island like Nojus, the second was the school.

Emory and Athena were walking towards the entrance of the park, and were welcomed by the huge sign atop the gate which said "Welcome to Joy Park. Joy to the world", the 'Joy Park' was made bolder, bigger and in a different font from all the other words.

"Hey Carson!" A familiar voice shouted his name, calling it out to him from afar. Emory and Athena simultaneously turned around to see who called out to him. It was Liam, he was running towards the pair holding two bags, likely souvenirs from the park which meant he was just about leaving.

"Liam, what's up?" Emory said as he shook hands with Liam

"Nothing really, was just leaving the park. I didn't take you to be the type to enjoy walking in the park or even amusement rides, I'm suprised…and impressed" Liam said as he spotted Athena beside Emory "So I'm guessing I was right then, seeing as you're going on dates already" Liam continued, he had pieced one and two together and figured Athena was the girl Emory had been telling him about

"Shhh…it's not even like that and it's not a date" Emory said quietly, leaning closer towards Liam

"If it's not a date, then what is it then? Just two young teenagers of opposite sex going to the park for no reason? She even dressed nicely" Liam asked, his eyebrow raised in doubt at Emory's statement

Emory looked back at Athena, just now noticing her outfit, she was wearing a floral dress that stopped just above her knees and a crotcheted jacket over it, with some sneakers to complete it and her hair looked well done and was laid free and made to fall back, contrary to her usual braided pigtail that she wore to school "It's not a date, it's just…a hangout" he said

"Yeah…right. Whatever helps you sleep at night dude. But she looks awfully familiar though, I've seen her somewhere, i can't put my finger on it" Liam said as he rested his index finger on his chin.

"Whatever dude I'm busy, so see you later" Emory said, returning back to Athena's side

"Enjoy your date! " Liam said loudly as Emory and Athena walked away

"Date?" Athena said unconsciously

"Don't pay him any mind, he's just fooling around" Emory said

"Date? Was it really a date? Come to think of it, they were both in a park out in daylight and have been together for most of the day…it was really a date!". These were the thoughts roamed around Athena's mind, and slowly a slight blush washed over her face.

"Athena, I need to quickly take care of something and I'll be right back" Emory said after they had walked to a food stand.

"Um…Alright, I'll get us tickets for a roller coaster ride before you get back" she said with a little smile.

Emory had now completed stage three of his plan and was about to move on to stage four; completed his mission. So far so good, everything was going according to plan, the time read 11:57 a.m, now he just needed to wait a while for the fallen to show up and then he'd finish them up and be on his way.

And sure enough, after a few seconds Emory sensed a strange presence, and then another and another and another. Altogether there were four fallen and lucky for him they were close to him, it would have been troublesome for him to have to search.

Emory followed his sense and began tracing the fallen but unfortunately for him, the fallen were in a crowded place but no one seemed to notice them or pay them mind, the carried on their day like they couldn't see the fallen and perhaps they could not. They were at the bottom of a ferris wheel tearing at the bolts and nuts that fastened the huge wheel to the ground.

"And it was going so well…" Emory sighed as he approached the ferris wheel. Emory began brainstorming a way to deal with the fallen without putting the people around him in harms way.

"I have to lead them away somehow, but how?" Emory muttered to himself, and then an idea came to mind. Emory began to circulate his aether, but instead of keeping it flowing inside his body, he focused on releasing it.

Emory had not done this before or even theorized it, it was something he came up with at that moment as Emory began releasing his aether outwards, the aether in his body surged out like an erupting volcano, causing all the fallen to look in his direction suddenly. He was going to use himself as bait!

The fallen angels came charging at him, yes his plan had worked! Now all he had to do was lead them away from the crowd. Emory ran towards an empty love tunnel that appeeared to be under construction and the fallen followed closely behind him, they had no mouth but if they did, Emory imagine them to be watering with saliva and anticipation, akin to a dog chasing after meat.

After running a reasonable distance into the tunnel, Emory stopped abruptly and so did his pursuers too.

"This should do" Emory said as he suddenly covered the distance between him and the fallen closest to him, landing a uppercut imbued with concentrated aether with all his might as soon as he got within striking range, he didn't feel any resistance as his punch connected with the chin of the fallen, he had put so much force behind the attack that he sent his opponent flying straight into the ceiling, giving the remaining two fallen no chance to recover he continued his assault by picking up a metal rod and launching it at them still at full strength, one of the fallen reacted in time but the other was not so lucky as the metal rod penetrated it's head and causing it to instantly die.

The last of the fallen began it's attack on Emory, swinging it's clawed fist around hoping to catch Emory in it, Emory imbued his fists with aether and caught the hands of the fallen mid swing, a sinister grin appeared on his face as he snapped the fallen's handing the opposite direction of its natural joint, he dealt the finishing blow by driving a metal rod into it's head.

Boom!

The first fallen returned as it fell from above, Emory sighed as he picked up another metal rod and launched at the fallen, it tried to grab Emory but he swiftly slid between it's legs, and climbed on it's back in one fluid motion, and with a violent arc he brought down the metal rod directly into the neck of the fallen causing it to shriek, making an unnatural sound that was not meant for human ears, but Emory was no mere human anymore, he drove the rod deeper and twisted it violently causing the fallen flail around around and fall with a loud thud.

"That's done then, hope I didn't get any blood on me this time I still have a date..I mean meeting to get to" Emory said to himself as his inspected his clothes

"Now to get back to Athena and get pai- wait, weren't there four of those bastards at the ferris wheel?" Emory said in realisation "One, two, three? Just three?…I missed one damn it!"