AUTHOR'S NOTE: The song still isn't here because I decided to keep the story alive instead of 'killing' it instantly. This chapter contains only hallucinations of the past. Pardon for all the grammatical errors but I hope you'll understand it somehow. Read---

PART TWO~ EXCESS BAGGAGE

The blue limousine screeched to a halt.

Someone got out and the power windows at the driver's panel opened.

"Ikari-sama, would you like me to go back here at a definite time?"

His trusty driver, Yamamoto-jii-san, asked him with a sweet voice.

"No, thanks, jii-san. I'll be okay out here."

"Please be careful, Ikari-sama. You might hurt yourself."

The old but baby-faced driver replied with a smile.

"I'm not a child anymore, Yamamoto-jii-san. But thanks for caring."

Shinji returned his smirk.

"Well, see you, Ikari-sama. Goodbye."

They parted and sooner, the limo drove away.

Shinji smiled and thought, "If only Yamamoto-jii-san is like my father."

After that, Shinji turned to his back.

He's right. He's there; he's already there.

He's back to his father.

He walked slowly and familiarized himself with the place once again.

"After about six years, I am back in this place---" Shinji chuckled short.

"I am such a very bad son to neglect him. Now I don't know even where his grave was located!"

He looked around. Summer breeze lightly passed him by.

"Well, he'd been such a very bad father to me then---"

He stooped, walked slowly and recalled the past.

"My childish pride---"

"Good job." Mr. Gendo Ikari praised.

"The time he praised me after defeating an Angel."

Shinji beamed coyly.

"The first time he appreciated me, all the work I've done. And that's the only good memory he left me."

"The DUMMY PLUG SYSTEM. He forced me to kill Touji, my best friend-"

"NNOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Shinji felt helpless as he watched his Evangelion kill its enemy, another Evangelion, against his will. On the other hand, his father watched silently as he looked at the sadistic and brutal beating, as if enjoying it.

"WHY DID YOU LET ME BEAT THAT EVA AGAINST MY WILL?"

Shinji shook within his handcuffs.

"Because it's simply what you're here to do."

"But---," He balled his fists. "Touji is my best friend. You didn't care for the person still inside the EVA--- HE'S MY FRIEND!"

"The EVA wasn't on his mind and on the pilot's control. So you need to defeat the EVA for it to back to its own self."

The commander replied coldly. Then, all Shinji saw was he's already being dragged away from him, to his father.

"You only cared on your work even you're already hurting someone else. You have NO HEART. YOU ARE AS HARD AS STEEL. AND FOR THAT I SWEAR--- I HATE YOU, FATHER!"

"Why, why, why, why, why?!?"

Tears streamed down his fear-stricken face.

His voice 15 years ago still echoes inside his mind.

His voice was hurt and raspy because of continuous shouting.

His voice of mixed emotions of fear, anxiety, pain, regret and the most evident among them all-

ANGER

It's been always the same feeling that he felt over and over again.

It's already seeded deep inside his heart, poisoning his thoughts.

Those were the times of the Evangelion, year 2015.

But now, there are no more EVAs.

There's no more oppressing Gendo Ikari.

And also, no more NERV.

They've gone their ways.

Asuka went back to Germany to start a new life, and most probably, a husband.

Miss Misato Katsuragi is already Mrs. Ryouji and is now living peacefully at Matsusherio.

Rei, upon knowing Gendo's death, became like a monarch butterfly.

She flew away, migrated, but never to return.

Ritsuko--- well, not much news was known about her.

Keel Lorenz died three years before Gendo did.

How about the crew? They started new lives already.

Seems like all of them already forgot the past and are living like normal people now.

But me--- not yet.

Cause I am STILL haunted by the past.

Or is it: I AM still haunting the past?

Yes that's it!

I AM STILL HAUNTING THE PAST BECAUSE IT WAS LEFT OPEN-ENDED.

I need to resolve my issue with my dad,

And that's the reason why I am here.

Because there's something I didn't tell him.

And I need to tell it to him right now.

I held my chest, my lungs are somehow being suppressed.

I looked out there and I saw it.

I stopped at a grave whose name can't already be seen clearly and moss was already around it.

Untrimmed and unkempt.

I gently shoved the grass away and cleaned the moss.

The name read:

"The retired NERV commander Gendo Ikari."

He's my father.

I stood still in front of the grave.

The breeze now became a threatening wind, signaling a possible downpour.

I still stood straight, thinking how to start---


~NOTE: -JII-SAN MEANS 'GRANDFATHER' IN JAPANESE AND -SAMA MEANS 'MASTER'. THANKS TO ELINOR FOR THE INFO! IT WAS TRULY APPRECIATED.~

IS THIS CHAPTER OKAY? GIVE ME COMMENTS BUT PLEASE NO FLAMES. I AM NOT YET READY TO RECEIVE THOSE STUFF. PLEASE BE GENTLE ON ME; I'M JUST A BEGINNER. PLEASE REVIEW FOR NOW. THANK YOU AND GOOD DAY.