The Institute Ending:
I've lost Shaun all over again.
I close my eyes, I see my life before all of this. Before the bombs. Everything can change in an instant, and the future you plan for yourself shifts - whether or not you're ready. At some point, it happens to all of us.
This wasn't the world I wanted; but it was the one I found myself in. The Commonwealth, my home. Ripped apart, and put back together.
The world I knew had become a hellish quagmire. Food became a scarcity. Danger became an abundance. An early death became an expectation. And in its state of weakness and disorder, a thousand vultures had come to prey on the carcass of human civilization.
In The Institute was the Commonwealth's last vestige of safety and security, a haven where science and progress could thrive, where humanity could continue as it had, away from the horrors devouring the world above. Tucked away, underground. Just like I had been.
But this safety, this isolation, had become their own worst enemy. Ignorance and isolation spurred distrust and hatred; Both above ground, and below. And they became misunderstood, insulated from the world they once sought to uplift.
I see now why Father...why Shaun, picked me to lead these people. I have been to the surface. I understand their fears, their plights, their suspicions, their prejudices, and their grievances. I understand how they saw The Institute. How I had seen The Institute.
Now, The Institute is stronger. We have an opportunity to start again. To bring ourselves back into the limelight. To operate openly. To make amends to broken bridges, to heal old wounds...and most of all, to assert the right to our own existence.
And I am to lead them through all of this.
That is, if I can...
I thought I...I hoped I could find my family. Cheat time. Make us whole again. The way we were. But now, I know. I know I can't go back. I know the world has changed. The road ahead will be hard. This time, I'm ready. Because I know, war...war never changes.