Words Spoken, Unwanted
[Writer's note: I just wanted to let people know what I'm trying to do here. In the story of Fallout 4, I felt like as soon as you found Shaun, the whole Family aspect was put to the side. Shaun says hi, introduces himself, then tells you what he needs. I wanted to try and flesh out what I thought should have been said. You never get to see the Sole Survivor dealing with his wife's death. Only a few lines of Dialogue show him struggle with Shaun's revelations, and actions. My first play-through, I went with the institute, not because I thought they were right, but because I was desperate what would happen between the two characters. Since not much did, I'm writing it here. Of course, it also helps that I got fairly good feedback (I've been writing for a while, but this is one of the first things I've ever actually posted) so, thanks for that. Enjoy.]
The halls of the institute were flush with the sounds of war. Shaun couldn't see much, other than the fireworks of miss-shot lasers, but the sounds were more than enough for his taste. He knew exactly what had happened, but deep in his heart, he couldn't help but ask, 'Why?'
His answers were coming. He heard his father's footsteps coming down the hall. Dressed in his armored Vault Suit, a primed musket in his hands, the Sole Survivor of Vault 111, of the Institute, stepped into the room.
"Shaun."
"I didn't expect to see you again. Come to see the reactor, have you? We got it working without you." His father removed his helmet, but said nothing. Shaun's heart couldn't be quiet any longer. "Why? Why are you doing this?"
The Wanderer leaned his musket against Shaun's deathbed, and considered the aged face before him. "You've justified everything you've done. It's all been for the greater good, for the Institute. Except nothing you've done has been to help people, it's been to save humanity." He stopped, shaking his head as he searched for words. "I've been out there, and humanity doesn't want your help."
"That's not for that uneducated, afflicted mass above ground to decide." Shaun couldn't help keep the anger in check, despite the pain it caused him. "They're already doomed, and now, we all are." He'd never felt so frail, or pained.
"It's not for you to decide either, Shaun. You—"
"Oh, spare me," Shaun growled. After everything he'd done for the man, his own father, this is the betrayal of a reward he received. The pain of knowing he would die, and all his friends, his work would die with him, hurt more than anything else had in his long life. And to see that father looking down on him, with those calm, sad, unjudging eyes… It was too much to bear. "Why? Why are you doing this? Am I not the son you've been searching for?"
"No." The words seemed to come easily to the Wanderer, though Shaun couldn't fathom how. "You're not the son I lost, and you're not the son I would have raised. You're the Institute's, and you have been all this time." An explosion rocked the room, but Shaun's heart burned stronger.
"I'm protecting humanity's future!" He flung the words at his father, hoping they would hurt. "We are humanities greatest hope! There's nothing out there but death! How can you not see that?"
"What was her name, Shaun?" asked The Wanderer, and Shaun was incredulous.
"What?" What kind of question was that, and at such a time? "Who?"
"Your mother." His father's eyes would not stop staring at him. "What was your mother's name?"
"Her…" He'd known it once. "My mother's name…" He'd studied the files carefully, but… He understood why it had to happen, he never doubted that, and any wrong doing was never the Institutes fault, it was Kellogg's. "I…"
"The woman who gave birth to you, Shaun." His father's voice was free of all spite, all rage, all accusation. "She died trying to protect you from the institute. I buried her, you know. What was her name?" His father was just looking down at him.
"I…" It didn't make any sense. "I don't know."
"I know." The Wanderer took a deep breath, as if squaring something he had hoped not to be true. "And I know you don't know any of the names of all those people you've stolen. All the brothers, sisters, wives, and children you've murdered or experimented on over the years. They didn't even get to be buried." Shaun looked down, all thought gone, everything but pain and shame, and anger, all burned away by his father's words. "There's no humanity here for you to save."
The fighting continued, or perhaps more horrifically, it was dying down. Shaun's work was all but dead. Anger prevailed. "After everything I did for you. You, my father!" Petulant tears streaked down his dying cheeks. "How could you do this to us? To Humanity? To your own son?"
The Sole Survivor looked down at Shaun, considering with a non-seriousness that sent waves of despair throughout Shaun's being. Was he so beneath his father's eyes? He knew the words that would come, but he couldn't imagine their impact. "You're not my son, Shaun," he said, a sort of grieving on his face, "and you've lost all your humanity."
"Yes," replied Shaun, without even thinking. He was numb, and he was ready to die now. "Yes, I suppose you're right."
Grabbing his Musket, the Sole Survivor glanced out the window, and turned to leave. He had work to do. "Goodbye Shaun."