𓆞𓆝 𓆟

in essence tua does pass first. she lives a very long time due to her time spent in cryogenic storage, but after a brief bout of pneumonia one winter she passes away in her sleep and nick enters spring alone. by this point mira is in her early twenties and working in new vegas (as she, like her mother, insisted on leaving home as soon as possible) where things have taken a turn politically. after nick delivers the news that tua has passed away, mira asks for help getting back home. he ends up traveling across the US to get her. there is a mutual understanding that nick does not plan to live very long, as he doesn’t want to wait to lose his memory entirely.

on that note, nick in his old age is very afraid and forgetful. after burying tua (beside her sister, at kingsport) he is very reluctant to leave the house at all. especially toward the end he becomes a little more religious in the sense that he believes people go somewhere when they die, but he can’t reconcile that with the fact that he’s a machine and he might not go where his loved ones go when he dies. it’s a heavy thing for him to process and the journey to bring mira home helps him do that.