Chapter Text
"You're such an asshole, Rick!"
Morty yelled as he walked out the garage, he had tried to keep in his tears or atleast to the best of his abilities, which didn’t really work as his tears starting fall down his face when he ran up the stairs. He made it to his bedroom, slamming the door and sat on the floor of his bedroom, leaning his back against it as he hid his head inside his arms and hunched up legs.
He was so over Rick, why did he even put up with him in the first place? Morty knows why: because he had nobody else. What was the point, nobody would care if he was gone, he seriously doubted anybody would actually notice. Maybe Rick would since he wouldn’t have somebody to talk down to all the time, or maybe even Summer since she would feel far too peaceful at home. Morty’s thoughts jumbled together, his breathes were short and quick, he felt like throwing up.
Morty’s legs wobbled as he got up, he reached under his bed. An old shoebox was hidden under there, Morty quieted his breathing as he opened the box with shaky hands.
Old medication that he’d stolen from Summer? Beth? Rick? Morty honestly couldn’t remember. He remembers it being there, he started it so long ago when he first wanted to, well, kill himself, he supposes. He couldn’t remember exactly when he started the box, but it’d always been there. And as sick as it is, Morty found comfort in it. A reassurance that he’d always have a backup plan.
Morty grabbed an old, half drunken water bottle that he’d placed on his night stand a while ago. He didn’t open the medicine bottles yet, he stared at his room, taking in everything. The muted, peeling paint (Beth always promised Morty that they’d finally redo his room’s paint job. They never fulfilled that promise. They never do.), the crooked posters that Morty had hung up himself, and his shelf full of trinkets and toys he’d grown out of. Morty thought again about what Rick said to him. Morty twisted the caps off the medicine bottles and gulped them down by the handful, when a lump in throat formed, he used the water. He felt like he’d done this so many times before.
After a few handfuls, almost 3 of the bottles were empty. Morty felt nauseous, he tried standing up but the world spun around him and he ended up falling on the floor yet again. Morty stared up at the ceiling, he chose this. No going back now.
— ⟡ —
Rick Prime watched closely as his Morty drifted out of consciousness through the large blue projection screen. He sighed, got up, and headed into an elevator, pressing the very last floor button. He flipped the light switch on when he exited the elevator, the overhead lights flickering on, revealing a line of Morty clones. Not any Morty clones though, he made sure they were clones of his Morty—Morty Prime.
One of the test tubes were illuminated, showing which clone would be awake soon. Rick Prime made his way over to it and sat in a swirly chair while he waited for the consciousness to transfer.
Rick Prime counted with his hand, 3, 2, 1—
The tube unlatched, allowing the liquid to drain, and the Morty inside to awaken.
The Morty fell onto the floor and coughed, “Oh jee-jeez, oh god, am I dead? Is this hell?” He wheezed out, looking around at his surroundings. “Is Rick really the doorman to hell?”
Rick Prime smiled, “Original Grandson!” He yelled, swinging his chair to go near the Morty who was laid across the floor. “Ha, Hell, that one gets funnier every time.”
Morty’s rubbed his eyes as they were still adjusting to everything, “Are you.. The Ri-Rick who my Rick was—er—is trying to kill?” He'd recognized the different hair and jacket he'd seen so many times before, mainly through screens though. But no way this was the real thing, right? It must be a clone... or a robot.
“‘My Rick’ Don’t flatter him, Morty. I'm your Rick.” Rick Prime rolled his eyes, he couldn’t blame Morty though, he was absent for all his life, it was only a matter of time before another Rick came and took his place, it was expected even.
“—But to answer your question, yes. That’s not important though! We’re here to focus on you.” Rick Prime smiled, his voice too cheerful. Morty couldn’t believe that a voice that cheerful and sweet could even come out of a Rick.
“I-I thought I tried… You know…” Morty’s voice quieted as he remembered of what happened surely only a few minutes ago.
“Killing yourself? Yeah, that did happen.” Rick Prime’s smile never faltered, it seriously creeped Morty out. “Well, as it turns out, you are the only family member, hell, person left from my dimension. You guys really did a number on that world, didn’t cha?”
Morty swallowed the lump in his throat, he still could remember the feeling of pills in it.
“You’re basically the only thing I have left, Morty. You know that?” Rick Prime continued, “And I’d be a really shitty grandpa if I let my grandson kill himself, right?” He laughed.
“You’d be a really shit-shitty grandpa if you left your family behind and wiped your wife out of every dimension…” Morty retorted back, narrowing his eyes at the Rick in front of him.
“Can’t argue with that,” Rick Prime shrugs. “But atleast let me do this. Killing yourself is never the solution, take it from me!”
“Oh-okay…” Morty finally stood up, and looked around. “Do you, uhm, mind explaining everything, please?”
“Hmm? Oh yes, well, you tried killing yourself—“ Morty stared down at his feet, strangely enough he was fully clothed, which was different from his Rick’s clones. “—And you’re wondering how you’re still alive. I, being the ever so great grandpa I am, don’t want you to not be alive. So I made this very elaborate reincarnation clone relay-race for you.” Morty’s face showed his confusion.
“So—like—the thing Rick has? Wait, if I died, why aren’t I in like, one of Rick’s clones?” Morty asked.
“If you unwillingly died, you would be in one of his clones. But you didn’t. You chose to die, you forced yourself to die. I override that Rick’s system a long time ago to transfer your consciousness to one of my clones of you when you decide you, you know," Rick Prime makes a slit gesture to his neck. "And being the great genius I am, I figured out how to make the clones have clothes at default.”
“Oh, oh jeez… Uhm, circling back… you said that the hell thing gets ‘funnier everytime’…? Also are you, like, real? A clone? A robot?” Morty picked at his skin, eyes staring dead ahead at the Rick infront of him, he didn’t act like Rick, or really look like Rick.. Well he did look like Rick but.. also not like him at the same time? This is the first time Morty has seen Rick Prime in person, only having heard about him through his own Rick, and screens.
“Yeah, you’ve tried to kill yourself a lot, Morty. No biggie, we’ve all been there, haven’t we? It’s just most people don’t get a second chance. Everytime you tried, you come here. I greet you, have this exact same conversation, and give you the big choice!” Rick Prime’s smile ever so slightly faltered, Morty noted.
Morty tried not to think too much about how he's tried to kill himself a lot, according to Rick Prime. He knew his true, original body was probably long gone, recounting on all the times Rick has had to clone him or revive him…
"And, no, I am not a clone or a robot! It really is me, Morty. Your true, original grandpa, in the flesh and soul!" Rick Prime's voice ringed through Morty's ears.
“Anyways, you can either stay here, or go back home. If you choose to go home, naturally you will forget all this happened and if your family sees your dead body, their memories will also be erased. Like a big reset!” Rick Prime laughed, he wheeled his chair closer to Morty, to where he was in arms length of him.
“So what will it be, grandson?”
Morty gulped, thinking over his options.. Did he really want to go back? Would anything change? Would he just repeat the cycle forever?
“Can I ask one more thing?”
Prime smiled with his eyes closed, “Shoot at me, little dude.”
“Why do you let me choose? If you know I’ll just kill myself again.. Why do you still let me go back?”
“That’s a lot more than one thing.” Rick Prime booped Morty’s nose. “It’s because of you, Morty. So what’ll it be?”
That didn’t answer Morty’s question, but maybe it was his own fault for thinking Rick Prime would actually answer something like that. Morty thinks over why he did what he did, all the shitty things Rick, his family, had done. And maybe Rick Prime didn’t seem so bad. He clearly cared enough to not want Morty to kill himself. Morty supposes that’s more than his Rick would ever care about him.
“I’ll stay.”
Rick Prime smiled, almost like he'd expected Morty to answer like this. He clapped, standing up from his chair, and grabbed Morty's hand.
"Well, let's get a move on then!"
"Hey wait—!" Morty yelled as he ran behind Rick Prime. Rick Prime's grip was a lot less harsh than the one his usual Rick has…
They made it to the elevator when Morty decided to speak up again.
"Is this.. Where you hide from the other Ricks? My Rick—Er, C-137?" Morty asked.
"Aren't you a smart boy?" Rick Prime ruffled Morty's hair. Morty gleamed on the inside.
"Yeah, don't worry, your Rick won't be able to find you here. You left your old body behind, the body with all the trackers 'nd stuff, and even if the trackers were still on, there's no way he could find me." Rick Prime chuckled. "He can surely try though…"
"Oh! If the trackers are gone… and I decide to go back, does that mean Rick will have to reinstall all of them? Won't he notice something different?" Morty looked up at Rick Prime, he wasn't wearing the typical white docter's lab jacket that most other Rick's adorned, but rather a dark navy blue sci-fi jacket with red accents. He also looked much younger in comparison to C-137, and his hair was in a mullet with a few spikes on the top. He was still holding onto Morty's hand, but Morty didn't feel confined, Rick Prime's hand gave Morty a sense of comfort… Morty wasn't sure why.
"Already thinking about leaving me? I'm hurt." Rick Prime pretended to wipe a tear from his face, and put his hand his heart.
"No! I just.. was wondering." Morty jumped to defend himself, it was like an instinct from the amount of times he's already had to explain himself to his Rick.
"I put all the trackers back on. That's also how I track you!"
Morty tried not to be too disturbed from that. I mean, his Rick already was tracking him… What's the harm in having another Rick tracking him, Morty supposes.
The elevator made a ding sound as they reached the top floor. The top floor was full of blue screens, and a big window that stretched across the whole wall, outside the window was the endless void, lots of tiny little stars. A nebula in the distance.
Morty's seen it all before, but it felt different somehow.
— ⟡ —
Rick didn't bother chasing after Morty as he ran out sobbing. He twisted in his chair, and went back to tinkering. He does this all the time, he'll be back. Rick thought as he stared down at the tiny robot he was making. Just something to take his mind off of everything.
The sun had set, and Rick grabbed out for his flask, leaning back in his chair when Beth opened the door into the garage.
"Hey dad, don't mean to bother you but, did you and Morty get into an argument…?" Beth's voice sympathetic.
"Hmm? Oh yeah, he's just being—urp—Morty, ya know. He'll be over it soon. Let him be, he's just a teenager after all." Rick shrugged it off, taking a swing at his flask.
"Oh okay, his room is locked, I tried calling him down. There was no answer though… Jerry tried too."
It actually shocked Rick a little to learn Morty's door was locked, that guy never locked his door, not even when jerking off.
Rick stood up from his chair, drinking from his flash one again. "Don't worry, Beth. I'll handle it."
Beth smiled, and retreated back into the house. Rick followed behind, walking upstairs to where Morty's room was. He knocked, only out of courtesy.
"Morty, I'm knocking because I'm polite, I can literally laser down this door if I wanted." Rick grimaced when there was no response. Morty wanted to this the hard way.
Once the door had been laser-ed down and Rick kicked it out his way, his eyes scanned the dark room, reaching out his arm on the wall and flipping the light switch on. When he didn't see Morty, he looked down at the floor—and there he was.
Morty laying on the floor, unconscious.
3 empty pill bottles by his side, Rick counted.
He stepped back out the room, that only making Rick see the full scene in front of him. He choked out a sob. Only realizing what had happened, and running back inside, falling to his knees, checking Morty's pulse—to which, there was none. Rick's eyes frantically darted across the room. How had nobody known? Somebody must've checked, right? It was like… Mid-day when he ran out screaming at Rick. Nobody noticed Morty's absence for a good 7 hours? How could Rick be so wreak-less? How could he be so… Rick!
Rick carried Morty's lifeless body down to the subbasement, everybody was in their rooms, Rick didn't what he would even do if the rest of the family saw this.
He laid Morty's body out on the table, the pills would've been already been dissolved by his stomach acid… God, how could he have been so thoughtless to not check on Morty?
Rick thought about the backup clones he had… If Morty died, he surely would've been transferred to one of the backups? Rick darted his fingers across the keyboard, searching to see if one of the clones had awoken, or if Morty had been uploaded.
404 Not Found
"What the FUCK do you mean not found??" Rick slammed his fist against the keyboard. He tried again, no results, absolutely nothing. How could this even have happened?
That was when—
"Dead Wife Guy!" Rick Prime's hologram appeared infront of Rick, making him stumble back, backing into the table with Morty's laid out body. He turned around, fixing his body to ensure it wasn't damaged and making sure it wouldn't fall off. Rick's blood boiled when he saw Prime's face.
"If you're seeing this, that means your—our—pfttt… Who are we kidding, my Morty is dead!—Or atleast you think." Rick wanted to punch Prime's smug face so bad. Prime winked at the last part.
Our Morty? Your Morty? Like hell! Rick glanced back at Morty's face, so pale, and lifeless.
"What a shitty grandpa you must feel! Letting my poor, innocent grandson kill himself…" Prime acted out his words, Rick couldn't stand how he pretended to be sad. He was a shitty grandpa? At least Rick showed up for Morty! Maybe Rick wasn't grandpa of the year, but he didn't leave him before he was even born.
"Well, that's no big deal, I expected this. Planned ahead for it already!" Prime smiled.
"Morty's in my possession—so you can no longer hurt him and make him want to, you know!" Prime programmed X's to go over his eyes at the last part. What sick bastard starts joking around about their grandson's suicide?
"He can come back whenever he wants. It's his choice really. In fact, he probably will. I don't know what you did to my poor grandson's brain, but he really seems to love you. Coming back to you after multiple attempts! Man, Stockholm syndrome, am I right?" Prime laughed, he purposefully left everything vague as possible.
Rick was speechless, what did he mean Multiple Attempts…? Had this happened before? Why couldn't Rick remember?—There was absolutely no way that asshole mind-blew Rick! Rick felt himself lose his balance when he thought about the fact that this wasn't the first time Morty killed himself, maybe more often than not because of Rick.
"Well, I have a grandson to love, no doubt I'll love him more than you, but that isn't really a high bar to meet, is it?" Prime waved a goodbye at the camera, at Rick. Rick threw his flask at the hologram screen, shattering the screen behind it.
Like hell you love him more than me. Rick turned around, standing over Morty's body, eyes twitching at the thought that Morty was in Rick Prime's procession. If Morty returned then he would forget all of this… Rick didn't want to forget, fuck, he needed to apologize.
Rick can't even locate where Morty was since Prime had made himself un-fucking-tracable.
Rick leaned back against the wall.
“Morty, I-I’m so sorry. Grandpa will fix all of this. J-Just—Hold on, Junebug. I promise.”
What was he going to do.