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Morty laid in bed staring at the ceiling, hands behind his head, things were looking better. Rick finally killed Prime and Evil Morty was gone.
“Maybe things will be easier now that Rick isn’t searching for Prime anymore. Maybe the adventures will be better. Maybe Rick will be better.”
“That’s real hopeful thinking, you’re even getting my hopes up.”
Morty sits up in bed, panicked, backing up against the wall. He scans his room, but he doesn’t see anything or anyone.
“Rick?”
Suddenly, Rick Prime’s body fizzles into view, standing right in front of Morty’s bed. Eyes piercing through Morty, his smug smile still intact.
“C’mon Morty, you can call me grandpa. I am your real grandpa anyways.”
“No, no, no, you- Rick, he- you’re dead! You’re supposed to be dead! Ri-Rick KILLED you!”
Prime crossed his arms and nodded, acting like he was listening.
“Yes and no. Did you really think that was all it took? I wouldn’t be the smartest man across the multiverse if that’s all it took. You’re so silly.”
Morty relaxed a bit, if Prime wanted to kill him, he would’ve been dead already, so he must have a motive, otherwise he wouldn’t waste his time talking to him.
“What do you want? You’re not just here to talk, are you?”
Prime smiled wider and made his way over to sit on the edge of the bed.
“Smart boy, just like his real grandpa-“
“My Rick, is C-137, and he’s my real grandpa to me.”
Prime put up his hands in mock surrender.
“Woah, struck a nerve there.”
“What do you want? How are you here?”
“Now we’re getting to the million dollar question.” Prime makes himself comfortable and lays down in Morty’s bed, hands behind his head, copying Morty from earlier. “In simple terms, think of it like you’ve got a chip in your head. And it’s got yours truly in there. I put that little guy in your brain when we met back in our original dimension, but you don’t remember cause I took out that memory.”
“So you’re not real?”
Prime scoffed and reached out a hand, pushing it straight through Morty’s stomach.
“I’m as real as it gets, just not in the physical sense.”
Morty reaches out to try and push him off the bed and realizes his hands just phase right through him.
“But you look so real and solid for a hologram. Rick’s are usually blue and kinda see through.”
“Well, I’m not a hologram, more like your hallucination. Just you can see me and hear me.”
“So what? You’re gonna be here forever and drive me crazy?”
“No, silly, but I’ll be here for as long as I need to be.”
Morty slumped against the wall, at least Prime couldn’t hurt anyone like this, but he was in his head for the foreseeable future so that wasn’t great either.
“Ugh, can we not be cryptic with our answers, how do I get you to leave?”
Prime clutched his hand to his chest, a hurt expression plastered onto his face.
“Heavens, I’ve just arrived and you already want me gone? I’m wounded, truly, what if I just want to get to know my estranged grandson? I’m technically dead anyways, with all the time in the world, doesn’t it seem like the best opportunity to finally get to know each other?”
“Cut the shit, we both know that’s not true. You have no emotional attachments, to anything, you don’t care, just like every other Rick.”
“Just like that Rick you call your ‘real grandpa’?”
Morty freezes and tries to respond but he’s cut off before he can defend himself.
“Like the Rick who disregards your feelings and opinions, who has cost you friends and possible relationships, who’s made a point of showing how replaceable and dispensable you are on multiple occasions, and let you die countless times? The Rick who traumatizes you constantly only to wipe your memory so you continue to be his obedient little tool?”
“No, n-NO! Shut up! He-he cares, he just doesn’t know how to show it! You don’t know anything! ”
Prime pushes off the bed and walks around the room, examining things and pretending to be interested in them.
“That’s just my observation, but if you don’t believe me, watch him, observe your interactions more. You’ve become too accustomed to this. He’s trained you to be okay with it, blinded you to how horrible it all really is. Can you really live like this for the rest of your life, Morty?”
Morty chucks his pillow at him, it phases through Prime and lands against his closet door with a thump.
“Shut up, shut up…I don’t wanna hear it anymore, not from you. You don’t know anything.”
Morty pulls his knees up to his chest, resting his head against them, rocking slightly, mumbling to himself.
“Things are supposed to get better…right?”
Prime smiled, satisfied with his work, the seeds of doubt were planted long ago, they just need some more encouragement to grow. He walked over and wrapped his arms around Morty who was curled up in the corner of his bed, a slight buzz brushed across Morty’s skin where they touched. Morty was too busy spiraling to notice it though.
‘I hope this grows and festers inside you, like vines along a brick wall. I hope it grows so large and ugly that you’ll have no other choice but to run away from it. Run away to me.’
Morty cried himself to sleep that night, not an uncommon occurrence. He woke up in the morning and laid in bed staring at the ceiling for what felt like hours. The lack of Prime’s presence almost made him think it was all a dream. His pillow across the room tells him he’s wrong.
A quick knock draws his attention, it’s pushed open and Summer is standing in the doorway.
“Hey, Rick said he needs your help in the garage or something. Said it’s urgent and to hurry up.”
“Ugh, yeah, I got it.” The door shut as he rubbed his hands over his face.
“It’s fine, everything is normal. Things will be better.”
‘Watch him, observe your interactions more.’ Prime’s words rang through his head as he got dressed and made his way down to the garage.
—-
“Wow, you look like shit.” Rick said as Morty walked into the garage. Morty was too exhausted to deal with Rick, and he snapped back.
“What did you need, Rick?”
“Geez, who pissed in your cereal? Ju-just load those boxes into the ship. I gotta bring these crystals to trade for something real important. So DON’T break anything. It’s a pain in the ass to get more of them.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Morty grabbed one of the boxes off the workbench, it was filled to the brim with opaque, iridescent crystals, which were way heavier than it seemed. He struggled to carry it to the ship, kicking the door open and laying it in the back seat. He rested in the passenger seat, taking a short break, there were still a few more boxes.
“I thought you’d be stronger than this. That Rick didn’t put any cybernetics in you to enhance strength?”
Morty jumped out of the seat and out of the car, his back slamming against the shelf of miscellaneous alien things and gadgets. It rattled the entire shelf, causing a jar of liquid, that smelled of rusted metal and cut grass, to fall off along with other fragile items.
Morty’s shock from Prime appearing in the driver seat immediately was replaced with a cold fear for how Rick was going to react to him breaking his stuff.
“Ooo, that’s not good.”
Prime stood beside him as Morty immediately crouched down, trying to collect all the shattered pieces. A mix of glass from the jar, porcelain from a dish, and a weird material that made up a small statue. The sharp edges cut his hands as he frantically tried to gather them, his fear and panic only growing as he heard the angry shouting of Rick rapidly becoming louder and he made his way up from the sub-basement.
“MORTY! WHAT THE FUCK DID I TELL YOU?!”
“Rick! I-I didn’t break any of the crystals.” A weak attempt to try and placate Rick’s anger.
“SO YOU GO AND BREAK EVERYTHING ELSE IN MY FUCKING GARAGE?! I LEAVE YOU ALONE FOR 2 MINUTES, 2 FUCKING MINUTES, MORTY!”
Prime watched as Morty shrunk into himself on the floor, trying to make himself smaller, like he could make himself small enough to disappear if he tried. Rick continued to berate Morty, with no regards to his injuries.
“GET OUT! I CAN’T GET SHIT DONE WITH YOU HERE!”
Morty picks himself up and beelines out the open garage door, hands clutched to the bottom of his shirt to soak up the blood. He shoves his hands into his pockets to hide the cuts as he walks along the street.
“That was harsh.”
“…”
“It was unnecessary, misplaced anger, toxic, abusive. Just a few words if you’re having trouble finding some.”
Prime walked alongside him, watching as he processed it all. Morty couldn’t get a single word out, not without breaking down. He swallowed down the tight burning lump in his throat, only for it to resurface every time he tried to speak. He felt his face and ears growing hotter and his ears started to ring, cutting off the world’s noise, only the fast thumping of his heart could be heard.
‘He’s just stressed, don’t take it personally, he didn’t mean it, he’s drunk, he’s still on edge, don’t take it personally, he needs you, he needs your help, don’t cry, you just want attention, don’t cry’
Morty reaches the end of the street, turns around and starts making his way back to the house. He clenches his hands in his pockets, the sting from the cuts taking the focus off Rick and his thoughts. He presses his nails hard into his palm and takes a few deep breaths as he gets closer to his house.
The garage was empty, no ship, no Rick, and a mess on the floor. Morty let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding and made his way inside to the kitchen. He ran his hands under a stream of cold water, washing off the dried blood and hopefully cleaning the cuts.
He stood there, staring at his hands, feeling the cold water run down his hands, and the warm tears that started to stream down his face. They fell into the sink and washed away with the draining water. He couldn’t even muster the energy to cry properly, there’s no point, nobody would care even if they heard him.
“I think disinfectant will do more for the cuts than water.”
Prime was beside him, he’s been beside him this entire time, watching silently. He looked equal parts amused and fascinated. Morty shut off the water but the sound of dripping water continued. Was that him or the leaky facet?
He stared at his palm and the cuts on his hands as if they had answers, but he didn’t even know what he wanted answered.
“He’s the same. Like any other Rick. I told you last night, didn’t I?”
“…shut up”
“There’s bandages in the top cabinet to the right.”
Morty opened the cabinet and it actually was there. He put ointment and wrapped his hands before heading back upstairs to his room. He changed into some clean clothes before laying back down in his bed, the tears have dried up at this point. He could feel Prime still staring at him.
“Why won’t you leave?”
“I can’t leave my grandson when he’s down in the dumps like this.”
“Sure. What else did I expect besides a bullshit answer.”
It’s silent for a while longer before a soft humming melody fills the quiet room. A soothing, light tune that caught Morty off guard. He turned around to see Prime humming the song as sat on the floor, back leaning against the mattress. When the melody came to an end, Prime turned around to see Morty staring back at him.
“Did you like it?”
“It was…nice.”
“Good. It was a melody I picked up from your grandma. Her favorite song.”
Morty thought his lack of sleep was affecting him as he watched Prime’s expression soften just a bit, his smile didn’t look as sadistic and his eyes less detached from everything.
Prime turned back around, leaned his head back against the bed, and closed his eyes as he started humming the melody again. Morty closed his eyes as well, curling into himself, pulling the blankets over himself as he started to drift off to the soft melody in the room.
After repeating the melody a few times, Prime hears a light snoring behind him and turns around to face Morty. He rested his elbows on the bed, head in his hand as he watched the boy sleep.
“You’re so quick to trust, so quick to warm up to me because I was nice. Soon, you’ll be real important in helping grandpa get back his body, Morty. So I’ll keep slowly feeding you the attention you need, just keep trusting me.”
Prime whispered to a sleeping Morty, stroking his hair as he watched the rise and fall of his chest as he slept. His eyes wide and smile wider as he imagined his gruesome revenge on C-137 and Evil Morty as he started humming to himself.
—-
Morty was startled awake as Rick burst in through his door, drunk out of his mind, a half drank bottle in his hand. He sat up quickly and rubbed his eyes as Rick stumbled towards him, mumbling incoherent nonsense. Rick stumbled against the edge of the bed and collapsed forward onto Morty, hanging off his shoulders.
“M-Morty! You’re you’re my little buddy, y’know that? I-urrp-I need you Morty, you’re grandpa’s little helper.”
“Uh-huh. Go to sleep, Rick. Go back to your room.”
Rick’s face soured and he pushed off Morty.
“I see-i see how it is. You haaaate grandpa, jus-just because I said a few mean things and raised my voice this morning. Well, fuck you, Morty, I don’t-don’t need you, I can always get another-another Morty, one that’ll listen!”
Morty watched as Rick portals out of his room to who knows where, probably to get more drinks. Morty sat in bed, a heavy feeling in his chest. He stood up and closed the door before curling back up under his blankets.
‘He’s just drunk and emotional, don’t listen to him, he’s just trying to hurt you, he doesn’t mean it’
Morty repeated these words in his head like a mantra, as if they could get rid of the feeling in his chest.
“…Rick? Are you there?”, he whispers into the open room, waiting for a response, watching the room for him to appear.
“I’m always here.”
Morty turned around to see Prime hovering a foot above him. Prime chuckled at his shocked expression.
“You called?”
“Umm, could you…do the thing from earlier?”
Prime was a little surprised but recovered quickly, his teasing tone falling into place along with his smug grin.
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about, could you elaborate please?”
Morty flushed and covered his face in the blankets, a muffled response making its way out the thick layers.
“Forget it.”
“But I can’t, my grandson is asking something of me for the first time, I have to grant it.”
“Ugh! Could you do the song again, from earlier, when you were humming. I think it’ll help me fall asleep.”
“Of course I can, kiddo. See? It wasn’t that hard to ask. I’m not gonna bite your head off or anything.”
Morty chuckled at that and settled in, pulling the blankets closer around him as Prime began the melody. He feels a slight buzz across his head and opens his eyes to see Prime laying in front of him, head propped up in his hand as he stroked his hair.
“You know you’re supposed to close your eyes when you’re trying to sleep?”
“I know that. It’s just, I feel a weird buzz when you’re doing that. It’s really light but I felt it.”
“Hmm odd. Do you want me to stop, since it makeing it hard to sleep?”
Morty shook his head.
“You don’t have to, I was just pointing it out.”
Prime smiled and started humming again, this time, Morty moved closer to him, his head almost resting against his chest. Prime continued to hum the song until Morty’s breath had evened out and a light snore could be heard from him.
‘This is moving along faster than I thought. Mortys really are too trusting for their own good.’
“Only you, Morty, my original grandson, only you can help me.”