DISCLAIMER: Don't own em. Nothin really to see here.

SUMMARY: Morty D15 had been without a Rick for so long that loneliness had become the norm. When he meets an equally (if not more so) lonely Rick-a Rick on a mission of his own-one night in Mortytown, Morty D15 begins to wonder if perhaps he's found the Rick that he's been looking for. Rated T for swearing. NOT slash! This is a friendship-only story because hey, this is fanfiction dot net, not AO3!

Author's Note: This was inspired by the "Tales from the Citadel" Episode 7: The Ricklantis Mixup) of Season 3. Title comes from what was written on the blackboard at the Morty School during one of their lessons. :-)

Mortytown was not the kind of place you wanted to get lost in.

Unfortunately, it was the kind of place a lot of Mortys wound up who, along the way somewhere, had gotten "lost".

Here was where the displaced, forgotten, and unwanted Mortys lived….

….Mortys who had lost their Ricks…..

…..Mortys who were left by Ricks…

…..Mortys who had no other place else to go…...

This was Mortytown.

Mortyown...

It was the only place that Morty D15 called "Home".

For Morty D15, "home" was a haphazardly patchworked, thin-skinned sleeping bag which was laid out on a horribly moth-eaten mattress, which sat by itself on a dusty and hard cement floor. The cement floor belonged to a musty, crusted, half-dilapidated old abandoned building on the far east side of Mortytown.

There weren't any windows in this part of the building, so it was continuously dark. Yet, Morty D15 didn't mind. He was used to the dank and the dark. When he had to see anything useful, he lit an ancient old antique hurricane lamp (which he'd found on one of his many scavenging adventures). It was quite useful, as he could carry the lamp around at his leisure. In this part of Mortytown, there was no electricity, so he was grateful to have found the lamp to begin with. He didn't have much else as it was.

It was rare to find an abandoned building that hadn't been taken over by other Mortys. There wasn't anyone else to answer to, so Morty D15 lived by his own rules; there were no rules in this part of Mortytown. Morty D15 was used to being alone. He never went to the Citadel, and so never spoke with any Ricks. He only spoke to other Mortys if he had to (which was never).

On one particular night, Morty was feeling a strange emotion that he wasn't used to feeling. He seemed to recall the name for this emotion as loneliness. Where it had come from he wasn't sure but it invoked a longing within his soul. A longing for what, he had no clue….but the feeling grew. It forced him out into the night, where he strolled alone past darkened, broken windows, where the only source of light indicated its inhabitants were lucky enough to have a source of wood, and a lighter or matches to start the flame.

The night was cold, and the streets were vacant; Morty turned his collar up, shivering as he walked. He wasn't even sure where he was walking to, but it didn't matter; as cold as it was, it felt good to be outside.

He stopped at the sight of a light from a nearby building. A light….that wasn't from the various contained fires that had populated the other areas. This light was coming from the basement of a tall, dome-shaped building that was to his right. It looked kind of official and had a big "M" on the front. The "M" was for Morty, and Morty could see other Mortys sitting inside, forming a kind of semi-circle. It seemed like an important meeting.

"Hey- you coming?" a Morty running past him called out hurriedly.

"Huh?" Morty frowned.

"You coming?" The other Morty stood a few feet away from him, just standing there, as if waiting expectantly. When Morty D15 looked his way, the Morty smiled.

Morty felt a strange urge to comply, and walked reluctantly over to the other Morty. (It had been a long time since any Morty had spoken TO him, let alone invited him to something.) "I-what is this place?"

"It's the Mortunda," the other Morty replied as if this was common knowledge, throwing a confused sideways glance in Morty D15's direction. "I mean, aw jeez! You, you new? O-or something?"

"Wh-what's going on in there?" Morty asked, blatantly ignored his question.

"That? S-seriously? It's a session for MIN."

" 'M-MIN'?" Morty had to do a double take in confusion. (How had he lived in Mortytown for this long and never heard of this part of Morty culture?)

"Y-yeah bro! It stands for 'Mortys In Need'...it's a support group for, for Mortys." The other Morty was still looking at him strangely. "You sure you're from around here?" His gaze was lingering too long and far too close in proximity for Morty's sake.

"H-hey man!" Morty yelped with disgust. "Per, personal space, bro! Jeeze!"

"S-sorry," the other Morty mumbled awkwardly, stepping back and blushing profusely, his hands raised up immediately in an automatic truce gesture as they continued to enter the building.

As they entered the room the meeting was taking place in, loud voices assaulted their eardrums. It seemed that the session was well underway and the Mortys involved were having a very heated discussion. From what Morty D15 could gather the topic was focused on what had happened to each Morty's previous Ricks. It also seemed many of these Mortys had had more than one Rick; several, in fact. He was about to make a break for the exit when the Morty that had invited him called out "Hey bro, don't go, here's a seat for ya, man!" and patted the empty chair next to him.

His face reddening, Morty gingerly made his way over to the chair and sat. Looking around, there didn't seem to be any mediator anywhere. "Wh-where's the counselor?" Morty whispered to the Morty next to him.

"He's in the bathroom," the other Morty whispered back.

Meanwhile, the argument towards the center of the room was getting heavier. Two Mortys were now practically jumping out of their seats as they were yelling profusely at each other.

"Hey-y-y-you can't possibly hold ME, uh, re-re-responsible for what MY Rick did!" the Morty who was apparently getting accused for his Rick's death was shouting at the Morty who was making the accusations. "I-I-I didn't force him to

"Y-y-HELL YES I CAN!" the other Morty shouted back, the veins in his neck practically bulging out of his neck in his unbridled rage, "J-JUST like YOU'RE the one who blamed ME for annoying m-m-m-MY RICK to the point of s-s-s-s-SUICIDE because I couldn't st-st-st-st-stop st-st-st-st-DAMMIT!"

"S-s-see?" The other Morty sneered and snickered brutally. "Y-you can't even say the word "stutter" without-"

"Hey SCREW YOU, B48! Y-y-y-you think you're so great! Y-your Rick didn't even WANT you to begin with!"

"G-go to hell K125-y-you're better off there, anyway!"

A huge CLASH answered him. Morty D15 covered his face in horror as the Morty who was talking drop-kicked the chair he'd been sitting on, jumped on the other Morty, and began tackling him to the ground. What followed was a series of grunting and groaning as both Mortys rolled around kicking and punching each other any which way they could.

"Wh-wh-WHAT THE HELL!?" Another Morty's voice rang out.

Morty D15 turned to see a Morty in a very well-pressed business suite coming out of an open doorway, carrying a cup which had been full of freshly poured coffee, until he wound up spilling it in his horror at the sight before him.

"I-I-I'm gonna KILL HIM!" the Morty that was pinning down the other Morty screeched in response, thus proceeding to wrap his arms around the other Morty and began choking him.

"WHAT? NO-STOP THAT! We-we're supposed to be civilized Mortys! W-we don't do that kind of stuff in here! " the Counselor Morty yelled at the top of his lungs furiously as he ran over, "STOP IT RIGHT NOW, THE BOTH OF YOU! Th-that's a COMPLETE VIOLATION of the ONE TRUE MORTY CODE !"

"O-Okay that, that's it-I-I'm done with this shit. S-see ya later." Morty D15 mumbled to the Morty who had invited him inside, as he shuffled quickly to his feet and hurried out of the building. Meanwhile, the Counselor Morty was desperately trying to prevent the two Mortys from killing each other, and the other Mortys in the group were either arguing amongst themselves or looking on dumbfounded.

Completely disgusted that these "individuals" could even be a version of himself, Morty D15 just shook his head and continued quickly out the nearest side door exit. The arguing could still be heard (yet muffled) through the doorway, as he stood huddled against the sudden pickup of wind that whistled through the corridor. Looking around, he realized he was in a short back alleyway that contained a single dumpster and nothing else. A few stray pieces of garbage floated along the ground in circles. Feeling lonely again, Morty D15 braced himself against the wind by leaning against the building. Cupping his hands together, he quickly took out a pack of smokes and lit a cigarette.

He leaned back against the building and took a long lingering drag. It had been awhile since he'd smoked. (That group had really riled up his nerves.)

A sudden cough echoed in the night.

Morty jumped with instinctual fright, and then he quickly froze with shock and confusion: he was alone; he'd come out here through that door all by himself, hadn't he? The alleyway was short, and he hadn't seen anybody else walk past him.

Cough, cough.

Again, Morty froze, and turned in the direction the sound was coming from: the….dumpster?

Morty felt the hairs on his arm raise with suspicion. He crept slowly over to the dumpster-just in time to catch a glimpse of blue spiky hair disappear behind the corner.

"HEY!" Morty yelled out, darting around the corner around which he'd seen the blue spikes vanish. Those blue spikes….he shivered inside at the thought of them; he hadn't seen hair like that in the longest time…..

To his amazement, he saw the hair disappear around the opposite corner of the dumpster, just as before, but in the opposite direction. Now, Morty was getting a little pissed; Ricks weren't even supposed to be in this area of Mortytown, unless they were on "official business": only on-duty Cop Ricks were allowed in these parts. And this Rick couldn't be a Cop Rick, because-Morty couldn't help but wonder-why would a Cop Rick let two Mortys practically kill each other and not intervene?

"Hey YOU." Morty stood stock-still and bellowed out into the night, "I KNOW you're out there! And-if-if you DON'T SHOW YOURSELF, I-I-I-I'm gonna-"

"O-oKAY oKAY, keep your voice down already JESUS!"

Morty wasn't sure whether to be pleased or annoyed when the Rick that was hiding (for reasons beyond his comprehension), moved at last from out of the shadows and into his view. He was a kind of disheveled-looking Rick; he'd grown a bit of a beard, and his spikes were equally unkempt. In addition to the beard, he also didn't wear the typical Rick clothes. In their place wore a tattered sweater and he also wore a pair of worn down blue pants that seemed long overdue for the cleaners.

"W-what the hell?" Morty mumbled as he couldn't help but stare.

"G-guess you've never seen a Rick who was down on his luck before, huh?" The Rick, in spite of his appearance, sneered arrogantly at him. "Well you're not looking so hot yourself there, Slick."

"M-My name's M-M-Morty," Morty replied sheepishly, blushing in spite of himself. He hadn't seen a Rick in so long he didn't know what to say, and now that he'd spoken, he wish he hadn't. The Rick took one look at him, heard his response and burst out laughing.

"R-really? Y-you don't say!" The Rick snickered. "That, that's some revelatory shit right there! Keep talking you're interesting."

"Morty D15," Morty added, blushing profusely in spite of himself and hating himself or it. (For reasons he couldn't fathom he was always painfully shy around Ricks, just as he was shy around Mortys.)

"Heh." The Rick regarded him with mild amusement. "D-Didn't know any Mortys cared about that stuff anymore."

"Wh-what about you?"

The other Rick's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What ABOUT me?"

Morty rolled his eyes. "What coordinates are you?"

"OH-that." Rick coughed, shaking his head in the direction of Morty's cigarette "Y-you know those things can k-kill you, right?"

"Y-yeah? So?" Morty flicked his other thumb against his forefinger. It seemed strange that any Rick would care about that, but he wasn't about to bring it up.

"S-so, you know, you-you're young," the Rick shrugged as a hasty means of explanation, "y-you shouldn't be doing stuff like, like that at your age-"

"I'm 14!" Morty snapped back hotly, "I can do what I want! I-I'm kinda just, on my own-I, I don't really answer to anybody, y-y'know?" A sudden glaring suspicion overcame him and he narrowed his eyes back towards Rick. "Wh-why are you even here? This is MY town and-and YOU'RE not even supposed to BE here-"

"Uh-yeah-" It was strange to see any Rick blush, but this Rick's face was beat red now; he was awkwardly rubbing the back of his head and turning his eyes skyward. "'Bout that-"

"Aw jeez GROSS!" The only possible reason had just crossed Morty's mind and he recoiled with profound disgust and shock, "were you-were you WATCHING us back there?" He couldn't help but glare darkly now. "Are you one of those sick motherfuckers who come here to perv out on-"

"Ew, WHAT? BLECH! NO!" The Rick took a step back, hands up in a peace offering looking completely horrified. "I-just-YUCK! WHAT!? UGH! G-g-g-gross! That, that's just DISGUSTING! I-I-I wouldn't; I couldn't; I-I would NEVER-!" Before he could even respond, the Rick doubled over in an apparent dry-heaving fit. Morty wasn't sure what to think, but his tone seemed genuinely disgusted by the thought as well (which to be honest was quite a relief).

"So…." Morty frowned, filled with both immense confusion as well as curiosity, now deep in thought. "If that's not the reason…."

He stopped and eyed the Rick carefully. The Rick seemed entirely uncomfortable to be in his presence. He had never met a Rick who responded in such a way. What were his motives? Morty wondered silently. "Then…." he began hesitantly, "why are you here?"

The Rick seemed to take forever to face him. When he did, Morty noticed a sudden change in his expression. It was overcome with a strange kind of far-away look. When he turned his gaze upon Morty, it contained such a look of longing that Morty shrunk away, suddenly wanting to disappear.

"Can you keep a secret?" The Rick drew closer and spoke in a hushed whisper.

Morty drew back, suddenly afraid. "W-what secret? A-about what?"

"I-I'm looking for a Morty." The Rick was so close Morty could feel his breath against his skin, and it made his skin crawl. He could smell the booze on Rick's breath. He wanted to run away, but something held him in place.

"Wh-wh-what Morty?" Morty squeaked out. "Wh-what's so special about just one M-Morty…?"

"C-come with me," the Rick replied gruffly, as he took Morty-surprisingly gently-by the arm. "I'll tell you when we get there."

"Wh-where?" Morty's eyes led momentarily back in the direction of the comforting artificial light from the Mortunda, which was suddenly calling him back again. He didn't want to go with this Rick. He didn't want to go with any Ricks. He wasn't sure this Rick could be trusted. (He wasn't sure ANY Ricks could EVER be trusted; his own Ricks had shown him that most of them, if not all of them, couldn't.)

Yet, he let himself be led….through the cold, and dark, and silent streets. It was starting to snow. (Since when did it snow in Mortytown?) "C'mon let's get someplace warm," the Rick said with urgency: and at once, they hurried on through the night, in desperate search for a sign of welcoming light amongst the gathering of shadows….and Morty desperately tried to ignore the occasional set of wary eyes that peered curiously out at him from around dark corners…..knowing that he was doing something forbidden, as no Mortys ever invited any Ricks to Mortytown….but for whatever reason, he was going to follow this Rick, and see what secrets he knew….and perhaps….just perhaps….he could find his own salvation.

END NOTE: I may or may not continue this. Please let me know if you'd like more. And I will reiterate that this is just a friendship fic, there will be no sexual content whatsoever!