AN:

Sorry to those of you who have waited for the next chapter of "Rickvestigating the Morty Disappearances". I do have the next chapter done and will probably post it in the next days instead of next week. I just know that a lot of people have also waited for this after saying that I have started working on it.

While I have written down the first few chapters already, I'm a little disappointed with how it turned out so I can't promise you regular updates on this story or anything. However, I'm sure that I won't have to do any more edits to this first chapter, which is why I've finally decided to post it.

This idea basically came after seeing so many fanarts of Morty as Elsa from Frozen.
I was asking myself, which Disney Princess had a fitting color scheme and Belle instantly came to mind. (Brown hair, yellow dress – couldn't make it more obvious, really.)
So here, you have yourself a weird rewrite of the Beauty and the Beast.

BTW, for those of you who don't know that already, I have made a little edited picture before I decided to write this story. You can find it here (www .deviantart hope27 /art /Belle-Morty-750535118) and the better version of it here (www .deviantart hope27 /art /The-Morty-and-The-Beast-750836016).

Warnings: none for this chapter yet, but there will be eventual Rick/Morty and bestiality (for obvious reasons), some renaming has been done to fit the story better: Summer has been renamed to Sally (but is still the same person) and Rick's last name was changed to Sanders


The Morty And The Beast – Chapter 1: Their First Meeting (IRA)

Once upon a time, not too long ago and in a not too far away land, there lived a scientist, alone, in a big castle.
He was brilliant – a true genius – and he invented all sorts of machinery and potions. Nothing was impossible to him.
However, the scientist wasn't a very goodhearted man.
He was egotistical, nihilistic and an alcoholic.

So, it happened that one night a beggar knocked on the doors of his castle and asked for a meal and shelter.

The scientist as uncaring as ever answered to the request with the following words: "Why should I do that? Listen, I don't have time for your shit, so just get lost."

"You are so rude, dear sir. That is very unbecoming."

The beggar than suddenly revealed that he was a powerful magician, standing in a fine suite and with a top hat in front of the scientist.

"What the heck?!"

"You are selfish and don't care for anyone, but yourself. That's why I will put a curse on you." The magician, who simply went by the name Mr. Needful, said. "From now on your outward appearance shall match the sins that rest inside of you!"

"Oh shit!"

With that, a magic spell transformed the appearance of the scientist to that of a monster.

"Until you have learned how to care about others you will stay as you are now – a beast."

The magician than left the cursed scientist alone, not bothering to give him a time limit in which he would need to break the spell if he ever wanted to return to his former self again since the scientist was a very old man already and probably didn't have that much time to live anymore anyways.

Ever since that fateful night a few years had passed.
On the border of the forest in which the scientist's castle stood, was a small village.
This village was the home to the Smith family.
The father, Jerry, had long since abandoned his family so there were only the mother, Beth, and her two children, Sarah and Morty, living together in a small house.
It just so happened now that Beth became terribly sick. The doctors from all of the neighboring villages didn't know what kind of illness she had and couldn't cure her. They assumed, from her condition, that she might die soon.
The brother and sister were at a loss, but obviously didn't want to see their mother die.

"What about our grandfather that mom had told us about?" Morty asked his sister.

"What about him?" his sister asked back.

"Well, she said that he's a scientist and a real genius. He could invent anything. I bet he could also invent a cure for mom's sickness."

"Yeah, but we don't know him or where he lives." Sarah countered.

"Then we'll just ask her."

Sarah still didn't think that it was such a good idea to seek out that mysterious grandfather of theirs that they only heard some few stories from, but she followed her brother to their mother's sick bed.

"Hey, mom. How you're doing?" Morty asked her gently as he sat down beside her and softly grabbed her hand to hold it.

"Not so good, but I'll live, Sweetie." She answered weakly.

Morty gave her a smile that didn't hide his worry. It was nice that she was still so positive when the situation looked so bleak. If the boy hadn't known any better, he would have thought that she was just trying to put on a strong front so as to not worry her children, but despite the unpromising outlook that was diagnosed by all of the doctors, she still refused to give up hope.
In her opinion, they were all just idiots. She would get fine again, she was sure of it.

"Mom? I was thinking about going to Grandpa and asking him for help. I mean if there is someone who can find a cure it's going to be him, right?"

"Oh, Dad… It's been so long since I've last seen him…" Beth said almost dreamily.

"Well, yeah. I'm trying to bring him here, but I need to know where he lives. Do you still remember that?" Morty asked delicately.

"Of course, I remember…" she looked like she was far away as she recalled her childhood. "We lived in a big castle. I was living like a princess before my mom left my father and took me with her to this village…"

"A castle? Is he actually a king?" Sarah asked, having a hard time believing what she just heard.

Beth's eyes became focused again "No. He's a scientist."

"Then what's with the castle?"

"Listen, Mom." Morty interrupted before a full-fledged discussion could start. "Can you tell me where his castle is?"

"It's in the deepest part of the forest that lies just beyond the border of our village. But it's dangerous. I really would love to see my father again, but you shouldn't go, Morty. I'll be fine and will be back to health in no time again."

Morty wasn't the strongest and also not the bravest boy in the village, but for his mother he would ignore the dangers and dare to venture deep into the forest.
If that man could really save his mother's life, then he was more than willing to take the risks.

"Don't worry about me, mom." He tried to reassure the sickly woman.

It was just the next day, still early in the morning that Morty had packed his things – a lantern, a hiking pole and some provisions – and felt ready and prepared for his journey.

"Are you really sure that you want to do this?" His sister inquired as she stood in the door to see him off. "It's dangerous in the forest and you don't know if he will even help. For all we know he already died of old age or something."

"I'll be fine, Sarah. I—I have a feeling that our grandfather is still alive and I'm sure that I can convince him to come with me and help mom." He smiled confidently at her.

Sarah only sighed and made a face, positive that nothing she would say could convince Morty not to go.
So, she just watched him leave and prayed silently for his safety.

Since it was still very early in the morning, Morty – armed with his lantern, as it was still dark – met no other villagers on his way to the border of the village where the forest began.
Inside the forest, it seemed much livelier though as he saw a squirrel climbing up a tree and heard birds chirping and singing loudly from high up in the tree crowns.
The first few rays of the sun were already peeking over the horizon and fought their way through the light branches and it wasn't soon until Morty didn't need the help of his lantern anymore to guide his way through nature's terrain.

This actually wasn't so bad, Morty thought with a smile on his face as he made progress.
He didn't stop to take a break until it was midday and the sun was high in the sky already.
Leaning against the bark of a sturdy tree, Morty ate the little provisions that he had packed. It was just a dry piece of bread and some cheese.
He ate his meal in silence and watched the small creatures of the forest bustling about, mostly undisturbed by his presence.
Sheesh, everyone always told him that the forest was so dangerous, but he couldn't complain at the moment.
After he finished his little meal and felt rested enough, he took one last gulp from his little water bottle before he was on his way again.
It took at him at least about two more hours before the path that he had been following began to branch off in two different directions.

Which one should he take?
Unfortunately, there was no sign, which told him where to go. Then again, it seemed somewhat unlikely that there would be a sign pointing towards a castle that was hidden in the forest and never visited, especially since its owner did seem to be the kind of person, who didn't want to have visitors.

Morty didn't want to leave it up to luck and just pick one way. He also didn't want to waste his time.
Therefore, trying to be clever, he climbed up on the highest tree that he could find in the near vicinity.
From up in the tree crown, he had a great view and tried to locate where the paths possibly went.
It shouldn't be that hard, right? From up here he just needed to look for a big castle.
However, try as he might, he couldn't see it. There was only forest in all directions, but nothing that resembled a castle.
That was weird. Was it hidden so well that he just overlooked it? Or did the castle not exists anymore?

The image of crumpled stone walls entered into his mind, but he shook his head and willed it away.
He didn't want to believe that his grandfather was dead and his castle was gone without a trace.
Maybe it was just deeper inside the forest or the genius scientist had invented something, so that his castle wouldn't be easily found.

That had to be it!
Agreeing with that thought, he climbed down the tree again and once more looked down the two paths.
Unfortunately, he was still none the wiser which one to take.
One pathway looked a lot like the way that he had come from. The path looked well used from travelers walking on it.
The other path looked like quite the opposite. It was overgrown and looked barely used. The branches of the trees seemed to be thicker as it was getting darker, the deeper he followed the path with his eyes.
Well, he wanted to get deeper into the forest and it made certainly more sense to him to take the less used path.
So, Morty quickly decided to take the more unfriendly-looking pathway.

It wasn't all too soon that Morty needed the assistance of his lantern again.
While it was still afternoon and the sun had only begun setting, the golden rays failed to penetrate the thick foliage.
Aside from the lack of light, it became gradually harder to walk on the barely there and completely overgrown path.
Morty felt so lucky that he had decided to take a hiking pole with him, since it helped him with his current battle against the thicket and had also saved him from falling on the ground a few times when he stumbled over an extended root or something other.
Being slowed down by all of nature's obstacles like this it was only understandable that Morty had hardly made any progress by the time that the sun was finally sinking behind the horizon.

The boy was panting and feeling tired from walking all day with no more than just one break, it had started to get cold with nightfall and he was surrounded by pitch-blackness.
He wondered if he should just look for a good spot where he could rest for the night and then just continue his journey in the morning when he suddenly heard a loud howl.

Oh, no! Wolves! And the sound came from pretty close by!
Right, the wolves were one of the reasons why the forest was so dangerous. Especially at night!

Within a moment, Morty didn't feel very tired anymore and fueled by his adrenaline rush he quickened his pace.
He needed to get out of the forest or at least far away enough from that pack of wolves, which must be hunting on these grounds before he could even think about laying himself to sleep. This forest wasn't safe enough for that!

Despite his hurry, Morty halted for a moment as he thought that he heard some sound from close by.
He stood stock-still and strained his ears.
For a moment, his heavy breath and his fast pounding heart were the only sounds that he heard.
However, it seemed that his luck had left him because he could hear the rustling and the soft padding of paws, right to his left, again.
He swung his lantern in that direction, then to his other side as he heard the same sounds coming from there, but the light was not enough to let him see what prowled hidden in the shadows of the undergrowth.

A load growl was his only warning as a big grey wolf suddenly lunged at him from the darkness.
With a yelp, Morty barely dodged the attack and before the canine had time to retaliate, the boy was running again.
He was stumbling over the roots of trees and twigs and branches were hitting his face and body, ripping at his skin and clothes as he tried to push himself as fast as he could go.
Needless, to say that the wolf pack was not going to let him escape easily.
Morty could hear the wild beasts that were right on his heels, but the wolves that were following him shouldn't be his only problem.

Without a warning, another large beast lunged at him from the side and this time Morty was unable to evade it.
His reactions were just good enough that he had lifted his hiking pole in time, so that the wolf latched his fangs into the staff instead of his arm.
Morty wrestled with the wild animal, trying in vain to get it to release his cane again.
With one especially loud growl, the sharp fangs of the canine bit the wooden staff in two halves.

Morty slowly backed away from the wolf that was drooling and growling at him, ready to lunge again.
To his dismay, he found that the whole pack had surrounded him by now.
Not even equipped with his hiking pole anymore that had been his only weapon to defend himself with – even if it did no good – Morty found himself in a completely hopeless situation.
Left with no other options, he swung around with his lantern, trying to keep the wolves at a distance.
The biggest wolf of the pack lunged at him once again and Morty was lucky enough to hit its muzzle full on with a swing of his lantern.

As the mutt winced in pain, Morty used the slight opening to make a run for it again.
In his last defense, he threw the lantern behind himself, which broke and quickly caused the surrounding branches to catch fire.
This in turn caused some of the wolves to stop following him as the freshly ignited flames wounded them, but two or three canines were still chasing after him.
Since he lost his only source of light, Morty barely saw where he was running.

He stumbled blindly through the forest, his legs felt heavy, his lungs were burning, snot was running down from his nose and his eyes were tearing up as more and more branches were whipping against his face and body, leaving even more scratches on every part where his skin was exposed.
On top of it all, the weather also seemed to be against him as thunder rolled overhead and mere seconds later a downpour started. It made the unsteady ground unnecessarily slippery as the earth softened from the water that it tried to absorb.

The wolves were still unrelenting and so close on his heels that they were trying to snap at his ankles.
Morty really thought that this was it – he would end as wolf food – and he'd already given up all hope when suddenly the thicket opened up.
He could see a stone wall and a large iron gate.
Seeing this as his last chance, Morty used up his last reserves and dashed like a madman. As he was close enough, he jumped on the iron gate and climbed up on it.
Though the gate was constructed in a way that made it almost impossible to climb, Morty was actually a very good climber and managed to get up. Even though the metal was getting slippery from the rain.
Of course, the wolves tried to follow him. They jumped after him and tried to bite his foot or anything that they could get from him, but fortunately for Morty, he had pulled himself up fast enough and the wolves weren't able to follow him in the same manner.

He carefully maneuvered himself over the spiked top of the gate before he glided down on the other side, careful of the hungry beasts that were still growling and barking at him and trying to get at him through the rusted-over iron bars.
Since the gate was locked with a thick metal chain and a big lock, Morty knew that they couldn't get to him now, no matter how hard they would push and throw themselves against the doors.
He sunk down and finally took a rest to calm his breath.

His heart was racing a hundred miles per hour and the all the muscles in his body screamed at him while the several scratches that he obtained were stinging.
Ignoring the animals that had hunted him not even a full minute ago and the heavy rain that still pelted down on him, Morty took the time to take in his surroundings.
He was in some sort of front yard as he could see a fountain as well as some eerie looking statues – Morty assumed that they must be gargoyles or something like that – littering the place.
Following the path that led around the fountain further down with his eyes, he could make out a building – a huge building.
It was, without a doubt, the castle that he had been looking for!

Dammit! It was no wonder that he couldn't see it from afar!
Even in the darkness – though thankfully the occasional lightning was providing some momentary illumination every now and then – he could see that it was so overgrown that it blended in perfectly with the high trees around it, making the building look as if it was just a natural part of the forest.

Morty shook his head.
Whatever. He had found it and he was still alive. That was all that mattered.
After finding enough strength again to stand up, he made his way to the entrance.
The big double doors looked intimidating, but Morty came so far, he wouldn't let himself be stopped now.
He grabbed one of the heavy brass doorknockers and knocked.
For a long moment, nothing happened, but then the doors suddenly opened.

"Hello, I…" Morty started only to realize that no one was there and the doors seemed to have opened on their own.

He cautiously entered and called out "Hello?"

His voice echoed through the empty entrance hall.
As he stepped further inside, the doors, as suddenly as they had opened, fell shut behind him again.
For a moment Morty was panicked, but then reminded himself that he didn't plan to leave without the man of the house anyways. So, he didn't try to get outside again or test if the doors could even be opened now.
Instead, he took in his surroundings.

The big entrance hall was dark, not a single candle on the many various candlesticks or the big candelabra lit and it was as eerie as it was spacious.
The place looked definitely old and even though Morty couldn't quite see it in the dark, it seemed to be very dusty and unkempt. Downright dirty even since it was littered with trash and what looked like empty glass bottles, now that he was looking around closer.

Did anyone even still live in this place?
Not wanting to give up after he came so far, Morty stepped more into the middle of the hall and tried to figure out where to go from here.
There was a big, carpeted staircase that lead up to the second floor, but there were also two doors to his left and one to his right, as well as one door beside the stairs.
Who knew how many rooms this castle actually had? It had certainly looked very big from the outside.

Caught up in his thoughts Morty hadn't noticed the big creature that had been silently approaching him.
Only after feeling a draft of air, did he turn around and only saw a huge shadow looming over him before he felt a heavy punch in his stomach that didn't just knock the air out of his lungs but also caused him to fall on the ground.
Morty looked up and tried to crawl backwards as he caught sight of the thing that just had knocked him on the ground with a singular powerful punch.
Even though the creature was mostly hidden in darkness, it was obvious that whatever it was, it wasn't human.

Really, after the whole chase through the forest this was now, how Morty would end?
The boy tried to crawl backwards as the monstrous creature that was walking on its hind legs approached him, but his limbs still hurt and his body was too exhausted to keep up a fight or even try to make another escape.
Making his last prayers, Morty looked with fearful eyes up at the beast that was looming over him.

"What are you doing in this castle?! Why have you come here?!" the creature snarled loudly.

The boy's eyes widened. He didn't expect that this monster was able to talk nor that it would question him instead of just ripping him into tiny bits and devouring him.
That was not to say that he wasn't glad about it. Maybe his life wouldn't end now and he'd still have a chance to meet the scientist who was the owner of this castle.

"I-I'm here because I-I'm looking for my grandp— my grandfather." Morty answered, trying to be brave but failing to keep his stutter under control.

"Your grandfather? What's your—who are you?" the monster asked.

"I'm the son of Elizabeth Smith… well, her last name used to be Sanders, but it's Smith now—I'm Mortimer Smith."

"Beth's son, huh?" the monstrous beast mulled over this information.

"Do you know her?" the boy asked hopefully.

Ignoring the question the beast countered with one of his own instead "What do you want from your grandfather?"

"My mom is really sick and the doctors can't help her. My grandfather is supposed to be a genius, so I'm sure he can invent a medicine that can cure her sickness." Morty stated with a bit of desperation in his voice. "So please let me see him. Where is he?"

"He isn't here." The monster replied gruffly.

"So, he isn't home? When will he be back?"

"He won't come back."

"What?! Why? Is he dead?!" Morty started to panic again.

"He isn't exactly dead." Was the cryptic reply.

"So, he is still alive?" the boy was getting confused.

"I guess he kinda is…" the beast said in a tired voice, closing his eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?! You know what? I'll wait here till he comes back!" Morty said defiantly.

The weird stuff that this monster said was slowly starting to piss him off. He just needed to see his grandpa and convince the old man to come with him and see his mother.
The beast only looked at him for a moment as if lost in thought. It had probably started to take in his appearance only now and Morty could imagine that he looked like a mess.

His face covered in several scrapes as well as dried up streaks of tears and snot, his hair ruffled up and with a few tiny twigs and leaves sticking out of it, his cape, light-brown shirt and dark-brown pants dirty and torn in a few places and his arms also covered in scratches and dirt. On top of that, he was completely drenched.
Not exactly a good first impression, but he didn't really care all that much what kind of impression he left on the monster. If he was going to worry about leaving a bad impression on anyone, then it would be his grandfather.
However, from the looks of it, he wouldn't even to get the meet the infamous man tonight anymore.

After finishing whatever thoughts were running through its head, the beast huffed.

"Well fine, but if you insist on staying here, you better make yourself useful. This place could use a cleanup."

The monster's demeanor had turned from angry to nonchalant rather quickly as he was dismissing the boy as more of a minor inconvenience than a threat now.

"What? Do I look like a maid to you?" Morty protested.

Sure, it seemed probably also a bit rude to just invite himself in and expect to be treated like a guest, but considering that he was the grandson of the lord of this castle, he didn't think that it was too farfetched to be actually treated with respect and hospitality.

The mood of the beast swung around even quicker than before, as it turned enraged to the boy and grabbed him roughly by the scruff of his cape.
It lifted Morty up and carried him over to the doors, which opened on their own again.

"Well, if you don't want to clean up this place you might as well wait outside!" it snarled as it threw the boy out.

With a loud 'oomph' Morty landed hard on the stone path, just outside the door.

He looked back up at the beast, which still stood in the doorway, but instead of fear, there was anger in the boy's eyes now.
The brunet stood up from the ground and opened his mouth a few times, trying to find the words to start a sentence, but looking more like a fish.
The sight actually amused the monster a bit.

"You know, you-you…" Morty huffed and stuttered over his words, not sure how to express his current anger towards this beast.

"You are awfully rude!" The boy finally said.

"And you are an idiot, Mortimer!" the beast fired back.

For a moment, the two just stared at each other without saying another word.
Morty was the first to give in as he huffed and stood up again.

"Okay, fine. I guess it's only fair that if I stay here for an indefinite amount of time that I might as well help out in the house. Just don't expect me to start cleaning right away since it's in the middle of night and I was walking through the forest the entire day and had been just chased by wolves and I'm tired and hungry right now. So, will you let me in again, please?" he strained the last word and sounded pretty annoyed still.

"Fine, you can come in and stay for a while." The beast agreed after a moment of contemplation and stepped to the side.

"Thanks." Morty walked back inside and then added, "By the way, you can call me Morty."

"Well, if you feel the need to address my by a name—just call me Rick." The beast offered.

Rick, huh?
That was a surprisingly unspectacular-sounding name for such an exotic monster.
Morty didn't mind though. The name was easy enough to remember.

"If you wanna rest, you can sleep in that room, I guess." Rick said while pointing to the single door on the right, which immediately swung open without any visible force at presence.

Morty looked to the door, but then noticed that the beast was leaving in the other direction, so he asked, "Where are you going?"

"None of your fucking business." Was the rude answer as the monster left through one of the doors on the left side, which also opened without being physically touched.

Morty frowned at Rick's back as he watched him leave, but then turned back to the room that had been offered to him for the night.
As soon as he had stepped foot inside it, the door behind him slammed shut and made him jump.
He started to think that there must be ghosts inside the castle before he remembered that this was the home of a brilliant scientist, so the moving doors were probably just some part of a mechanism or something.

Since it was dark inside this room, which must be some sort of lounge room, he could hardly see any details. What he did see, however, was a big and somewhat comfy-looking armchair and a fireplace.

Morty made himself feel at home, by lighting up the fireplace and putting some firewood in it. Then he moved the armchair closer over to the open fire.
He had hardly noticed how cold he was, but now that he was sitting next to a source of warmth, he could feel how chilled his body actually was.

After sitting himself down in the chair, he took off his cape and used it like a blanket.
Morty tried to make himself feel as comfortable as possible in his current sleeping arrangement, cuddling into his makeshift blanket and ignoring his grumbling stomach as he closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long, before sleep overcame his exhausted body and took him away to the land of dreams…


AN: BTW, while it's totally unrelated to this story, I feel the need to make some advertisement for my upcoming Ricktober Challenge.
If you want to participate (or just know more about it) you can find the rules, prompts and all the details right here (on DA: [www. deviantart hope27/ journal/ Ricktober-Challenge-762149481] or on AO3: [archiveofourown works/ 15865575]). I would be delighted if some of you guys would also like to join in :)