A/N: This is my first Rick and Morty fanfic so please don't be too harsh! So I think the cover art pretty much gives away what this is going to be about... I will do my best to update at least once a week but as you all probably know life often gets in the way, so I don't want to promise anything and then leave you hanging! This may get dark at some point...but this is Rick and Morty after all! What else were you expecting?

Green ominous portals appearing on walls or occasionally on either ceilings or the floor had long ago stopped surprising the Smith family. As soon as the faint green light illuminated their pale faces Beth would look at it with mild annoyance on her face (clearly trying to suppress her congenital curiosity and fascination), Summer would raise her eyebrows and Jerry would either sigh angrily or mutter a curse word under his breath.

Each time the portal appeared Morty's heart would skip a beat as he braced himself for another extraordinary adventure. Sometimes it was Rick dragging a half-alive alien into his garage to harvest its organs just because some if its tissue was psychedelic and he could smoke it. Sometimes he was only stopping by to take Morty to another dimension to bring down an authoritarian government (or establish it in some cases) or do other incredible things. Other times they would find the version of Earth on which people never evolved from cavemen and treated Rick and Morty like gods.

They would laugh at those people and relax separating themselves from mundane every-day tasks or evil constantly chasing after them. Morty loved these rare moments of bliss the most as he could spend time with his grandpa and trick himself into thinking that Rick actually cared about him.

This time though it was different. Out of the green substance emerged Rick, but as soon as Morty laid his eyes on him, he knew it was not the Rick he identified as his grandpa. This one was not wearing his lab coat but instead he had a white uniform on and black gloves. And when he looked at Morty his eyes were different somehow, even if they were still the same cold ones.

"Hey, where's your Rick?" The familiar stranger asked directing his words at Morty. His eyes narrowed as if whatever it was that he wanted couldn't possibly mean anything good for anyone.

"Excuse me? Rick? What is going on?" Jerry asked from his spot at the table with a fork stuck mid-air, between his mouth and the plate. "What is this supposed to mean?"

Rick pulled out his hip-flask and took a long sip before burping ostentatiously. He wiped his mouth with his sleeve and glared at Jerry. "Even if I told you, your mentally challenged brain wouldn't catch on, so be a good sport and go back to dusting your coins or whatever." He said dismissively before turning back to Morty. "Where is Rick?" He repeated slowly, as if tasting each and every word on his tongue.

"Agh, ugh…" Morty stumbled over his worlds, not quite able to understand what was going on himself. "In the garage, I guess." He said, already used enough to the weird things happening to him not to question why his grandpa dressed in a weird outfit wanted to talk to his grandpa. He remembered Rick telling him many times that most dimensions had their own versions of the two of them, so it had to be Rick from some weird world where clothes like that were normal.

"Alright, the bastard's here." Rick said and immediately another two Ricks emerged from the portal. Morty just stared at them wide-eyed occasionally blinking as three equally terrifying versions of his grandfather walked towards the garage.

"What…who does he think he is?" Jerry said angrily raising his voice. "I can't stand him anymore! Why have I done to deserve to live in such hell?" He whined, his face getting slightly red.

"Chill out, dad." Morty said standing up from the table and abandoning his plate full of delicious food. "I'm going to see what's going on." He said before he heard the sounds of fighting.

As scared as he was to see what mess Rick had gotten himself into he walked through the living room to see the other versions of his grandfather try to handcuff the original Rick. "Leave me alone, you stupid motherfuckers!" He said before kicking one of them in the groin area.

Noticing Morty standing at the door he grabbed the portal gun and tried to use it but one of the Ricks threw himself at him making them both stumble to the floor. Morty quickly ran towards them wanting desperately to do something to help Rick. "Oh, Jeez, Rick. What do I do?" He asked looking over the counters in search for something he could use as a weapon.

But the other Rick already got his hands on him, trying to put some weird handcuffs around his wrists. "Grab it." Rick called tossing the portal gun towards his grandson. It landed right next to him but before the boy could do anything one of the Ricks in the uniform wrapped his arms around his waist trying to drag him away.

"You are under arrest. Don't fight us. It's entirely pointless." He said but Morty somehow found enough strength to get out of his hold and fall onto the floor. He could see his Rick fight two other Ricks in the corner of his eye but for now he had to ignore it. Instead he crawled towards the portal gun as fast as he could, doubling his efforts in order to work with Rick still trying to hold him back. "Hey, the Citadel will rip your balls out one way or another. Your efforts won't mean anything." Morty ignored his words and grabbed the gun.

He looked over at his Rick, searching for some kind of tip as to what to do. But he was too busy fighting off two other Ricks. He needed to type in the dimension code so he randomized it (he had no idea why Rick even had that option) and the green portal appeared in front of his face. "No matter what shithole you chose to hide in we will find you."

"We'll see about that." Morty said, struggling to make his way over to the portal. He felt his ankle being held back so he couldn't quite get there but then his ankle was suddenly free and he saw his very own Rick walk into the portal.

"C'mon, Morty!" Rick called after him. "These idiots are going to wake up eventually." Morty took a brief look at the scene behind him, at three identical Ricks lying unconsciously on the floor and followed Rick into the green doorway to another dimension. "What the fuck, Morty?" He heard Rick ask as his eyes adjusted to the bright light suddenly shining right into his eyes.

Morty blinked his eyes a few times before realizing where he had sent them. They were in the middle of a dessert with dark green sand instead of yellow. And it wasn't hot. It was unbelievably cold even though two suns were shining brightly on the sky. "Well…I'm not sure." The boy admitted scratching his head and looking at his surroundings in confusion.

Rick sighed loudly going through his pockets. "Give me the portal gun, Morty."

Morty's eyes widened out when he realized that he wasn't holding the device anymore. A cold shiver ran down his spine as he looked into his grandpa's unforgiving eyes. "Rick…I…I think I must have left it there."

For a brief second Rick was completely silent as Morty waited for him to blow up and yell at him. But instead the old man's face relaxed as he pulled out his hip-flask and took a long sip. "Congratulations." He said. "You just killed us both."

"Well, I'm sorry for not thinking straight while your clones were attacking us!" Morty yelled, unable to agree that it was all his fault.

"Those were not…ugh…why do I even bother?" Rick took another drink of his liquor, his voice still remaining calm.

"I'm sure there's something you can do!" Morty rushed to say, the panic raising his voice an octave or two. "Can't you just make a new one or something? You're the smartest man in the universe after all!"

"Are you a fucking moron, Morty?" Rick asked sharply, his drool slowly dripping from his mouth. "Who do you think I am? How am I supposed to build the most desirable device in every single dimension using just sand that looks like it's been mixed with some disgusting alien's green shit?"

Morty ducked his head wrapping his arms around his torso trying to protect himself at least in some way from both harsh weather and his grandpa's words. "I'm sorry."

"Well, your sorry won't save us." Rick said taking a gun that only now Morty noticed had been hooked to his belt. He looked at it closely and reloaded it.

"What do we do now?" Morty asked, desperately needing to hear some kind of reassurance.

"We walk." Rick said looking into the distance with narrowed eyes. "We walk and hope we come across some kind of civilization before I run out of alcohol."

Without another word Rick started walking ahead. Morty quickly followed him feeling guilt eat at his insides. Because of him they were in a place that could possibly be completely lacking in intelligent life forms. Or maybe there were life forms that would kill them in one swift move without the two of them even knowing what was going on.

Morty felt like crying. Like he had screwed up so badly that Rick would never trust him with anything again. He looked at the old man but his eyes were a puzzle that he couldn't solve. He was never able to read his emotions, if he had any.

As they walked in silence Morty felt like his legs were slowly giving up. His spirit was breaking and the coldness was overpowering. While on the other hand despite the weather Rick seemed to be doing fine. As if they were still in their warm house. The man looked over at his grandson and held his gaze for a moment before he took off his lab coat and tossed it at Morty.

The boy caught it out of instinct, surprised that Rick would sacrifice his own well-being for him. "Thanks, Rick." He said with a soft smile putting it on. Even though the coat was too long for him and it wasn't all that warm or pleasant, it still managed to make him feel slightly less miserable.

"Wouldn't want the cold to kill you before the possibly murderous creatures inhibiting this planet get the chance." He said, so clearly wanting Morty to think that he didn't care about him at all. "Or other versions of me for that matter."

"Why are they even chasing you? What is this all about?" Morty asked, suddenly remembering how bizarre the whole situation in the garage had been.

"I don't care." Rick said taking another sip out of his hip-flask and burping loudly. "They have a lot of reasons to chase me. Now I need to hide somewhere." He looked over at Morty. "But for that I need the fucking portal gun."

Morty looked away again, cursing himself for not being smart enough to help Rick. The thought that they could never see their family again almost caused him to cry but he quickly chased it away when he remembered who exactly he was stuck with. He looked at the world surrounding them and hoped that something out there would help them get home.