AN: Big exposition chapter (for the most part anyways). Not sure if you're a fan of that or not, but I hope this was what you've been waiting for.
Warning: this chapter contains very graphic rape, violence, gore and death! If you have a weak stomach and/or are easily triggered, you should not read it.
Second Chances AKA The Rick One For Me – Chapter 4: His Past and New Revelations
"You don't exactly strike me as the kind of person that would just murder someone…" In his mind, Rick added though, 'Not that that would mean anything…'
He knew that looks could be deceiving and P-78 actually had a hard time trusting Mortys, but he honestly couldn't – didn't – want to believe that the boy in front of him was a heartless monster that could kill someone in cold blood.
"…Can you tell me what happened between you and your Rick?"
Again, Morty looked at him for a long time.
Then he sighed and began to retell how his life had been with his original Rick…
When Rick entered into their lives, Morty actually though that it was fun.
Sure, the scientist had been demanding, but it was nothing that the brunet couldn't deal with. He was just so elated that he had a friend for the first time and on top of it someone who shared his love for science.
However, soon the adventures and experiments stopped being fun. His grandfather became more and more imperious each day.
It was probably at the point when Morty's parents divorced that the scales tipped completely – and Rick had even confessed to him that he had staged the whole thing.
"I've taken over the family, Morty. Now you have to do whatever I want. Forever!" Rick had towered over him as he went on with his tirade.
From that point on, things had taken a turn for the worse for Morty.
Suddenly Rick had made the boy drop out of school. As things were, his mother hadn't complained about it. She practically accepted every one of Rick's decision without asking questions.
Without somewhere else to be at, he was constantly stuck to Rick's side now.
That on itself alone wouldn't have been so bad either, but unfortunately for Morty it didn't just stop there.
"Morty, take your clothes off."
There were standing in the underground lab when Rick told him that out of the blue.
"What? W-why?" he had asked back.
"Because Grandpa wants to do a little experiment. That's why, Morty!" the answer sounded gruffer than was necessary in Morty's ears.
"Aw jeez, Rick. Is it gonna hurt?"
"It will if you don't stop complaining and start stripping now!" Rick was getting aggravated fast.
Deciding that it was a better idea to just obey his grandfather, Morty dutifully removed all of his clothes till he only stood in his underwear.
Rick rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed. "The boxers, too, dipshit."
Morty bit his lip and reluctantly followed that order, too.
"Get on the table." Rick dictated next.
Again, Morty complied and crawled slowly on the examination table. He shuddered as he felt the cold metal against his warm skin.
Then he was suddenly pinned down by his grandfather who strapped him in the metallic cuffs. The scientist was handling him rather abrasively.
"Ow! That hurt, Rick! You don't have to be so rough." He complained.
"Shut up, you little shit!" Rick slapped him in the face with enough force that Morty's head snapped to the side.
The boy was in shock from the action. He didn't understand why Rick had actually hit him.
Hot tears welled up in his eyes as he could clearly feel the stinging of his red and slightly swelling cheek.
Morty tried to rapidly blink the wetness away so his vision could focus on his grandfather again.
The scientist had pulled over a table that held a tray with various surgical instruments on it.
He selected a scalpel and held it up.
"Don't worry, Morty. This won't hurt. I won't feel a thing." The grin on his face as he said that was downright sadistic.
Morty's heart threated to jump out of his throat, but at the same time wanted to plummet through his stomach.
This had to be a joke, right? Rick was just making one of his macabre jokes again, wasn't he?
That had to be. That had to be it!
Morty squirmed on the table as Rick brought the sharp instrument to the skin on his stomach.
"Quit squirming around like that you, little shit, or I'll gonna end up cutting too deep and you're gonna bleed out. You want that, Morty?"
"No, Rick. Pl-please stop!" Morty begged.
Rick only laughed. A cold, cruel laugh.
The next sound that pierced the room was a loud scream. Morty's scream of pain.
The sharp blade dug deep into his body and was parting his skin. A line of red fluid started to run down his side and slowly began to pool on the table underneath his back.
"Heh, heh. You can scream all you want. Not like anybody's gonna hear ya anyways." Rick only commented without stopping his brutal actions.
Morty continued to wail as his grandfather made a long incision all the way from beneath his ribcage down to his pelvis.
Rick placed the bloody scalpel back down on the tray and dug his fingers into the cut, prying the wound open.
Morty was hyperventilating at this point and probably close to passing out from the pain.
He felt like he couldn't breathe. Felt like his lungs were collapsing. He was sure that he was going to suffocate.
"Hey! You not gonna wimp out on me now, Morty, are you?" Rick asked as he noticed that the boy became cross-eyed.
He reached over to his little table and took a syringe with a pink liquid in it.
Swiftly he jabbed it into the boy's arm and injected the contents into the body of his grandson.
At first, the substance felt cold inside Morty's arm, but then it suddenly became searing hot.
He cried out again and noticed that he suddenly felt more awake than before. His blurry vision focused again and he wasn't sure if it was only his imagination, but he thought that he was able to feel the pain even more intensely now.
It was still hard to breathe though.
"Can't have you falling asleep before the main event." Rick commented as he threw the empty syringe back on the tablet.
Then he rearranged the lower part of the metal table so that the boy's legs were spread and moved between them before he focused his attention back on the hole on Morty's abdomen.
"Hmm, you're insides are so pretty. Such a turn on…" He hummed as he shoved his hands inside the boy's body, feeling around. "You have no idea for how long I wanted to try this out. For how long I wanted to do this to you."
One of his bloody hands left the unnatural orifice again and moved between the boy's legs, gliding over his limp boyhood and balls till it reached the opening between his lush mounds.
A lone finger briefly smeared sticky red liquid over the entrance before it slid quickly inside.
"NO! NO, R-RICK! PLEASE STOP! DON'T DO THAT! I-I-I DON'T WANT THIS!" Morty still continued to beg for mercy.
He didn't understand why Rick was doing this to him.
Had Morty done something wrong and this was his punishment? Even if he did, it couldn't have been anything that warranted something like this to happen to him, right?
He didn't know what to think of Rick's words. That he had wanted to do this for a long time already. That he had probably planned this for who knows how long.
It was scaring him.
Again, Rick merely cackled at his grandson's agony.
"Geez, Morty. If you don't loosen up a bit I'm gonna break my finger in you. Totally forgot how tight little virgins like you are…" Despite the words, he didn't seem to mind the clenching around his digit as he moved inside the snug tunnel of the boy.
"Please stop it! I don't want this!" Morty sobbed.
His pleas fell on deaf ears.
"Fuck! I really wonder how much I'll be able to see it when I fuck you." The older man wondered aloud as his other hand still dug around in the boy's intestines.
The lone finger vanished from Morty's ass, but there was no time to feel relief.
Rick's now free hand was busy opening his pants and the sound of a zipper being undone was entirely too loud in the spacious room.
There was no doubt in the brunet's mind what was going to happen to him now.
This wasn't just a sick joke but harsh and disgusting reality.
Even though his voice was becoming horse from all the noises that he made and he didn't even know where he took the energy for it and it was so hard to breathe, he screeched at the top of his lungs as he felt a new sensation of pain in his lower body.
Rick didn't give him time to adjust or anything.
Quickly he plowed into the boy's broken body again and again.
With his hands, he pried at the bleeding wound again and stared inside.
"Damn! I swear I can see my dick in your insides!"
Again, he thrusted his hand inside and fumbled around while he pistoned his hips like a maniac.
All that Morty could feel was white hot pain.
He tried so badly to just shut it all out and ignore the groaning sounds that his grandfather made, hoping he would pass out if not from the pain then from the lack of oxygen but the drug that Rick gave him made it somehow impossible.
It felt like an eternity to the boy before it was finally was over.
With some last furious jerks, the scientist stained his insides and left his body again.
"Whew! What a ride!" Rick chuckled breathlessly. "We should really do this more often. Don't you think so, Morty?"
The boy could only cough and whimper weakly in answer, being in too much pain to do anything else and still unable to get enough air into his lungs.
Rick snorted in amusement.
"I'm sure that I don't really have to tell you, but since you're such an idiot, I will do it anyways." Rick moved closer as he said that till he was practically in Morty's face. "You're not gonna tell anyone about this. Not that it would change anything. You should know better than anyone else that I'm unstoppable and no one's going to believe you anyways."
Morty only sobbed in defeat as Rick left him lying on the table like that – still naked, cut open and bleeding. He gasped like a fish on land as he still felt like something was obstructing his aiways and his body trembled from the unfathomable pain.
It took at least another half an hour before the strange medicine that he had been injected with lost its effect and he was finally embraced in the comforting darkness of unconsciousness.
By the time he woke up again, Rick had stitched him crudely back together, but Morty could still feel the pain and would forever see the scars. Be forever reminded of what had happened…
Ever since then that was what Morty's life was like.
Sometimes it happened on adventures that he was dragged to, other times it was inside the garage when no one was at home, but most often it was in that underground lab where Rick would strap him to the metal table again and cut him open or inject weird fluids into his bloodstream that burned inside his veins while his grandfather used him.
Of course, Rick would also do other things to him.
Would stick him with alien "medicine" that made Morty nauseous and vomit for hours until he was sure that his inside were no longer in his body but somewhere in the huge puddle on the floor underneath him or he would test out his weapons and lasers on him, studying the damage that they caused on his body or he would put strange lotions on him that melted his skin and flesh all the way down to the bone and patch him up half-heartedly afterwards, leaving ugly scars and bruises all over his body that would be constant reminders of the pain that he had been in. He would be doing all of those things "in the name of science" without showing an ounce of remorse.
Other times, he would just use him for his own selfish and sick pleasures and Morty couldn't even tell what he hated more because all of it hurt and he didn't want this anymore, didn't want Rick to touch him or come near him because it hurt. It hurt so much.
And there was nothing that Morty could do about it. He had no place that he could go to where he would be save – after all, Rick had a portal gun and he could go anywhere he wanted with it.
Even if Morty tried to run away to the ends of the universe, Rick would track him and follow and just drag him back and punish him for trying to escape.
And he also knew that he couldn't fight back because he couldn't even hope to do anything against his grandfather. Who would ever be able to stop Rick Sanchez?
So, trying to run or struggle was pointless.
Still, he wanted to tell someone, wanted help, wanted to be saved from this nightmare that was his life now, but he just couldn't. Aside from the fact that no one would be able to even touch Rick, he couldn't tell his mother about this – not because Rick had told him not to, but because he was so worried that it wouldn't change anything. Because he feared that she wouldn't believe him.
She would probably just side with Rick again as she always did. Like that one time when he came back home with a broken leg and she asked what had happened.
He had told her that Rick did it and when she went to question her father, he said that it happened on their adventure and Morty was just too clumsy and fell and his mother only scolded him and told him to be more careful. Even if that wasn't what had happened at all. But she wouldn't listen to him…
The brunet was slowly drained and worn down from the constant abuse.
Rick didn't allow him to sleep anymore and the only times he was embraced by the blissful darkness of unconsciousness was when he eventually would pass out after his grandfather had done too much damage to his body.
The experiments that he was forced to endure only seemed to get worse and no matter how often he searched for it in his grandfather's eyes, there was no regret or guilt. To Rick he was worth no more than a cheap, replaceable lab rat.
It drove Morty slowly to a point where he couldn't keep it together anymore.
He was starting to act irrationally defiant even if Rick wanted to make him believe that it was pointless. Even if he himself knew that it was pointless.
"Dammit, Morty! Get on the damn table! Right now!" Rick was enraged.
Morty covered his naked body with his arms even though his grandfather had seen everything plenty of times already and stood his ground. "No, Rick! You can't do this to me!"
"Of course, I can! You are my property, Morty! Without me you are nothing!"
"No! I'll-I'll—" he began to stutter.
"You'll what? You're gonna tattle on Grandpa now, Morty? Go ahead and see what happens. You know what? I can already tell you what will happen. Nothing. Because no one cares about you. I own you Morty and I can do whatever I want with you and no one's going to stop me!"
Fat tears rolled down Morty's cheeks as he still refused to move even one bit.
He didn't want to believe that Rick was right. Even if his mother allowed this to happen if she knew what exactly her father was doing to her son, she would put a stop to it. She had to!
Morty had a small sliver of hope that his family would back him up if he told them the truth. They wouldn't side with Rick if they knew all about it! They weren't such heartless monsters and just blame Morty for all of this! He really wanted to believe that.
Rick grew impatient with the boy, grabbed him and flung him on the table.
The man really didn't give a fuck about the consequences as he indulge once more in his sick pleasure while additionally punishing his grandson.
However, Morty had enough. He wouldn't keep quiet anymore. Couldn't keep it to himself anymore. Or he would end up breaking under the weight of all of this. Because Rick was breaking him. Slowly and painfully.
And so, he sought out a moment in which his grandfather was completely wasted and wouldn't notice his absence to go to his mother.
"M-mom?" he asked nervously, not sure how to tell her about the abuse that he had to endure at the hands of her father the entire time.
"What is it, Sweetie?" Beth asked back, sounding a bit tipsy already.
She was sitting on the couch in the living room, watching some TV show and in the middle of emptying a bottle of chardonnay. Ever since the divorce this was what a typical evening looked like for Beth Smith.
Morty fumbled with the bottom of his shirt and then took a deep breath.
Almost in a rush, he told everything. Told the gruesome story of what Rick had done to him and how he was treating him when they weren't sitting all together at the dinner table.
Feeling the need to show her physical proof – because he was so afraid that she wouldn't believe him otherwise – he lifted the long sleeves of his shirt and showed all the bruises and scars that he was hiding from everyone else.
Beth looked shocked and as she stared at her son's arms, she racked her brain trying to remember since when Morty had started to wear shirts with long sleeves.
After the boy was done, she stood up and took him in her arms.
"Oh, Morty." She tried to comfort him while sounding clearly shocked and upset by the revelation. "Don't worry. I won't let him do that to you anymore. I will do something about it."
Morty smiled, feeling so relieved and assured that his mother understood and actually chose him over her father in this critical situation. He had doubted that things would really go this way. He had been so afraid that this would backfire and that she would still side with Rick and just say that he was exaggerating and his imagination was too active.
But she believed him and she would support him even if it would mean that her father would vanish out of her life again and this time he would not return. Maybe this could work. Maybe she would be able to do something and make him go away. Maybe he was finally saved now.
Having gained confidence from the small positive event, Morty decided to also tell his sister about what had happened.
He knew that Summer would eventually get to hear about it and he wanted to be the one to tell her.
The red-haired girl's reaction was similar to that off her mother.
Morty had watched nervously as he saw the emotions on her face switch from shocked disbelieve to anger to concern for her brother.
"Oh, Morty. I'm so sorry that we didn't notice." She wept as she hugged him tightly.
Morty didn't blame her. He was forgiving his family, knowing that ever since the divorce they all had trouble coping with the new family situation.
At that moment, for the first in months, he was happy again. He felt loved.
And he had hope that things would change for the better now.
But how wrong he could be…
The next day while the family ate breakfast, Beth gave him a free pass to get away from Rick and out of the house by saying that Morty should go to school again.
Rick immediately perked up and threw the boy a quick glance before he began to protest about that decision, but the blonde stood firm this time.
It was odd for Morty to walk the school halls again that day, but he was glad to have at least a small piece of normalcy back.
Of course, he wasn't simply okay again because of this and he knew that it would take a lot of time and therapy sessions before he ever would be okay again, but it was a start.
Of course, as it often were with things in life that seemed too good to be true, it also was the case here.
As Morty arrived back home it was eerily silent. He felt a heavy lump inside his stomach, but tried to ignore it.
The bad feeling that he had only strengthened when he entered the parlor.
It looked like there had been a fight inside the room as it was a complete mess.
Fearing for his mother, Morty dashed without a second thought to the garage.
As he busted into his grandfather's self-acclaimed workshop, his heart almost stopped.
The sight that greeted him was a true nightmare.
There was blood everywhere including on his grandfather who sat in his swivel chair and looked like he had been waiting for him.
At the scientist's feet laid the mangled corpse of his sister and from Rick's left hand dangled the head of his mother.
A mask of true terror was etched eternally into her features.
Morty was so horrified that he couldn't move. He couldn't even cry or yell even though he really wanted to at the sight.
It was as if something inside him had died along with his family.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Morty." Rick scolded with a menacing grin on his face. "You've really done it now."
He let go of the blond mane and his daughter's head rolled over the floor. It came to a stop right at Morty's feet and her dead blue eyes stared straight into her son's wide brown ones.
The boy barely noticed that Rick stood up from the chair.
"It looks like I really need to teach you a lesson, Morty."
In just few long strides, he reached his petrified grandson and bent down to whisper directly in his ear. "Let me teach you once and for all what you are and who you belong to."
Then he grabbed the boy's wrist and yanked him towards his workbench.
Morty felt the air being knocked out of him as his stomach collided with the edge of the table. He wasn't given a break though as his grandfather was suddenly behind him.
He quickly undid Morty's jeans and pushed them together with the boy's underwear down in one move. Then he lifted the brunet's shirt up and over his head.
The clothing was then used to bind Morty's hands.
What happened afterwards was all a blur of colors and pain to Morty.
He saw the blood of his beloved family members staining the surface on that he was bent over and the bright yellow of his shirt that kept his arms immobile. Felt the familiar pain of penetration, but also a burning sensation at the small of his back.
Morty wasn't even entirely aware as it happened, but his grandfather had marked him then. He carved the words "Grandpa's bitch" in big letters into his back.
"Now everyone can see that you're my little bitch, Morty." Rick rasped and licked over the fresh cuts.
Then he cackled loudly. A maniacal laugh.
It was only broken by a loud groan as he emptied his seed inside Morty.
Rick didn't let off the boy yet though. Again, he bent over him so that he could whisper loudly into his grandson's ear.
"Listen now, you little shit and listen good! If you're gonna defy me one more time, I'm going to end you!" he threatened. "I can easily get myself a new Morty who'll actually know his place."
Morty didn't answer him. He was still too much in shock of what had happened.
The only thing that he could think about was that this was his fault.
His mother and sister were dead and it was all his fault. Because he had told them.
If he hadn't been so goddamn weak, if he would have been just able to deal with this himself, if he would have just kept his mouth shut, then this wouldn't have happened. They would still be alive, oblivious to what a monster Rick truly was.
But they were dead now and it was his fault…
From then on out even though it was unimaginable, things just got worse for Morty.
Now he didn't even had the little sanctuary left that was eating meals together on one table with the rest of the family. There was no "rest of the family" now.
It was only him and Rick. "Rick and Morty for one hundred years" his grandfather had once said. That prospect sounded worse than purgatory.
Now, that he wasn't given even the slightest pause from Rick's continues torture, Morty started to entertain the idea of taking his own life. He even tried to do it once as he had seen an opportunity for it.
Unfortunately, his grandfather found him too soon. He would always be around and didn't allow him to simply escape like that. The man saved his life as if it was nothing even though Morty hadn't wanted to be saved.
"You don't get to die unless I say so! Because I fucking own you! I control you! I'm a fucking god, don't you get that?!" He had started to ramble to him then.
Not even death was on the boy's side. He wasn't even allowed to die on his own terms. And he didn't try again afterwards. Because there was no point.
There was no escape from this hell.
Things went on like that for a while and despite everything, Morty never disobeyed his grandfather again.
In the end, things would just go worse for him if he defied Rick. If he tried to fight back or escape – no matter through which means.
However, eventually even Morty reached his final limit. The last instance before a complete breakdown. Before he really became no more than an empty shell, a living corpse, a mere zombie that didn't think, didn't feel and only followed whatever Rick wanted like a puppet that was hanging on the strings of a puppeteer.
And it was at one of the simplest requests that he snapped.
"Get in the car, Morty!" Rick demanded and jumped in at the driver's side.
Morty stood stock-still and didn't move a single muscle. He only looked at Rick through the windshield.
"N-n-no." he stuttered, but his voice sounded calm.
After the death of his mother and sister, his stutter had become abruptly ten times worse than it was before.
"What was that?" Rick asked and his eyes narrowed dangerously.
Despite the situation that he was in, Morty didn't feel fear.
The heavy weight that always settled in his stomach was gone and bravery flared up in his chest – or maybe it was something else.
The boy had no idea why he felt that way, but he stood his ground.
"I-I-I said no, R-Rick!" he repeated louder this time.
"You little shit…" Rick mumbled and climbed out of the car again. "You just never gonna learn, are you Morty? You're just a useless dumb little shit that doesn't value his own life. No sense of self-preservation…"
As Rick slowly advanced on the brunet, he retrieved his trusty scalpel from inside his lab coat again.
All courage left Morty at the sight and was replaced by panic.
What had he just done? Why was he so stupid to defy Rick? Did he really wanted to suffer so badly?
Those and similar thoughts swirled around in his head as the scientist steadily advanced on him.
'No!' he yelled inside his head.
He didn't want this anymore! But he also didn't want to die! He didn't just want to end like this and have another Morty take his place who would be forced to live through the same horror that he had faced!
He couldn't let that happen! Not to himself and not to someone else who was also basically himself!
More unconsciously than anything, Morty's body moved backwards.
However, he wasn't simply backing away to bring a distance between himself and the maniac that he was supposed to be related to. His survival instincts were finally kicking in and they were going full force.
He quickly turned around and made a mad dash for the washing machine. There was a special setting that he put the switch to and it opened a secret panel in which many of Rick's guns were stored.
The old man's eyes widened as he only now realized what the boy was up to and he dashed towards Morty, trying to stop him.
The brunet was quicker though and grabbed one of the guns.
Without even thinking about it, he quickly aimed and pulled the trigger.
A giant hole ripped through his grandfather's chest who then dropped on the ground.
Morty panted hard and lowered the plasma rifle that he had just used.
Slowly he approached the scientist that laid motionless on the floor.
He couldn't believe that he had done that.
Of course, on his many adventures with Rick, he had been forced to shoot at aliens and he had taken many innocent lives, but he would have never thought that he would end up killing his own grandfather one day.
Suddenly, Rick jumped up and lunged at him, but Morty's reflexes were better.
Before the sharp blade could bury itself in his body, the boy had shot again.
This time it blew Rick's head off.
Morty dropped the gun, knowing that not even a monster like Rick would be able to get up again with his head missing.
Wetness ran over his cheeks then and in confusion, he reached up to touch his face.
Was he really crying now? He didn't understand why.
His knees began to tremble and he sunk to the ground.
That was when realization finally sank in. He was all alone now.
No Mom, no Summer and also no Rick.
And he had killed his grandfather!
While the man may have done atrocious things to him, it still hadn't given Morty the right to just take his life.
He was sure that he would get in trouble for that. They would sent him to prison. They would sentence him to death.
Morty was ripped out of the panic attack that he didn't even realize he had when suddenly a portal opened up in the garage.
"Uh. What a mess." Commented one of the Ricks that emerged from it.
The men were all clad in a white uniform.
After that, everything happened quickly.
The Guard Ricks had apprehended Morty and brought him before the Council of Ricks.
Of course, as a Morty he would be charged for killing a Rick, but the Council seemed to be merciful with him as they reviewed his case.
"In your defense, according to our records your Rick was a complete psycho so you probably did the multiverse a favor by getting rid of him." Riq IV who was the spokesperson for the entire council announced. "So, we're willing to give you a second chance."
His second chance consisted of him being enrolled at Morty Academy so he would learn to become a better Morty for the new Rick that he would be assigned to.
And that Rick happened to be Rick P-78…
Morty finished his story with the final meeting of him and P-78.
He was practically panting at this point and not only because he had started to cry again when he retold some of the more painful memories – like the death of his family.
When had been the last time that he actually said this much?
Morty couldn't remember.
Rick, who had to listen to the entire story that was told in that horrid stutter, kept quiet.
It worried Morty and he began to gnaw on his lower lip.
"W-wha-what are y-you go-going to d-do to me n-now?" the boy loudly shared his worries. "W-wil y-you kill m-me?"
Rick P-78 probably was going to do that after getting to hear and know about everything that had happened. After all, he had killed his own Morty already so why wouldn't he kill a Morty who had openly admitted to murdering his own Rick?
"I will kill you—" Rick said in a dead serious tone. "—if you get the stupid idea to turn against me."
Again he left the boy behind in the lab with those gravely words hanging in the air.
Morty still sat in the underground lab for a while. Rick's words were still floating through his mind while his stomach felt as if it was laden with lead.
Seeing as there was no point in sitting around here any longer and on his own, he finally got up from the examination table and climbed up the ladder.
As he submerged into the garage, he could see that Rick was sitting at his workbench again and was busy working on his busted gun while cursing under his breath.
Deciding that it might be the better choice to avoid the enraged scientist, he quietly left.
As he entered the kitchen, he halted as he saw the chaos.
Since Rick had let everything drop as the gun exploded inside the garage, the room was still left in that exact state of untidiness.
Fearing that it might only make his Rick even angrier if he left it like this, Morty began to clean up the mess.
It took him a little while and just as he was done, Rick walked in.
"Oh yeah. Sorry about that." He apologized since he probably remembered only now in which state he had left the kitchen behind. "I know I said I'll cook us lunch, but I have to pick up some new materials from someone on the Citadel of Ricks. We can just eat something there if you're okay with that."
Morty only nodded and Rick opened a portal.
They arrived on Centrick square in the main atrium again and Rick was immediately asked to hand over his portal gun and other weapons.
Morty felt quite uncomfortable to be here again even if he knew that it was probably not for very long this time. However, with the Guard Ricks immediately approaching them and leading them over to one of the small booths where Rick P-78 was forced to fill out papers again, he felt like a criminal all over again. Almost like the first time that he had been brought here even though this time he wasn't cuffed.
"C'mon. Let's go." Rick said after he was finally done with the whole bureaucratic shebang.
The elder led the way to the rendezvous point that he had agreed on with the other Rick that they were supposed to meet.
It was a simple burger joint.
They sat down next to each other in a booth and waited for a bit.
Not long after, another Rick slid in the booth on the opposite side of the table.
Morty looked up and saw that another Morty was standing next to the Rick, looking bored. As the brunet threw him a glance, Morty A-22β6 looked away.
The other Morty found that strange, but didn't comment on it.
"You got the stuff?" Rick P-78 asked.
"Yeah, have it right here." The other Rick answered and put a small bag on the table. "You got what I asked for?"
"Sure." With that, P-78 also placed a small bag on the table.
The Ricks exchanged the bags and put them back into their coats again.
"Always a pleasure to do business with you, P-78." The other Rick said as he got up from his seat.
He threw Morty A-22β6 an odd glance before he left with his own Morty in tow.
The look made the brunet squirm a little and he wasn't sure what to think of it.
"So? What'cha wanna eat?" P-78 asked, figuring that they could just eat lunch here.
After some spluttering Morty decided on some French fries and a simple burger for his meal while Rick got himself a double cheeseburger and some chicken nuggets.
They ate in silence again, but somehow to Morty it didn't feel as uncomfortable as before.
Of course, he was still thinking about the words that Rick had told him:
'I will kill you if you get the stupid idea to turn against me.'
However, when sitting next to him and eating lunch, it suddenly didn't feel as much of a threat as it did before.
Basically, his words meant that as long as Morty was obedient he would be safe.
So, he'll just have to try to be a good boy and maybe P-78 would even be nice about it. After all, the man hadn't really hurt him so far and he hoped when he stayed on his good side that things would continue to be this way.
Hopefully, he was right with his assumption…
After they were done eating, they walked back towards the portal zone since Rick had no other business left on the Citadel.
As they walked over the plaza, Morty abruptly halted.
He blinked in surprise as he saw a Rick and a Morty. Now of course the entire Citadel was populated with Ricks and Mortys and many of them were bustling about, but those two caught his attention because they didn't act like the others.
The two were sitting on a bench and were busy French kissing.
At first, he had worried that the Rick was forcing himself on the boy, but with how eagerly the Morty responded it didn't look that way.
Rick had noticed that his Morty had stopped following him and turned back around.
Instead of asking him what was wrong he looked to where the boy was staring at and also saw the couple on the other side of the street making out.
A few Ricks and Mortys who passed by them made disgusted faces. Others ignored the duo completely.
Well, what those two did wasn't exactly illegal on the Citadel, but still frowned upon by some.
Since the only citizens that lived on the Citadel of Ricks were solely Ricks and Mortys, it wasn't even that unusual that romantic relationships developed between some of them. May it be that they just came from a dimension where incest was not illegal and a taboo or because most moral constructs that were custom on most versions of earth were just not applying on the Citadel anymore.
The laws regarding the treatment of Mortys had always been pretty loose, but while Ricks were generally free to do with their Mortys what they wanted, this specific change in the judicial system was really just done in favor of Mortys.
The horny little bastards just had a tendency to bond with their own kin in a more than brotherly way, often enough – and also occasionally with some of the Rick-kind – and after way too many trials were both parties were perpetrators and victims at the same time, the Council was forced to make some changes in their justice system.
So, now it wasn't punishable anymore to engage in sexual activities with minors. Self-cest was also otherwise never considered to be illegal before since it was done by Ricks plenty of times. And the whole incest issue was also wiped under a big rug.
Of course, since a few Ricks would see their chance to take advantage of those legalizations there were still laws that forbade the prostitution of Mortys and (obviously) rape.
Only as long as a Morty wouldn't actually speak up, no charges would be pressed.
However, as always there were Ricks who just didn't like to play by the rules.
Where there is a will there is a way and rumors had it that some illegal Morty brothels actually existed on the Citadel. Even if they were most likely only accessible for insiders.
"Morty, c'mon." Rick called out to the boy who still ogled the couple as if he was in a daze.
The brunet blushed and then hurried to catch up with his grandfather again.
As they went to retrieve Rick's portal gun his thoughts still lingered on what he had just discovered.
Up to this point, he would have never thought that something like Rick-and-Morty relationships of this kind were a thing.
It was a concept that sounded foreign to him and yet it picked his curiosity…
AN: As I wrote last week when I posted "The Morty-Lover" I had to take a small break from this to think about where I want to go with this story and I have a direction now even though I'm not sure if all of you are going to be on board with this. At any rate, this will have some RickxMorty some point later on, but it's not going to be Rick P-78 and Morty A-22β6 – confusing, I know, but it is as it is.
