Rick Dies at the End
Alright, peeps. This shit is going to get a whole LOT weirder and a whole LOT sadder. In order to understand the weirdness, you NEED to understand the events of chapter 7, With No Rick to Go.
In order to understand the sadness and hurt Summer will soon feel, you guys really need to think about the title of the fic as a whole. Because there is a reason it's titled 'After Many a Summer.'
ALSO, there are some heavy John Dies at the End references in here. It's all self explanatory though.
This is where my take on Rick and Morty really comes into play. Ready? Here we go.
Rick opened his eyes the next morning and groaned. The hangover felt like a balloon under his cranium, slowly being inflated, pressure mounting.
The man stood with a grimace and splashed cold water on his face. Just to feel something refreshing and instantly wish he could wash his brain free of the toxins too.
He drunk a lot. He drank when he was bitter. He drank when he angry. He drank when he was sad. He drank last night because he was happy. Summer was alive. Summer was okay and all they needed to do was find her a safe trip home.
Despite his headache, the man smiled when walking back into his room. However, he froze by the door. His dark eyes boring holes into the cover of the book that had mysteriously righted itself upon his bed.
It was Summer's book, he'd recalled. Her favorite and the first chapter book she'd ever read. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.
It had always been her favorite book by Aldous Huxley. She told him that it explained the story of a man who feared his impending death.
And that small notion was ironically weird because Summer had feared her own impending death.
And that small notion was ironically weird because it had appeared upon his bed. The man looked down the hall, but saw no one.
With a sigh, he walked forward, grabbing the book with haste and sitting down.
He opened it and smiled softly at Summer's neat 12 year old handwriting lying beneath the novel's summary.
If you're always scared of dying, you'll surely die. Fear's a poison; and not such a slow poison either.
Unexpectedly, the pages began flipping violently and wistfully, breezing Rick's sodden face.
"What the hell?" He muttered aloud. This whole morning had been odd so far and he prayed to no one that it was just the hangover.
But when the pages stopped at the very last of them, his eyes widened to comedic proportions. There was Summer's handwriting again. But the ink upon the pages was still new, wet like honey and dew on grass.
I'm still here, it read.
And just as the pages had been flipped, the words started writing themselves.
You shouldn't have touched this book with your bare hands, grandpa.
He made a motion to place the book down, but the next words scribbled onto the pages quickly, rapidly, sloppily.
No, don't put it down. It's too late. They're watching you. It's me, Summer. Although he didn't move his head, the man's eyes went around the room with a flitter.
You may not want to know about the things you'll read, about the my death, about Planet Thry, about the kidnap, and the future. But it's too late. You touched the book. You're in the game. You're under the eye. Our only defense is knowledge. You just have to trust me.
The important thing is this: The drug is called liquid crystals and it gives users a window into another dimension. It takes us away.
For the past months, we have been living a lie. There are terrible events and a very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result. Only I can stop this. So you have to trust me. None of this is our fault.
The words vanished and Rick stood hastily. He didn't understand.
Well of course he understood because he was Rick, but What. The. Fuck?
It was Summer mysteriously writing in that book. He felt it. He knew it. But there were so many questions.
How was she able to write in the book?
Who was watching them?
How were the past months a lie?
And when the hell did she surpass him?
A ringing sound broke his thoughts and he stared at the phone shifting with vibrations on his bed.
Grabbing it, he picked up, never fearing. "Who is this? And what fucking game are you playing here?"
"Grandpa, Rick. It's me, Summer. Don't say my name out loud. They're listening."
He halted. She sounded odd and afraid as if some crazy shit was going on. And yet, there was that underlying Summer determination she always held in her. The one where she knew what to do and only death could keep her from doing it.
"What the fuck is going on?"
"Have I contacted you in the past months?" She asked. "Have I contacted you any type of way since I was killed on Thry?"
Since I was killed on Thry.
Since I was killed on Thry.
Since I was killed on Thry.
The sentence replayed in his head like some record. What was she saying? He, Scaunchy, and Birdperson rescued her from that piece of filth on Thry.
"What ar-"
"Have I, grandpa?"
"We rescued you from Thry. You've been with me ever since."
"Shit." She hissed into the phone. "They're closer than I thought."
"I'm the smartest man ever and I- I don't know what the hell is going on." He admitted honestly.
There was an unbearable silence that made his ears sting. It was so loud and hurt so much.
"Everything is a lie, grandpa. I've been trying to tell you that since I got killed on Thry."
A pale hand rubbed across a paler forehead. "Why do you ke- eurp- ep saying that? We rescued you."
"It wasn't me. I'm not sure how much of it you know, but there was some thing named Aiden that tried helping. He had your hair and Morty's eye. But it was all the federation's plan to get closer to us. He killed me. They were using that clone of me to get even closer to you."
Seven deep breaths were inhaled and few came out. "Yesterday, you called me and said you were alive."
"She wasn't real. Nothing has been real. Oh gosh." There was some shuffling and Rick was sure Summer sniffed away her tears a few times.
"What is it?"
"It's been so long since I heard your voice." The girl sobbed in broken whispers. "I tried calling you. I tried to tell you that I was stuck. I hacked into the fake Summer a few times, but they decided to kill her too so I wouldn't."
Rick sat slowly. "Sweetie please go over this again. From the beginning. When did it all start?"
"From the beginning?" She asked quietly.
"From the beginning."
Summer's eyes fluttered open slowly. She still felt tired, as if she hadn't slept in a very long time. Some clinking noises of glass and machinery didn't fully wake up, but it caught her attention.
Because then and only then did she notice the pain all over her body. The taste of blood in her mouth. The restraints around her arms and legs. The nakedness. Nothing but her panties hanging onto her.
She turned slowly, finding a man with a coat on by a computer. He was still as if he knew she was awake.
"I didn't want to kill you. Not at first at least. We wanted your grandfather. But then we figured out you were just like him."
Aiden turned with a disturbingly soft grin, his eyes feigning shock at the sight of her tears.
"Summer calm down. I'm not that hideous." He grabbed a hammer and a cup of liquid crystal.
"Please." She begged, voice broken. "Please don't hurt me."
He stared at her, biting his lip. "You're going to die today. Not really, but yeah. You're going to be spiritually stuck on this world while something is going to take your place."
"No pleas-"
"Woah. Chill out. The last thing that'll hurt is this hammer to your hand. That's just to get your grandfather's attention. Once I put these crystals on you, death's gonna be easy."
"Plea-" her own curdling scream interrupted as he slammed the hammer down. It hurt so much, but after a while she couldn't feel anything.
Aiden laughed. "Calm down, Summer. This'll be quick."
Because just as he dumped the entire bottle of liquid crystal on her breasts, she felt like she'd exploded. She felt like all the energy in her came forth at once. She felt like she'd died.
There was nothing to see in the darkness, but her hearing senses had been heightened so much that she could hear her grandpa's voice and then some gunshots.
And then something frightened her. The silence took over. There was nothing. She was gone.
"Hello." She yelled. "Somebody!"
The girl whimpered, crouching and covering her naked body. "Please." She whispered.
Rick melded the story in his mind for a while. All this time, whoever was after them had been using some sort of clone of Summer to get to Rick.
To get to him was one thing. To use his granddaughter's genitalia was a whole other war. If the federation were smart, they'd know he eliminated an entire race because of that.
"What was the point of killing her then?"
"Grandpa. I've been stuck on Thry for months now. If I didn't get even more intelligent, what would that make me? I hacked her, grandpa."
"You what? So you were really here? When?"
"They made my clone request an adventure for liquid crystals. They were going to make her kill you. But I hacked her. Started spurting some shit about not feeling like myself. Said I felt weird. But I made the federation think that I was going to say something."
"So you just told us you knew how you were going to die?" He asked, nearly proud of her.
"Yup. And that lay them off of you. It gave me just enough time to tell you."
"Tell me what?"
"That I'm alive."
"You told me yesterday."
"No I didn't. At least not the real me."
Rick sighed, rubbing his head. "How am I supposed to trust this you?"
"Because I'm risking my life to keep you safe. They said if I keep helping you, they'll kill me. I'll be in touch."
With that the line went dead. After that, he really didn't know what to do. Here he was, having just been told that his granddaughter was alive and the one that had died wasn't his. Having just been told that the Federation was this close to taking him out.
What was he supposed to do, though? Summer knew more at the moment. He was supposed to follow her lead, but that didn't stop this feeling in his heart.
The feelings of knowing this situation all too well. It never happened to him personally, but he'd seen it before. He was closely related to it.
Did Summer know he'd been through this before? Did she resent him for not taking action?
The memories grew too strong. Rick held his head and walked to the kitchen slowly. He could only hear silence. And he supposed that's how it was.
They'd thought Summer was happy, but once more, she ran away.
Morty was probably devastated. Rick froze by the door. "Ah...shit."
The Smith family looked up, confusion upon their faces. Beth's brow raised just a little. "Dad, what's wrong?"
"I just forgot. I really need to show Morty something.
Jerry stood, anxious. "Is it about Summer? Do you know where she is?"
Morty put his head down with sadness and Rick shook his head. "No. But I'll find her. And this time I'm goi-eurp- ng to kick her ass for leaving again. Morty."
The boy followed him out into the garage. When safely inside, Rick grabbed something from the counter and pressed a small button.
One that made the birds stop flying. The cars stop moving. The humans stop breathing.
The teen's soft eyes widened. "Why'd you- why'd you freeze time again, Rick? What's going on?"
Rick sighed. "Summer's alive. And spare me the questions please because even I still have to figure this out."
"Aww geez, what?" But he was smiling and that was the only question he had.
"Supposedly, she's spiritually stuck on planet Thry and we'll have to follow her lead to get yet back. But the Galactic Federation is behind all this. They've been trying to catch me for years."
Morty seemed to mold the situation over and nod. "But if they found Summer, that means they find you. What's the point of putting my sister into all the trouble just to get to you?"
Rick's mouth went dry. That was it. The thing he'd been carrying for years on end. Something he'd hoped to bury deep down with all the people he'd so wrongly killed.
For seventeen years, it happened. And in those years, he'd watched.
The regret would come to him in quiet moments, such as when he was going to sleep or stopped to take a lunch break. It would seep to the foreground of his mind and demand to be reexamined again.
And Morty was so much like his father that Rick thought this question would come later in life. But here it was. Morty nearly got it. Morty had almost figured out the puzzle.
He could have admitted to his own crimes with guilt, hoping that Morty would understand and forgive him. He could have told Morty that it didn't matter if Summer was alive now. She would be dead by the end of the day.
She would be dead. And he move forward. Because like the tides crashing onto sand, it had happened before.
"What happened before?" Morty's question broke his stupor and he stared at the boy.
It happened, Morty. She'd died before. Countless times she'd died. And if she died today, happening again wouldn't matter to me anymore.
"Nothing." He muttered.
Morty watched him, seemingly unconvinced. Rick wondered if he could see through his lie. See his guilt that would soon expand tenfold. But he said nothing about it.
Summer looked up at the twin suns of planet Thry and wiped her sweaty forehead.
She was a prisoner, living the same day for months as if time had frozen. When Aiden killed, it took her just weeks to realize she wasn't really dead. Just partly.
She'd been roaming Thry for days on end, skin getting burned slightly by the heat, when she encountered a pack of Thry's zombies.
And surprisingly, they hadn't tried ripping her to shreds. In fact, they didn't even advance. Not even when she walked by.
At the moment in frozen time, she walked idly for no reason after contacting her grandfather.
"What brings you out here?"
The voice was one of the federation's workers, a frequent visitor always trying to get into her mind and find things.
She turned with a glare and he looked away from her naked body. "What happened to the coat I gave you?"
"Why are you bothering me?" She spat.
The bug sighed, choosing to walk around her before answering.
"I can admit that the Federation has done some horrible things to you, Summer, but you should know we aren't the only monsters here."
She stared incredulously. "I've done nothing wrong."
Almost sadly and with remorse, he smiled at her. "I wasn't talking about you."
He sighed. "I'll admit that we want you because you're just as much as a threat to our organization as he is, maybe even more. But you're the innocent one. For seventeen years, you've been on the receiving end of all the bads things. And your hero has done nothing about it."
"What are you talking about?"
"It isn't my place to admit another man's faults, but know this. Your grandfather's going to hear about your death soon. And he's going to move on. Because after so many years, it doesn't surprise him anymore."
Still she said nothing.
"Think about it, Summer. You can die a hero to make up for what he put you through. What he put all of you through."
Summer sighed, her chin resting against her chest as she thought it over. And then out of her mouth came the words he'd been pushing for all these months. Out of her mouth came the words of desire.
"Okay. I'll give you the codes of our safe."
"Hold that thought." He raised a finger, pulling a small notepad and pen from the back pocket of his suit. "Okay go."
"The code is my birthday and DYSFUN-5113. That's 06-21-2000 DYSFUN-5113."
The bug smirked, or Summer imagined since she couldn't exactly place his lips. "Cute. He even has your birthday in a code of one of the most desired places the federation has praised. He really does love you. And considering our history with him, it's a little surprising."
He placed a hand on his ear. "Alright guys, we got her. Pull me out."
They waited for some time before Summer yawned.
"Guys?"
"If you loved your life, I praise you. Hey, since I'm about to die, can you tell me what's going on?"
The bug laughed. "It's actually pretty funny really. This is a simulation. We aren't on Thry. We're on a federation ship. I'm hooked up to you."
"Ah. So you're across from my living corpse. And as a federation soldier, your gun would be hooked to the left side of you. Yeah, in these months, I've noticed you were left handed." She mused. With a soft smile, she waved. "Thanks."
The image around them began to tear apart and so did Summer. The bug looked around before his mouth formed an oh.
"What have you done?" He asked.
With a lot of attitude, the girl placed both hands on her hips. "Did you really think it would work? Come on, you said yourself. I'm a threat."
"Guys, it's a trick. Pull me out. Hurry up."
When the image disappeared, Summer waved one last time. The next time her eyes opened, she was sitting in a chair, wires hooked to her head.
Across from her, the visitor lay too, his eyes closed. She looked around slowly, watching a few other bugs in uniform high five each other, before her eyes finally landed on her visitor's left waistband.
The gun.
Leaning forward, she grabbed hold of it, shooting the other five occupants of the room.
"Fuck" she hissed, head swaying as she stood on legs that had been asleep for months.
Realizing she was still partially naked, the girl grabbed some clothing off a soldier and slipped out of the room.
She didn't know how long it would take to creep off the highly surveillanced ship, but there was one thought gnawing at her heart and mind.
What did grandpa do that was so wrong? And how has this happened before?
They'd been waiting hours for Summer's call, just sitting in the garage of their frozen dimension for a while.
"So Summer's book was just sitting there?" Morty asked once again.
"Yup."
"Rick. You're acting weird. You're scaring me. What's going on? What happened?"
Would it matter of he told the boy. It was the least he owed him. It happened before. And Summer would be dead soon.
"I've done some things." He muttered, grabbing his flask.
Morty rubbed his arm. "I- I-I don't know, Rick. You've always done things."
"No. These things were horrible. Tell me Morty, do you remember any weird occurrences in Summer's life growing up?"
"I don't like whe-"
"Just tell me, Morty."
"Geez, I don't know. If by weird, you mean how the kids at school used to joke about her being a ghost?"
"Why?"
"I don't know. I guess it's because no one could find her. She was always erased from some sort of data or something. Like our first day of school, she couldn't ride the bus because she was erased from our school records. Sometimes she missed doctor appointments because they'd be erased from record after a while. Even summer camps couldn't find her on the books."
Rick raised a hand, having heard enough. "I get it. I need to tell you something."
He and Morty stared at one another for some time before the boy's eyes widened. "You did it, didn't you? You kept erasing Summer from records."
"Only to protect her." He stood, opening a portal to a familiar dimension. "Come on. I want to show you something."
Morty followed the old man into the portal, staring at the raggedy streets and homes they went down.
They ambled through the narrow lane between several fleets of bungalows and chalets on either side cemented with an uneven stretch of glossy, varnished cobblestones.
It had been three years since Rick last visited and still the streets seemed touched by the usual hustle and bustle.
Several blotches and stains of coffee and brown colored sludge were splattered over the walls of homes. There were steep stone steps leading towards the bungalows obstructed by lofty gates made of flaking rusty iron.
"Why are we here?" Morty asked nervously.
After walking a few more yards, Rick saw a cluster of tall beech trees through which streamed of golden light pierced through the space between the leaves,and behind them stood the great white pillars made of marble glistening in the sunlight making it impossible to look directly at.
It was beautiful because he made it specially for her.
They kept walking, Morty growing even more confused.
"A cemetery…" he whispered.
Despite the stereotypes, the cemetery was peaceful. Beautiful even with the morning dew upon the grass shining like crystals on his mom's jewelry.
It was beautiful down to the geaves. They were a jumble of stones, as if the burial places were chosen by throwing the shovel in the air and digging where it landed. They sat at jaunty angles to one another, no two of them the same shape or size. The only thing that tied them together was their age, all of them over a decade.
Morty read a few of the graves but froze after seeing the same thing for the seventh time.
All of the dead in the cemetery had different deaths over the span of ten years.
But there was something that made him finally look at the guilt and grief in Rick's eyes.
There were more than one hundred graves in the jumbled cemetery. But each consisted of the same writing.
S.S
June 21, 2000-
S.S
June 21, 2000-
Morty covered his mouth, the prior memories coming back to him.
After Many a Summer
After Many a Summer
Dies the Swan
All of these buried people were the same person; Summer.
"Rick...you knew about this gravesite?"
Rick crouched down, scraping a dark spot from one of the gravestones.
"I didn't just know about it. After I found out they were just killing her to get to me….I made it."
So now you understand the title. After Many a Summer deals with all the death of Summer in different dimensions. And Rick just admitted it was all his fault. However, why is there so much guilt? And now that Summer's out, what will happen? How's Morty going to take standing between one hundred graves, all of which are his sister? Review to find out. :)