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Chapter 19

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Morty stared silently up at the ceiling as he tried to fall asleep. He had been tired this morning when he arrived here. He was still tired... But he was too nervous to sleep. He supposed it would be a little while still before any Ricks tried to adopt him. There were twenty-eight other Mortys already here when he arrived. They'd been here longer than he had. Most of them would probably go first.

He could probably stand to calm down and stop feeling nervous for a little while. Since the Ricks did background checks and required references, Morty would probably get a pretty good heads up before any Ricks wanted to adopt him. He could worry then.

Blinking as he stared up at moonlight shining in through the room's window, Morty listened. It occurred to him now that he didn't even know what planet he was on. It wasn't earth, because he could see two different moons outside and the sky had a weird glowing purple look.

It was strange how big the universe had gotten once his grandpa had come back into his life... and yet another part of his world had disappeared entirely. Morty didn't always see eye to eye with his mom, dad, or sister, but he loved them, and he was pretty sure they loved him too. Rick didn't... Morty still loved his grandpa, but it didn't look like his grandpa loved him back...

So Morty went from hanging out in pretty much one tiny town on one tiny planet, with three family members who loved him, to traveling through space and dimensions, seeing different planets and aliens... but having no family left - not any real family - not family who cared if he got hurt, who wanted to see him happy.

Morty frowned when he heard movement in the bed below him. It sounded like blankets being dragged off the bed. He pulled himself over to the edge and quietly watched as Morty XB-4 bunched up his blankets and pillow into his arms and carried them over to the closet, quietly opening the door, throwing the bedding inside, stepping in, and closing the door behind him.

Morty breathed out and shook his head. He couldn't blame that Morty for being kind of weird if he really did watch his Rick being eaten alive. That was all kinds of fucked up. What happened to Morty Q-405 was rough, but at least he didn't have to watch his grandfather die. Maybe his Rick didn't give a damn about him, but Morty didn't want his grandfather to die. He loved Rick... in a weird, undeserved way.

As he sat in the dark, still, quietness of the room, Morty heard a soft sniffling sound, which slowly turned into tiny whimpering cries. Morty frowned, furrowing his brow as he sat up and looked toward the closet. He wished there was something he could do. He felt really bad for the other Morty.

He imagined the Ricks here had tried their best with the strange, non-verbal Morty, but could also picture the potential of them being insensitive by accident, telling this traumatized, grieving young boy that a new Rick would fix everything, failing to understand that his Rick was an individual person who he loved... who couldn't be replaced.

Even Morty Q-405 felt a little weird about potentially going home with another Rick... even a nice one. Even the three who lived on the star ship, who he pretty much begged to take him with them. His own Rick was still his grandfather, and as much as the man scared Morty, Morty still loved him, still wanted to make him proud, to be accepted and loved back...

When the cries and sniffling continued, Morty decided maybe he could just talk, let the other Morty know he wasn't alone, that Morty was here if he needed someone to talk to, to hug, to sit with... just a shoulder to cry on.

"M-Morty?" Morty whispered.

A soft gasp came from the direction of the closet. Maybe he didn't know Morty Q-405 was awake. The crying stopped entirely as soon as Morty spoke.

"It's okay that you're upset..." Morty went on. "I can't say I understand how you feel, because I don't... But you're hurt and scared and devastated, and that's fine... You don't have to hide it from me. A new Rick isn't going to fix or undo everything you went through..."

Morty XB-4 remained completely silent in the closet. Morty wondered if he was listening, if he even had the capacity to hear and understand other people. Maybe he was so traumatized he couldn't even focus enough to comprehend language anymore...

"I don't know how your Rick treated you... But mine was always really mean, and I still love him... I can't imagine any Ricks are perfect... I'm sure there were times you felt like you just hated him... But he's Grandpa Rick... Your Rick... He was special... I couldn't possibly know how it feels to be you right now..." Morty went on. "I know you don't talk, but if you did ever want to, I'll listen."

The other Morty still didn't answer. Morty didn't expect him to.

"I know I like to have someone to talk to... Especially someone who won't complicate things... Mortys are good for that. I'm sure you know... We're good listeners... But we don't try to help when we know there's no way to help..." Morty noted. "I'll tell you my story if you want... M-maybe you can knock on the door if you want to hear it... But you don't have to. I can shut up if you want."

Morty stared at the door. Maybe the other Morty wouldn't have any interest at all in hearing Morty Q-405's life story. Maybe he was being stupid even suggesting to tell it. Morty figured it might make this other version of himself feel a little less alone, to hear that other Mortys had suffered too - not in the same exact ways... but every Morty here was here for a reason. Their Ricks were gone.

Morty Q-405 also kind of wanted to get some of his own trauma out of his head. Who better to tell than a Morty who refused to say anything back? He could seriously tell this Morty absolutely anything and everything. The kid wasn't going to verbally judge him or repeat it.

When Morty XB-4 never knocked on the door, Morty exhaled and laid back on his bed. That was okay... The Morty hiding in the closet right now had enough to worry about in his own life. Maybe misery didn't love company as much as Morty thought.

His ears perked up however, when he heard a soft knock coming from the closet.

Morty sat up, blinking a few times. "You do want me to tell you?" He whispered.

Another soft knock sounded from the other side of the door.

"Okay..." Morty smiled slightly. "It's not really a good story... b-but maybe it'll have a good ending. Maybe yours will too." He breathed. "My Rick was really mean... He got meaner after Mom, Dad, and Summer died... but he was always mean." Morty explained. "He blew up the house on accident and they were in it... I hope it was an accident at least..."

Morty swallowed as he stared at the closed door, suddenly wondering if it really was possible that Rick killed his family on purpose... There was a time when Rick hit Morty across the face and he had a huge bruise on his cheek... Morty's mom was suspicious and asked Rick about it. Morty's dad really hated Rick too, and wasn't afraid to show it. Maybe Rick really did kill them on purpose, so he could do whatever he wanted to Morty without anyone asking questions.

Blinking when he heard another knock against the closet door, Morty shook those thoughts out of his head.

"Sorry... I just... was thinking... I hope he didn't do it on purpose..." Morty whispered. "Anyway... Things weren't good. Rick didn't like me. He'd yell at me, hit me... for any little thing. He always said he didn't love me, or even like me... but I didn't believe it. Not until a few days ago. We went to a planet where he was gonna buy this really valuable energy stuff from a sultan, and I had the money, but I lost it when a monster attacked me... Rick sold me to The Sultan since I lost the money." Morty frowned.

The closet door creaked open about an inch, but Morty couldn't see the other Morty. He bet the other Morty could see him though.

"I mean... Obviously I didn't want to be sold... The Sultan said he wanted me to stay with him for four days, and he... Well... He tried to pull my pants down..." Morty breathed nervously... "And I even told Rick that. I ran from The Sultan and found Rick, and I told him what happened. I thought that would be the big thing... the thing where he'd prove that he really did love me... I thought he'd be mad at The Sultan... But he wasn't. He was mad at me... Mad at me for telling The Sultan no and being difficult... I refused to go with The Sultan, because I knew he was going to hurt me... Rick dislocated my arm and hit me... and left me there..."

Morty stared into the darkness of the ajar closet door. He knew the other Morty was probably watching him, but he didn't make any further movement or noise.

Morty closed his eyes and exhaled, feeling his heartbeat quicken as he retold his story. He hadn't really told it in this much detail before. Somehow it was a lot easier to talk about it to another Morty. Kind of like writing it in a journal... It was practically his own self listening, so he could be honest, say how he really felt, not try to be brave or hide any part of it he was ashamed by. This Morty probably felt weak and dumb a lot of the time too. He wouldn't think Morty was an idiot for getting into all this trouble. He wouldn't think Morty was being dramatic when he claimed to be upset and scared by all of it.

"Right when Rick left me there, one of the Sultan's guards came and and tried to do the same thing. He took off my pants and started shoving his hand under my underwear... I panicked and ran, but he caught me... and there was another guard with him, and they were gonna take me back to the castle, but then Regular-Rick 2, Scar-Cheek Rick, and Fat-Rick showed up and saved me..." Morty explained. "But then different guards or soldiers or something attacked us, and two of them got onto the ship and tried to steal me back, but they were gonna do other things too... L-like sexual things... I guess that's like on everyone's mind on that planet, because three different people there tried to hurt me like that. The one that got onto the star ship did the most. Or I guess he did the worst thing. H-he held me down and pulled down my pants and underwear... A-and he shoved his finger in my butt. I know that sounds weird and gross and kinda dumb, but it was really scary. I think he wanted to do even worse things but they were gonna take me back to The Sultan and didn't want to hurt me too bad because I guess The Sultan wanted to be the one to do it. But I got away from them before they could take me back. Scar-Cheek Rick killed them... But the Sultan and my Rick are still out there, and I worry that they might come back and take me..."

Morty breathed in a deep breath after rattling off that entire story without really taking much of a breath during. "It was really scary... And then I tried to run away again because I was scared to come here... Big fucking mistake. I accidentally went to a cannibal planet." He shuddered. "They were like a minute away from actually killing me and eating me. They ripped all my clothes off and were grabbing and feeling... Seeing which parts they wanted to eat, I guess... But the three Ricks saved me from that too. This organization they have might feel kind of scary and uncertain, but I think they might know what they're doing. I hope so."

The other Morty remained silent. Morty Q-405 wondered if the other version of himself was really listening, what he thought... He couldn't judge the story too harshly. He was here too. He was a Morty. He probably got beaten up, or almost got killed, eaten, raped, or something else intense and insane on a daily basis too. Mortys seemed to attract danger.

"Anyway... It's been a long couple days for me." Morty shrugged, closing his eyes and laying back on his bed. "Maybe that's not very helpful to you... I mean, you still had to watch your Rick die, and that fucking sucks... I j-just wanted you to know you're not suffering alone... All the Mortys here lost something, in a way... Not the same thing... We can't fully understand what all the others are going through, but-"

"Thank you." Morty XB-4 whispered from the closet.

Morty blinked and sat back up, wondering if he'd really heard what he thought he heard. "W-what?" He breathed. He thought this Morty had been refusing to speak ever since they found him. Did he really just talk?

"Thank you." The other Morty whispered again. His voice was very low, somewhat raspy from lack of use. "...For talking to me." He added.

"Oh... Y-you're welcome... Y-you can talk to me too if you want..." Morty stammered.

Morty XB-4 opened the closet door a bit more so Morty could see him. He shook his head no.

"Th-that's okay... You don't have to..." Morty smiled slightly. "You don't ever have to. J-just if you wanted to, I'd be okay with it. No one's gonna understand being a Morty more than another Morty."

Morty XB-4 closed the closet door again, and everything in the room was quiet.

"Um... G-good night." Morty let out a soft, breathless laugh.

The other Morty didn't respond, so Morty laid back and closed his eyes. He felt a little less anxious now that he'd talked out a bit of his stress and fears. He wondered if his roommate Morty just didn't talk to Ricks, or if Morty was the only person he'd talked to since he got here. Maybe other Mortys had secretly gotten him to talk too. It made sense... That he'd talk to someone more like him instead of an intimidating Rick. Friendly or not, Ricks were pretty much all intimidating.

Morty tried to relax and get his mind to calm down as he thought back over the past day. He'd sat with four Mortys at lunch. Two of them looked just like Morty did if he stared into a mirror... It was kind of unsettling. The third had hair that was a bit longer, and the fourth had braces on his teeth. They introduced themselves by their dimensions, but Morty couldn't remember all of the numbers. There was an "H" in there somewhere, and a "17" somewhere else... It kind of barely mattered. They were just number and letters and none of these Mortys were going to be here forever anyway.

The one with braces told him his Rick had fallen into a volcano. The one with longer hair's Rick got the wrong people upset with him and a gang of giant shrimp-looking aliens came to their house and shot it up while long-haired Morty and Summer were at school. He said he didn't even know where his sister was right now, which was kind of sad...

One of the Mortys who looked just like Morty Q-405 said he didn't know where his Rick was... That he left on an adventure one day and just never returned. The other identical Morty's Rick got trapped in a mirror... however the hell that worked... Morty wasn't sure if that story was literal, or if the Morty telling it was just fucking insane... He did seem a little off. Friendly, but off.

None of them had Ricks like his. Not unless they just weren't telling the truth, which Morty would have understood. He realized it was hard to talk about these things sometimes, but from what they said, each of their Ricks was relatively nice and caring. Morty asked them if their Ricks ever hit them or shoved them really hard, or otherwise abused them. They all said no. One said his Rick grabbed his arm kinda hard sometimes, but that was it. Another said his Rick used to lose track of him a lot and not seem to realize Morty was gone. But none of them seemed to have been living with a Rick who was flat-out abusive.

It kind of put Morty's mind more at ease, in a way. Before he'd met other Mortys, he wondered if almost all Ricks were bad and the three on the ship were a fluke, but that didn't seem to be the case. His Rick, his awful, violent, abusive Rick was the one that was unusual. Most Ricks wouldn't dislocate their grandson's shoulder on purpose. Most wouldn't consistently punch, shove, and kick their Mortys as punishment or sell them to people they knew would sexually abuse them. Most Ricks weren't like that, which meant Morty being adopted by a random Rick he hadn't met might not be as big of a terrifying gamble as Morty had previously assumed.

Morty blinked open his eyes when he could swear he saw a bright greenish light through his eyelids. He sat up and frowned. A portal - just like the ones Ricks used - just like the one Morty used to travel to the horrible cannibal-version of Earth - showed up in the middle of the room.

"Morty... I um... We've got some extra paperwork we need you to fill out." The Rick explained, reaching up toward Morty and grabbing his arm.

Morty frowned and climbed down the ladder, wincing when Rick 'helped' him down by practically dragging him. "Okay, okay..." Morty grumbled. "You don't have to drag me... I'm coming. W-what paperwork?" He pouted. They hadn't made him fill out any to start with. He assumed the three Ricks from the star ship had given the ones here any information they needed.

"J-just some stuff we forgot earlier... questionnaires to help match you up with a Rick who's compatible with you... Surveys regarding your own preferences and experiences..." Rick shrugged.

"Alright..." Morty exhaled. "W-why do we have to do it in the middle of the night though? I was just finally almost falling asleep..."

Rick tugged Morty by his arm back toward the portal.

Morty frowned. "Can't we just walk down to the office? Doesn't that take a lot of energy to use a portal for such a small-"

"Wow, you know a lot about portals all of a sudden." Rick glared down at him.

Morty's mouth dropped open. He wasn't sure how to respond to that. Rick seemed actually angry. "I just... Scar-Cheek Rick told me..."

"Oh, did he?" Rick stared with a stern frown.

"Um... Yeah..." Morty whispered, starting to feel his breaths growing short. This Rick seemed really familiar... in a way that was absolutely the opposite of comforting. He let his eyes scan up and down the man's arms. Rick-5 was supposed to be working the night shift. He had a blue arm band... This Rick didn't wear any color.

Letting out a small whimper, Morty tugged his arm back away from Rick and took a step backward. He shook his head. "R-Rick?" He whispered.

"Uh, yeah." Rick laughed, reaching out and grabbing Morty's arm again.

"M-my Rick? Rick Q-405?" He breathed.

"Well..." Rick scoffed, squeezing his hand tighter around Morty's arm. "Look who fuckin' knows everything now... Who the hell told you what dimension you were from? Those Safe-Haven Morty-Stealing Star-Pirate fuckers have really been educating you, huh? Well, you can share all your new knowledge with The Sultan... If he doesn't fucking kill you first."

Morty shook his head, stepping back and tugging at his arm, which Rick just grabbed harder as he dragged him toward the portal.

"No!" Morty gasped. "Rick, please!"

"He owns you, Morty... You're being a little brat." Rick growled as he dragged Morty closer and closer to the glowing green doorway, likely leading them straight to the castle on Ubix-405.

"No! Rick, no! Let go of me!" Morty screamed, dragging his feet and grabbing out toward the bed post, but only managing to snatch thin air in his hands as Rick dragged him toward the portal. The last thing he saw before being stolen out of the room entirely was Morty XB-4's wide eyes staring back at him from inside the closet.

"Help me!" Morty sobbed as he was dragged backward. Morty XB-4, the closet, and the entire bedroom disappeared as Morty was pulled roughly through the portal and into an uncertain, but terrifying situation. Maybe there wasn't much the other Morty could do... but at least someone knew Morty was being taken... At least there was a chance he'd be rescued again.

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