She's Dead
"Susan, is Conference Room Three available?"
Wow, his voice already sounded broken just asking that.
Well, what did he care? Most people would sound like that knowing if they were about to die soon. Hell, the fact that the guy had the balls to not run out of the room screaming showed he understood the consequences of what he was going to face should the owner of the majestic toilet he used ever locate him.
Rick Sanchez went through a lot of shit just to find whoever used his urinal, a planet of frog people and a fly-creature mob boss that ran a frog restaurant, traveled into the Midland Quasar in the midst of a war where a deliverance drone was, and gained info about a sandwich it delivered, since it's buyer was the one who found his toilet.
Finally, this would go in the back of his mind, at the end of the day, he would act like none of this ever happened, and could just go back to being on random adventures with his grandson Morty, or some occasions, Morty's older sister, Summer.
"Can I, look at a photo of my wife while you kill me?" the orange-eyed male alien named Tony, doing just that, begged Rick as the mad scientist prepped his gun up, not really caring and giving him a cold-hearted response like he would do with anyone he met, shrugging as he did so.
"Sure, but I'm doing her a favor. She either has terrible taste or she's trapped in a marriage to a toilet thief."
"She's dead."
That there was what made him stop, giving him a look he would never really give anyone.
"And I don't mind joining her..." His voice held a solemn tone to it, a depressing one, willing to accept his fate. "Life has been... hollow, since I lost her. Using your toilet was nice though... I'm a bit of a shy pooper..."
Rick's facial expression remained, and so did his posture, as he watched Tony put away the photo of his wife, with a sad smile.
"I'm ready when you are."
There. Right then and there, he could have done so much.
He could just kill him now.
He could show him it doesn't matter if his wife was dead or not, the same would have happened.
He could just leave the room now with multiple thoughts lingering.
He could even just sit down with him, talk and sympathize.
One of the four was best since he could dominate over this bastard and show his superiority. Imagine this guy's face when sees another version of him being held down by the dominant being.
But... there was always the confusing thing about emotions, bonds, it's why he did and didn't like having them, it was nice being open to the new experience, but he feared he would lose them... just like he lost them.
There weren't many people in the multiverse as a whole who knew him well, and the only one who did was killed by those fucking Galactic Federation bastards he, Squanchy and Birdperson fought alongside against for so many years.
And then the Battle of Blood Ridge.
Even so...
"I can tell you're hesitating."
God damn it! He was right there! Just shoot him now and end it all! Why couldn't he do it for shit's sake!?
"Perhaps we could... talk this out."
His hand clenched the gun tighter, his finger steady on the trigger.
"Maybe you're suffering just as I am."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT MY LIFE, YOU DON'T KNOW SHIT ABOUT ME! YOU'RE JUST A SAD, LOWLY BOTTOM FEEDER WHO CAN'T EVEN AFFORD A GOOD MEAL EVERY DAY SO YOU CONSISTENTLY BITCH AND MOAN ABOUT YOUR DEAD FAMILY AND USE THAT EXCUSE TO SHIT ON MY TOILET!"
Tony didn't flinch, outbursts were a part of one's suffering. "Then, I suppose we're in the same boat, we don't really know much about each other... don't we..."
Fuck this shit, he was done!
"You know what, just go! I've had it with this sentimental bullshit! Let me ask you something! You think it matters that you're wife is dead that you can just use my toilet?!"
Tony didn't know how to respond to that, so he just shrugged with uncertainty, which issued Rick to shoot a green swirling portal as he then walked through it, confusing the teal-skinned lifeform.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for Rick to return with what seemed to be... him?
"Tell him what you told me."
"What is this? What's happening?" the alternate Tony panicked as Rick held him in a headlock, grabbing his face and making him face the Tony of the current dimension.
"TELL HIM WHAT YOU TOLD ME!" Rick demanded with no room for further question.
"My wife's still alive! Sh-sh-she went into remission ten years ago!"
"And what did you do today?!"
"Oh, I, uh, pooped on a really awesome toilet I found- oh, ow, oh!" Rick started beating the man up by slamming his face into the table, and kneeing him in the face in rapid succession three times in a row swiftly unlike a regular Earthling his age could before throwing him back through the portal which then disappeared.
He then held a firm glare at Tony, who kept a solemn look, and while he was surprised at his duplicate from another dimension, that didn't deter him from the previous events.
He swore he heard the scientist quietly sniffle, even though his ears were small, they were much more effective than most races.
"Maybe... it doesn't have to be this way..."
Rick said nothing, which prompted Tony to go on, and so he did. Suffice to say, Rick had spent much more time in this shitty office than he bargained for, and talked more than he thought.
She say, "This is my shit, my shit."
About six to seven bottles were scattered in front of Rick as he held another one in his hand, jugging it all down in one gulp.
See the flick of my wrist, of my wrist
It didn't matter how many he took, he was already somber, and had been for years. It's what an endless crusade which had been many years wasted, met with unsuccessful results did with any man. The song certainly did kick ass, he'll admit that.
And I know she what's up
Rick glanced at all four screens as the green bars in the middle filled up until a message popped up: "Are you sure you want to delete all the contents of SPECIMEN #12029?"
Baby this is my shit, my shit
His mind kept going back to Tony as he clicked 'yes' without hesitation.
See the flick of my wrist, my wrist
He shut the radio off as well, as his time and business was done.
Time to get back to Earth with his family...
His family.
He thought about everything the blue-skinned alien said and how much he heard it.
Why did he need to hear it? Why was he even saying all those things? Why did he even stay to hear it? What good did it even do, he didn't need a therapist, he already dealt with that during the Pickle Rick escapade, and he had enough of it for one lifetime.
Shy pooper his ass, what the hell did that even mean? It was just a pointless bid for control, he wanted to take the one part of life that he truly thought was his and he wanted to protect it from a universe that took whatever it wanted.
He barely expressed his personal thoughts and feelings outward to anyone... there were only so many he truly cared for in his life... and so many of them were dead.
Why was he still alive anyway?
"You need the same thing I needed, Rick. You need someone to give you permission to live."
Fucking Tony, why did he bother remembering his name, he was in to strap-on porn for shit's sake.
But... they were so relatable and so different... wasn't everything in this universe like that, how there was always that special someone that knew how you felt, could share your pain?
He was just one of those people he refused to kill, and refused to let into his life.
He pulled a picture out of his lab coat, which showed a much younger Rick with his family... it was one of the best days of his life, it was the day before the incident that changed his life forever, and created the man he grew to be.
His Diane.
His Beth.
His dear C-137 Beth.
"This universe took my wife, Rick... I can see you suffering... it clearly took something from you as well..."
Rick held back a small sniffle.
"We can spend our lives fighting that, or we can choose to be free, hence why I used your toilet... I wanted to be free."
She was so innocent... no, scratch that, she could be a monster when she wanted to, but they loved each other with all their hearts.
The walk wasn't that long to get to his ship.
He sat down in the drivers seat and just sat there.
There were more photos, in small cabinet below the passenger seat next to him, like he found in almost every single car.
He reached forward, and looked them through.
It was his other family.
"You need a friend."
He had a friend.
He had a family.
What was the meaning of life? Just live it... to the fullest or not, it was just your choice.
He wondered what his Diane would think of him now. What about the Rick of this reality? Was he still alive somewhere in the CFC? Maybe he was outside the curve, or maybe he was already dead. Was the Diane of this reality even alive?
Eh, who cares, if that Rick ever was alive and came back, he would handle the situation. This Rick left his family, he didn't deserve them one bit. He had gone through the things no other Rick had before.
That's what made him the Rickest Rick.
Now, he could just spend all the time he had with the one he has.
But he made so many mistakes with them.
"Rick, I can handle it if you go, do this, but you'll break Mom's heart, and I'll won't forgive you for that."
And that's just what he did, break his daughter's heart.
He wondered if Morty ever got over that. Probably not, it was probably the moment his viewpoint on Rick, and the universe as a whole had changed for good. He had his own free will and he exploited it perfectly. The death crystal escapade was proof of it.
Actually, it was probably Valentine's Day where Morty had used a love potion and pretty much ruined everything. While he was nonchalant about moving to a new reality, it wasn't hard for him to not notice Morty's mortified face, staring blankly into the nothingness that surrounded him.
He had to remember his grandson wasn't used to death as much as he was. They both lived completely different childhoods, but Morty still had his whole life ahead of him.
Sigh... maybe it was time to go.
He'd spent enough time sitting around on this planet.
"Alright, I won!"
At the end of the day, Rick and Morty had settled on a nice game of chess, and in the end, while Rick was doing pretty good, Morty won. This wasn't the first time, but as far as Morty was aware it was.
Although, the Smith family teenager knew something was a bit off with Rick after he arrived. He wasn't consistently ranting or complaining about most things. And he didn't seem to be focusing so much on the game as he normally would.
"Hey um... you okay Rick? You've been kinda down ever since you came back earlier."
Rick was knocked out of his thoughts, as he stared into the face of his grandson, waving a dismissing hand. "Nah, don't worry about it, just some stupid shit happened earlier, nothing important."
Morty didn't press further, as Rick stood up and made his way to the garage, ready for a nice long sleep.
"G'night, grandpa."
A smile made it's way to Rick's face, he couldn't remember if his grandson had ever called him that.
It didn't matter if this was his Morty, he was his Morty, this was his family, and nothing was going to change that.
"Yeah, 'night Morty."
Behind him, Morty smiled as well, knowing his grandfather had begun to change, and saw Morty as something more than a partner to go on adventures with.
The future was bright for the both of them, full of twists and turns, but even so, neither of them would break apart.
The garage door closed.
Rick is a very hard person to keep in character, he's an incredibly big challenge, so I don't even know if I got it right here.
So, I've seen some clips about Rick and Morty, and only started getting into it last Spring. Luckily I had HBO Max so I binged every episode from the Pilot to Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri. Then, BAM! Season 5 was coming, and I had cable, and Rick and Morty was on Netflix in Morocco so I hit the jackpot.
I wasn't so sure how to feel during S1 EP10 since I was contemplating if I had a vague memory of the Evil Morty reveal before or never did. Nonetheless, I was surprised, while there were some bad eggs, Rickdependence Spray, Rickmancing the Stone, almost all of the episodes were gold, the ones involving the Citadel were my favorites. Too bad now though.