AN: Hello! Welcome to a spoiler filled fan fiction. This fan fiction is based off of the events of Forgetting Sarick Mortshall and Rickmurai Jack for that season 5 finale. I decided to take the approach from right where they left off but the actual idea of this is to have more of a what would happen type scenario til season 6 comes out.
I wanna start off by saying: If you are sensitive to not only spoilers but talking about mental health, substance abuse and unhealthy coping mechanisms, this fic might not be for you. And that is totally okay! There is no reason to be ashamed of fic will tackle substance abuse issues as well as unhealthy coping and mental health struggles. I am not a therapist, I am just portraying mental illness as best as I can with the knowledge I have. If you do read this and feel like I am misrepresenting a certain mental health issue DO NOT HESITATE TO LET ME KNOW! I want to portray mental illness as best as I can and I need your help to do so.
Please understand that when the word "partner" is mentioned in this fic, it is in no way to ship the two characters. I am against the C-137cest ship and will not portray it in any form in my fics. With that being said, I hope you all have a nice read!
This was it, it felt like the world around them crumbled. With no way out, the portal gun broken without any fuel to continue, Rick and Morty were stranded. They made it out of the collapsing part of the citadel but at what cost? They had just watched the citadel blow up after struggling to get away from the blast point. Rick sighs, looking at his portal gun. Without the ship or functioning fuel let alone any fuel for the portal gun, they'd be stuck with the other Mortys trying to figure out a way to get out. Morty looks out of the dome towards where the citadel collapsed and exploded. There was nothing left, he started to feel terrible about the decisions he made today and any other day before this happened. What was he going to do when he got back home? How would his parents react to what just happened? He turned back around to find Rick was gone, he'd walked away to God knows where with God knows which Morty. There are too many around to say he grabbed the right one and walked off with the same correct Morty. He wasn't going to lose his Rick in a sea of Mortys, that's the last thing he'd do.
Rick had walked off towards wherever he could potentially get alcohol of any kind before finding a place to stay. He allowed Morty to stay on his own to cope a bit with the current events but he probably should have stayed with him as long as possible instead of just leaving but now was not the time to think about that. Between his quest for booze and his quest to get them the fuck out of there, he did not think about Morty coming to look for him.
"R-Rick?!" Morty screamed, running towards his tall grandfather. How could you miss him? The rest of the damn population around him were short and had the same shirt as him. Not had to miss the singular tall person in the whole street. Rick just kept walking, as if he had nowhere else to go and didn't need anyone's help for anything. He had already mentally zoned out the voices of the other Mortys, so he didn't hear his Morty right off the bat. None the less, he kept yelling for his grandfather in hopes he'd suddenly hear him. He started to get closer and closer while still yelling at the old man. "R-Rick please! St-Stop walking away fr-from me!" He started to cry out, walking ever so faster. He started to lose hope with every passing step to get close enough, just close enough to get him to hear his voice.
"Pl-Pl-Please stop running aw-away from me!" Rick didn't want to turn around. He seemed to be on a mission to find how to get off and well to again get alcohol to drown everything that's happened today. "A-Aren't we-" Morty suddenly stops in the middle of the crowded street, looking at Rick from afar as he just keeps walking. "Partners?"
The word, no matter how muffled it was, no matter how quiet Morty was from afar, it seemed to break his thought process. As if he was hit against lage building or got into an accident. He turns himself around, starting to look back at his "only grandson". They're blood, but not by the same standards as most Ricks and Mortys are. They're blood in a different way, for Rick it's at least by choice to fill the void while still seeking vengeance on the Rick that ruined his life. Why? Why is he coming after me? After knowing he was never my dimension's own blood relative. Rick thought to himself as Morty started to move through the crowd of Mortys. "Even if we aren't as blood related as the rest of the dimensions that have their own Mortys… I still feel that you're making an effort.."
An effort? What is this kid on about now? He seemed to stare off into space while Morty started to drag him out of the crowded street. Morty could tell that the gears were quite literally turning in his head. He reaches into Rick's pocket for his flask, looking for that source of self-destruction he holds so close to him. It's his test to see if Rick will snap out off it or if he accidentally temporarily broke his grandfather. It only took a second before Rick snatched the flask from Morty and put it into his pocket. "Morty," He starts, looking down at the teenager. "W-We're (uurp) in a ro-rough spot here." Morty looks at Rick, confused yet seeming to understand. The earlier revelation for him seemed to make him in some way more sympathetic yet still able to give something to him.
"Y-Y-You mean fr-friendship wise o-or in general?" Morty asked, actually curious about the answer he'd be getting from his grandfather, his best friend. Rick sighs, looking more off to the side for that first part of the question rather than answering if it was either. "I-I mean (uurrrp) in ge-general, Morty." He nods, looking around at everything. It's ruined to him, the whole portion of the citadel they're standing in is ruined. None of this was supposed to happen. Morty starts to think of the what ifs. What if we hadn't gone to the dinner? No no, we would have been killed for sure. Morty began to think to himself as Rick looks for a place to go and takes a drink out of his flask. "Morty did-did you drink out o-of this (uuurrp) Morty?"
Morty's internal anxiety started to peak, his hands shaking. Rick, under the assumption that Morty had drank out of his flask, begins to shake the kid, wanting answers. He's still lost in thought, unable to come back out of it on his own. What if I… If I had taken the offer from HIM? To leave.. No why would you want to think this? His eyes start to scream out the S.O.S signal while Rick continues to shake him. He hears a faint static noise in his ears, making it almost impossible to hear what Rick was telling him. His anxiety continued to rise until he felt Rick stop shaking him and he was put on Rick's back again. He felt about ready to pass out from what his mind was trying to make him think about. The thoughts kept coming in and out as if he was being talked to by Evil Morty to rethink his decision. "It's ok-okay Morty. (Uurrrp) We'll b-be somewhere so-soon."
After chapter AN: I will be posting another chapter as soon as I can. I hope you all enjoyed this first one and don't forget to rate and review and give me some suggestions to help make the fic better and especially let me know how my mental health portrayal is when I tackle those issues. Also in case it wasn't obvious, "HIM" refers to Evil Morty in this context. Not the other known him.