Let The Ricks Fall Where They May

Written by Kat_Aclysm
Beta Read by Unlvcrjchick
Rated: - T for language

Disclaimers + Copyrights: I don't own any of these characters, this is a work of fanfiction. Rick and Morty is an Adult Swim animated comedy, created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon.

NOTE: Fourth proofread, and now beta'ed! Thank you so much to Unlvcrjchick for taking the time to work hard on these! Please be advised that this chapter contains some major GET REKT'D.


Chapter 3 – Riggity Riggity Wrecked

He kept running as fast as his body would let him, his heartbeat pounding in his chest. A normal man would have been exhausted by now, but Rick Sanchez was a man who was used to running from things; he had been doing so for more than half his life. He knew that he was running on adrenaline and sheer determination by now but didn't care; his sole purpose was to get back to the house.

The situation overhead was degrading minute by minute; the nine Galactic Federation ships he had seen earlier had turned into twenty and soon more than forty; he lost count after that point. He heard bolts of plasma fire sailing overhead, but they weren't shooting at him, at least, not yet. The surrounding area had practically turned into a war zone and he heard the destruction of buildings and houses on the other blocks nearby. A lot of them were already on fire. It looked like they were busy leveling the city.

"Why are they doing that?" Rick pondered to himself as he continued to run. It wasn't making sense, but he didn't have any time to waste thinking about it. He promptly turned down a familiar street and knew he was getting close to the house. "What the fuck is your problem!?" He yelled up at the sky as if issuing a challenge to the ships overhead, holding both hands high above his head as he flashed his middle fingers at them. "It's me you want, you crazy-ass motherfuckers!"

He immediately regretted the outburst; another Galactic Federation ship sailed overhead, having seen him right away. The pilot of the ship recognized who the crazy human was and locked straight onto him. Rick's heart skipped a beat as he heard the loud whirring of the ship's plasma guns heating up and had to duck as the first beams sailed directly over his head. They had been so close, he felt the rush of hot air that dissipated in their wake.

"Holy shit, no! NO! They're gonna kill us! Holy crap, I'm so screwed!" Rick yelled as he kept running, turning up the street to the Smith's house. The ship was still very much shooting at him and he began weaving as he ran, desperately trying to get out of the way. Five more shots landed near his feet, where he had just been.

Meanwhile, Morty didn't know what was going on at all. He was howling his head off, absolutely terrified; all he wanted was for everything to stop. Rick didn't berate him for that, though; he was just a baby and didn't have an off switch to his emotions. However, as long as he still had him strapped to his chest, there would be no way of hiding; he was sure that the little boy would only keep screaming. There was no other option, because there was no way in hell he was going let him go. Perhaps that was too sentimental, but he just didn't have it in him to abandon his own blood.

Rick knew he was leading the Federation ship straight towards the house, but that was actually his objective right now. There was a small sense of relief when he saw his flying vehicle; it was still intact and parked in the driveway. He ran straight up to it and turned his body away, using himself as a shield so none of the glass shards would hit the youngster still at his chest. He struck his elbow hard at the driver's door window, smashing straight through it. Glass scattered everywhere at his feet.

Morty was still wailing his lungs out in his panic.

"Shut up, kiddo... I-I can't deal with your shit right now..." Rick muttered aloud as he reached in through the broken window to unlock the car. After retrieving a large ray gun from under the driver's seat, he began shooting back at the ship, using the car body as cover.

He ducked as another barrage of plasma fire came at him, cringing a little as one of the shots ripped straight through the engine of his car. The internal battery under the hood started to shake as it became unstable and then it began to rip itself apart. It promptly exploded, sending a cloud of blue fire and ash all over the driveway.

Rick gritted his teeth and punched his fist into the side of the car in pure frustration; he'd just lost a viable means of escaping. His only backup was the portal gun now, and he wasn't going to use that until the rest of his family was with him. He reached back to check if it was still in his rear pants pocket, relieved that it still was.

"Fuck! Eat shit and die, motherfucker!" He stood up, aiming the ray gun straight at the cockpit of the Galactic Federation ship. He unleashed a torrent of plasma fire at it, only to have to duck as it spiraled out of control overhead, smashing into a neighbor's house across the street. The ship promptly exploded in a plume of brilliant purple flames, setting the house on fire as well as the one next door.

Rick cocked his gun and scanned the sky to make sure there wasn't another ship nearby; there almost always was. However, the airspace above was quiet for the time being, which was odd considering how crazy everything was in comparison to his current location. He heard sounds of distant gunfire and was morbidly amused that people were fighting back.

"They have no fucking clue what they're getting into..." He growled at their stupidity, but had no time to dwell on it; there were more urgent matters on his mind. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed Beth's number again. To his surprise, she picked up almost right away.

"Dad, what the hell is happening?!" Beth screamed at him from the other end of the line. "Everything's blowing up!"

"The world's going to shit, sweetie," Rick scowled in his reply. "Hurry the fuck up and get your ass over here, I can only hold these shitheads down for so long!" As his eyes scanned the sky, he knew it was about to get much worse. When the Galactic Federation was involved, things always did.

"Do you have Morty with you?!" Beth's voice was a panicked frenzy. "Oh god, what about Jerry?!"

"Of course I have Morty with me, can't you hear him?!" Rick snapped back at the receiver. "And if Jerry can get his ass over here in time, fine... b-but don't waste time waiting for him, got that? Guy can't hold down a job, imagine how useless he'd be with a gun." He picked off a stray Gromflomite that was flying nearby and found it strange that it hadn't been driving a ship. As soon as it fell out of the sky, he heard more gunfire. He didn't care; there was only one pressing question still on his mind. "Do you have Summer with you?"

"Yes, Dad! We're in the car and trying to drive back to the house now, but everybody's gone crazy!"

"Break all the road rules if you have to, they don't even apply anymore!" Rick's reply was firm. He stepped around to the back of the car to open up the trunk. It was loaded to the brim with guns, ammo and all manner of contraptions stolen recently from other planets, and he was thankful for the fact that he was such a hoarder. "Drive like your life depends on it, because right now, it actually does. That's not even a metaphor, I-I'm pretty serious about that." He paused momentarily. "J-just fucking get here already, I'm kinda still waiting for you over here!" He hung up the phone again, leaving Beth to concentrate on her driving.

Morty had been screaming throughout the entire conversation. His throat hurt, but he still managed to make loud, frightened noises.

"Morty, you need to calm down, buddy... you're gonna draw more attention to us." He did his best to speak to the kid in a calm grounding voice, but that was difficult when he was anything but calm himself. "Everything will be fine, g-got that?" Rick set his gun aside and reached down to pat the baby boy on the head. It was a total lie and he knew it; things would probably never be OK again, and he had no idea what to do other than to escape via a portal. It was his only option and he utterly hated it.

He didn't even have a backup plan.

There was a sudden deafening rumble of engines overhead, everywhere, all around at once. The light of day began to fade as the sun was eclipsed by a giant spaceship; it was one of the Galactic Federation Capital Motherships, and easily big enough to contain a population of several Earth cities. Rick had only ever seen one other in his lifetime and knew its mere presence meant something very, very bad. There was only one reason a ship of that size would be here; they were going to reduce the planet to dust. That was the only thing it could be. Gromflomites didn't waste time either; he guessed he probably had five or ten minutes, tops.

"Well... shit..." Rick's eyes widened as he observed it; it took up the entire sky as it just hung there, looming overhead. He didn't know how they had found Earth, but he knew that he must have made them really angry to travel out this far.

Rick had to mentally kick himself to refocus on what he had been doing, though he knew it was already too late to do anything but focus on the escape. He began discarding the less useful things from his lab coat pockets and replacing them with guns. It was at that moment he spied a tiny ray gun in amongst the others in the trunk; it couldn't have been more than about five inches in length. He grabbed it up, knowing just what to do with it.

"Hey buddy, you wanna help?" He held it out for the little boy to take from him. "Just aim it at somebody you don't like and pull the trigger. Simple." He knew it was positively crazy to arm a baby with a gun, but he was out of other options. He just hoped the kid didn't accidentally shoot him.

Morty was still crying, but the fact that his grandfather was talking to him made him quieten down a bit. When he was offered the tiny ray gun, he grabbed at it, still making upset noises; he didn't understand.

Rick wasted no time grabbing one of the boy's tiny hands and positioned it over the handle. He held his hand over Morty's as he guided the gun towards the fence, aiming at it. "Just like this. Pretend this is one of the bureaucrat's heads." As he squeezed the trigger, the gun immediately fired a red beam of light and blew a giant hole in the fence. "See? Do that every time you see a bad guy. Try to aim for their eyes, i-it makes them stop right away."

Morty was still very much frightened, but held onto the gun anyway.

"Good. Keep it, it's yours." Rick resumed firing at ships overhead, picking them off like flies. When his ray gun ran out of charge, he threw it across the lawn and pulled another from the trunk of the car, soon exhausting the battery in that one, too.

"Hurry the fuck up, Beth! Where are you?!" He bellowed in a rage. She was taking far too long and all he could do was wait in the open, absolutely hating being so vulnerable and exposed. As he kept shooting, he began to realize that there was no point picking off the ships any longer. Now that the Capital Mothership had arrived, they were swarming the sky like locusts.

There was nothing he could do.

Rick sank to the ground in the realization that the situation had become hopeless. His back thumped against the side of his car; it hurt but he didn't care. He decided to keep the remaining guns as backup and to pick off things that were directly shooting at him. "I really hope your mom gets here soon, kid..." He mumbled, lowering his head. "I don't know how much longer we can wait this one out..." His voice was breaking up, but he kept himself together.

He didn't have time to dwell on it. The biggest weapon on the Capital Mothership overhead had began humming into life and his entire body shivered; he'd only heard that sound once before in his lifetime. He knew what was coming next.

The entire underside of the Mothership lit up as it began charging its most powerful weapon. The drawing power was so intense, it was altering the planet's gravitational pull. Rick watched the smaller rocks and debris around him start to rise off the ground, and despite the fact he knew everything was going to be leveled to nothing shortly, the sheer power of the weapon above still managed to impress him somehow.

After another moment had passed, the hull of the Mothership was completely wide open, and the light coming from the underside was glowing bright enough to light up the sky like a sun.

However, it most certainly wasn't a sun.

"We have to bail, kid..." Rick's voice was breaking up as he spoke, and he had resolved his mind to defeat. He noticed Morty was no longer holding the tiny ray gun and he wasn't surprised, he hadn't even see where it had went. "They... they're going to vitrify everything... everyone on the planet is about to die because of me. I did something really bad to them, kiddo... well not just something, it was-"

He stood up suddenly as he heard the sound of screeching tires and plasma fire, only to witness Beth's car peeling around the corner as it smashed through rising rocks and debris, a Federation ship in hot pursuit on her tail. Rick immediately took aim at the ship and yelled out with pure unbridled rage as he dumped the entire remaining charge of his ray gun straight into the hull. The Federation ship spiraled out of control, clipping the car in the front tire as it crashed into the road ahead. The car was already traveling too fast to brake in time and the two vehicles collided and caught on fire.

"NO!"

Rick's mind was screaming at him to move, but all he could do was stand there, paralyzed with shock. He was so preoccupied with the scene that he didn't notice that the ground was glowing. It was white hot and everything began to burn. He felt searing radiation heat as he got some of his senses together and threw the ray gun over his shoulders, no longer needing it. He ran out onto the street and began trying to pull the door of the car open, but it just wouldn't budge. Beth and Summer were still trapped inside; they were still alive but unconscious.

"Wake the fuck up! Get out of there... fuck, g-get out of there! This place is going to be flattened in about a minute!" He pounded his fists on the window in panic, but they just wouldn't break. He could smell his own hair burning in the heat, but he had become desperate and crazy by now, all logical thought and reasoning were gone. All his brain could focus on was slamming the window repeatedly until it finally shattered. Broken glass flew everywhere, some of it cutting his face. He didn't care.

The ground was getting whiter and hotter, and he had completely run out of time. Rick lowered his head, pulled the portal gun out of his back pocket and pressed in the coordinates to the only place he knew he would still be safe. As he fired it behind him, he felt a part of himself breaking inside; he really didn't want to do this. Luminous bright green, watery light swirled into life, forming a portal behind him. However, the glow was paltry compared to the display overhead.

Rick made one final effort to get the car door open, but there was a deafening explosive sound above; the Capital Mothership had just unleashed its charge and the vitrification pulse fire rained down onto the planet below. He was knocked backwards off his feet by the first gravity-induced shockwave, and both the Galactic Federation ship and car were ripped apart, debris flying everywhere. Rick curled himself up in an effort to minimize being hit with flying shrapnel, also shielding the young boy still strapped to his chest. There was a second gravitational shockwave only a second later, and before he could do anything else, he was knocked backwards through his own portal. It swallowed up its owner and disintegrated as if it had never been there in the first place.

As the vitrification pulse fire beam rained down from above, the energy spread outwards across the world in a ripple of pure destruction; the surface of the planet lit up with white hellfire. In another moment, the entire surface was burning away until it was just powder and glass.

Planet Earth was no more.


Rick was aggressively tossed out the other side of the portal and large chunks of debris came flying through with him. He remained in a tight, curled-up position as his back bore the worst of the brunt; many of the shards struck him and ripped straight through his clothes, embedding into his flesh. It stung like hell, but he didn't care. He hit the ground hard and only allowed himself to relax again when he felt the cold ground on his face.

Morty had resumed his pitiful crying scream, completely ignorant of the fact that he had just survived the entire ordeal without a scratch.

Rick simply lay there and dumbly stared ahead, the sound of the beam still ringing through his head. He could hear his heart pounding in his ears and the baby crying at his chest, but neither was registering in his mind. He simply lay there in an attempt to regain his senses, though he was painfully aware of the fact that his body was starting to go into shock.

All he could think about was his portal gun, and he reached over to retrieve it from where it had fallen, wanting to know how it had fared throughout the ordeal. The case had several cracks in it and some of the connections inside probably needed resoldering, but it was otherwise repairable. At least the glass bulb was still intact, and he was relieved that it was still intact enough to be capable of functioning.

It was at this point that he realized he still had the stupid cloth bag that Beth had given him at the beginning of the day. It was ripped, but somehow it had also survived; how was that even possible? He had forgotten that he had been carrying it the entire time.

Before he could focus on anything else, he heard a loud flapping sound somewhere overhead. A large, graceful creature, half man, half bird, landed in front of the new arrivals. He had been attracted over by the loud crying noise and wanted to know what the source was, and the only reason he had been so close was because Rick had set the portal coordinates to appear at the base of his tree house.

"Rick," he spoke, his voice completely monotone. "We meet again."

Rick put his head back down on the ground; it was taking all his effort not to pass out. "Birdperson..." He stuffed the portal gun into his back pocket once again, making a mental note to fix it later.

"You appear to be injured and in shock. Your hatchling is also making loud noises and will attract predators. I will take you to my tree house to prevent this." He simply reached down to pick Rick up in his arms, also picking up the strange bag he had brought along with him. The smaller willowy human didn't seem to be any effort for him to carry as he spread his wings and flew into the air.

In two casual flaps of his wings, he was back on the landing of his tree house. He carried Rick inside and gently set him down on the couch.

"Rick," Birdperson spoke once again, his tone very flat, "when you are ready, I wish for you to talk as it may be advantageous to know exactly what transpired before you arrived here on Bird World. Although I am used to your random drop-ins when you are escaping the demons that pursue you to the ends of the universe, this particular arrival seems... more unusual than the others." He dropped the bag on the ground next to Rick's feet.

"Unusual...?" Rick's voice was weak and he hated how he sounded right now. He forced himself to sit up, wanting to appear as fine as he possibly could; he hated showing weakness.

"You should stay down and rest." Birdperson suggested. "We will talk about it later. You have had a long and arduous misadventure."

"Yeah, well," Rick shrugged, grumbling, "i-it hasn't been a good day..." It was a positively asinine response and a complete understatement, but it was all he could think of to say in the moment. Everything was still so fresh in his mind, it had just happened and he still couldn't believe it. He forced himself to stand and took two paces away from the couch, suddenly feeling unwell. He wanted to throw up, but couldn't. The only thing that was keeping him awake was his own power of will. Now that he was finally safe, the adrenaline rush had worn off and now cold shock was setting in; it was all beginning to catch up with him.

"Rick?" Birdperson called his name again, his voice emotionless.

Rick said nothing. His mind was racing and he had no idea what to do with himself now. He idly scratched at his face, his thumb rubbing up against the cut on his cheek. He was only vaguely aware of it and still didn't care. All of a sudden he was suddenly dizzy and he began to shake involuntarily. A thousand pins and needles ran through his body, hot and cold all at once.

"Rick?" Birdperson said yet again, however, he stayed where he was. "Perhaps you should sit back down."

Rick's vision had begun fading and he was beginning to lose his balance; he knew what was coming next. He simply raised his chin, tilting his head back, opting to fall backwards instead of forwards so his falling dead weight wouldn't crush the little boy who was still nestled in the harness on his chest. Somehow through it all, he was still safe; Morty and himself were the only people left alive from his home planet.

The universe really did have a sick, twisted sense of humor.

Rick went down with a hard solid thud; he heard the sound of his own body hitting the wooden floor, yet felt nothing. As he continued fading, he heard glass and circuitry crunching dully in the fabric lining of his back pocket, and in that moment, he knew that he'd just utterly and completely destroyed what was left of his portal gun.

"F... f-fuck..." He hissed bitterly, finally succumbing to unconsciousness.

Birdperson picked him up and returned him to the couch. Morty was puzzling to him, though; he recognized the child from the photographs he kept on his wall, but he had no idea why he was here as Rick usually traveled alone.

He fumbled with the baby harness and freed the young boy from it. As he picked him up off Rick's chest, the bird-person immediately decided that he didn't know what to do with such a tiny human. It had begun making loud noises again and he found the sound unpleasant on the ears. However, he knew somebody who knew children better than he did and he stepped out the door to deal with the issue, figuring that Rick would wake up again in his own time.

He always did.


When Rick finally stirred awake again, he had absolutely no idea how much time had passed, but he was stiff and sore all over. He opened his eyes and immediately made note of three observations; there was no longer a baby harness around him, it was awfully quiet and dark outside, and he was back on the couch in Birdperson's living room, lying on his side. Shards of glass and shrapnel were still embedded in his back, but he really couldn't have given a shit about any of that right now.

Where the hell was Morty?

He forced himself to sit up, only to immediately regret it as he felt the dizzying rush of postural hypotension straight to his head. He recoiled in discomfort, deciding to stay down until it passed again.

"Take it slowly." Birdperson instructed him. He had been waiting patiently for his friend to wake up again and had prepared a cup of broth waiting to go. "Drink this. It will help." He moved his hand down, offering it to the other.

Rick narrowed his eyes but snatched the cup up anyway. He sat up just enough to take a small sip, immediately gagging at the taste. "Ugh... w-what the fuck is this?" He raised his head and looked around the room. "Where the hell is my grandson? What time is it?"

"That drink contains a herbal essence that we grow here on Bird World. It will help you feel better." Birdperson answered simply. "As for your hatchling, he is safely roosting in my neighbor's tree house. Her name is 'Gresharak'." The name pronunciation sounded like more of a bird-call than an actual word. "She has three offspring of her own and is a very knowledgeable mother. She will know exactly what to do. As for the time, it is well past midnight. But as you well know, time is often irrelevant."

Rick made another attempt at sitting up; this time he was successful. He took a second sip of the warm, horrible tasting broth and forced it down; if Birdperson said it would work, then he was willing to trust that. He set the cup aside on the coffee table afterwards and hunched over, staring at the floor.

He honestly had no idea what to do. He had a ridiculous amount of information to process and needed time to get his thoughts in order. His mind was still in shock, which wasn't helping. His portal gun was broken, his planet was gone, and now he was solely responsible for a tiny boy who had only survived at all because he had been too sentimental to leave him to die.

None of it sat well with him; the old feeling of being responsible for another life scared the hell out of him, just like it had the first time. He didn't know how to be a parent either; he had palmed the responsibility onto his ex-wife and ran from it. The only reason he had showed up for his grandkids at all was because he had been trying to make up for the years of being absent from his daughter's life. He felt a sharp pang of guilt and pushed it out of his mind as soon as it had come; it didn't even matter now.

"Rick," Birdperson said, his voice calm, "I would like to know what happened this time. You never bring your hatchling with you. You are typically somebody who travels alone. I think something must have gone wrong."

"You think...?" Rick's voice was cool and dripping with sarcasm.

Birdperson ignored him. "Yes. It is unusual. Would you like to know what is also unusual? Arriving on my planet with debris embedded in your flesh and passing out onto my living room floor."

"Yeah, well," Rick shrugged quickly, "I don't care... f-forget it." He paused for a moment, quickly adding, "Morty's not a hatchling, Birdperson. We don't hatch from eggs, we're mammals." He resumed staring at the floor, his mind still racing. He wished he could shut it up.

Birdperson noticed Rick was distracted; obviously still in shock or thinking about his next move. Perhaps both. The bird man sat down next to the other, picked up the cup, and handed it back to him, wanting him to drink all of it.

"So," Birdperson stated calmly, "I wish for you to tell me what happened as you are obviously not OK."

Rick tipped his head back and downed the rest of the contents of the cup, placing it back onto the coffee table afterwards. "I-i fu-UURRRPPcking fell onto my portal gun."

"That's it?"

Of all the things that had happened today, that had to be the worst insult of them all. Rick felt powerless and vulnerable without his portal gun and he hated it. He buried his head in his hands, clutching at his hair in great clumps.

"I-I fucking destroyed my own fucking portal gun, Birdperson... how the hell could I do that?!" He was yelling at himself now. He pulled at the tufts of hair he had in his hands, hurting himself in the process. "O-of course I'm not OK!" He looked back up at Birdperson, his eyes wild and furious. "There are shards of glass embedded in my asscrack, for fuck's sake! My portal gun is now just debris... do you have any idea how intricate that design was? Do you?! Well now it's as good as garbage!"

"Rick, it may be best for you to keep calm." Birdperson stood up. "I will get you a medic."

"I don't need a medic..." Rick growled back at him, sounding very much like a defiant child.

"Yes, you do." Birdperson's reply was ever so slightly authoritative.

Rick was taken aback; he had never seen Birdperson sound like that before. "Fine..." He conceded, quickly scowling as he lay back down on his belly. "J-just make it quick. I have so much shit to work through right now..."

As he watched Birdperson walk off, he suddenly remembered the bag on the floor and reached out to grab it so he could open it and observe the damage. Despite the fact that the outside of it was ripped up, nothing inside was too badly out of shape. A container of baby powder had exploded, which was no big deal, and two or three jars of baby-food were now mush and glass shards at the bottom, though he couldn't tell how many had broken. However, both bottles of whiskey had survived quite happily; he had the foresight to store them amongst the disposable diapers and thus they had essentially been cushioned throughout the entire ordeal.

He wasted no time grabbing one of the whiskey bottles so he could pull the cork off. He took a long swig from the bottle and relished the way it burned all the way down. He hadn't bothered to sit up this time, so some of the liquid spilled down his chin and onto the cushions near his head. Although he wanted to down the entire bottle, he recorked it and set it down on the ground, realizing that he might need to ration it; he'd likely be stranded here on Bird World for a while.

At least the cushion smelled pretty good.

Birdperson was back again. A slightly taller male bird-person whose plumage was much lighter than his own had followed him back inside. The other bird-person stood over the smaller human as he assessed what to do, then began to work.

Rick had to bite his tongue to keep himself from crying out throughout most of the procedure. Bird World didn't have anesthetic, so he had to lie there and put up with raw, almost blinding pain through everything the other did to him. The removal of debris from his flesh was bad, and he would have protested when the shredded clothing was ripped off his back, but he was in far too much pain to do anything about it. The antiseptic used to clean his wounds burned like wildfire and made him feel utterly sick to his stomach. He buried his face in the cushion and didn't want to be alive anymore by the time the suturing started to happen. Still, he was mostly silent the entire way through; there was no way in hell he was going to show weakness.

After it was all done, the medic covered up the wounds with gauze matting, sticking everything down with tape made from tree sap residue. Without saying a word, he slipped out of Birdperson's house again.

"Rick?" Birdperson said to him. "Perhaps you should retire to the spare nest room. You are going to need to rest up for a few days before you resume your next plan of attack."

"I don't want to rest... have too much to do." Rick's tone was defiant. Even though he was at the lowest point in his life thus far, he was still stubborn enough to want to argue. "I don't even know where to start... I have nothing. Really, I don't even have clothes, Birdperson. That crazy-ass medic made a point of ripping them up. All that I had with me was either in my pockets, or in that stupid bag on the ground."

"Rick," Birdperson said simply, "you do not have nothing. Do you remember when you were here for an extended period of time, running guns for the resistance movement? You amassed a great deal of things during your time here on Bird World. After your departure, I left them be. They are still in the spare nest room."

"What..?" Rick raised his head, his eyes widening, not being able to hide his confusion. "Why didn't you throw that shit out? God... h-how long has it been sitting there?"

"Years," Birdperson replied, "I did not throw anything away because it was not mine to throw away."

Rick stumbled to his feet, still dizzy as he pulled the remaining shreds of clothing off himself. "I-I gotta see it..." He didn't care how horrid he felt or the fact that he was completely naked. All he wanted to know was what was accessible to him. He stumbled down the hallway, heading straight for the spare nest room.

Birdperson followed, knowing full well that the human was still weak and needed supervision.

Rick flicked the light on as he stepped into the room. The first thing he noticed was that several weapon blueprints were tacked to one of the walls and he immediately felt embarrassed over how amateur they were compared to what he could design now; he would have to rip them all down as soon as he got the chance. The temporary roll-away cot he had brought with him many years ago was still out and exactly how he'd left it. But more importantly, there was a pile of clothes on top of the cot. He wasted no time grabbing up some pants and a shirt, hastily getting dressed again. He was glad for the fact that he hadn't changed shape much over the years; he had always been on the skinny side. While the shirt smelled musty, at least it was better than being naked.

The next observation he made was the stack of boxes piled up in the corner, all taped up and collected from times when he had been a much younger and foolish man. A thick layer of dust was coated over all of them, and each one had handwritten labels on the front that either said 'fuck off', 'don't touch my stuff', or 'keep out'. One of them had a giant penis drawn on the front; that was definitely his doing.

"Why didn't you throw this stuff away, BP?" Rick asked again. He was more than grateful for the fact that some of his stuff still existed, as remnants of his old life were familiar and comforting. He was eager to go through the boxes and work out what he could use, but just couldn't shake the fact that he was confused; he simply couldn't work out Birdperson's motivations. If it were him, he would have thrown it all away and never looked back.

"Again, Rick, they were not my things to throw away. Why are you repeating yourself? Is it because you are fatigued?" Birdperson raised an eyebrow. "I suggest you lie down. I fear this repetition may soon become annoying or perceived as nagging. Please listen to me."

"I-I'm fine." Rick's reply came out faster than he wanted it to, but he was agitated. "I just want my kid back, and I want to get to work... I need a new portal gun."

"Your... 'kid' will be resting comfortably with Gresharak until you are well enough to proceed with your work."

"No-no no!" Rick snapped back at him. "Give him back to me, Birdperson! I don't care what time it is, h-he's been scared out of his mind. What he needs right now is familiarity, otherwise you're gonna screw him up worse than he probably already is!"

Birdperson was silent; he did not want to do that.

Rick sighed at him. "F-fine... I'll cut you a deal. Give my grandson back to me and I'll do whatever you want." He twisted the edge of his mouth into an uncomfortable expression, wondering how far the other would take it.

"Agreed." Birdperson nodded once. "To answer your question further about why I have not thrown these things away. When somebody saves your entire species you tend to look upon them favorably."

"O-oh for fuck's sake..." Rick scowled. "Stop giving me so much credit for that."

"I kept your possessions exactly as you left them in case you needed to come back to them one day, and it would seem that day has arrived." Birdperson motioned a hand towards the cot. "Lie down. I shall return with your hatchling and then we shall talk, because that is what you have just agreed to do." He disappeared out the door.

Rick narrowed his eyes as he watched the other go. He didn't like what he was hearing, and the last thing he wanted to do was talk. He grabbed up a pillow and a blanket out from under the cot and threw them on top of it. He stepped across the room to turn off the light, then slumped face down onto the cot, feeling it sink a little underneath his weight, surprised at how comfortable it felt even after all this time. He wanted to lie on his back but couldn't; it was going to hurt for a couple of days at the very least.

"Fuck..." He grumbled as he pulled the covers over himself. He was exhausted both mentally and physically, but his mind just wouldn't shut up. He wished he had the sense to bring a whiskey bottle into the room so he could numb it with alcohol, but he was too tired to be bothered getting back up now.

When he heard the pitiful weak cries come in with Birdperson through the front door, he moved onto his side and propped himself up on his elbows; just from the sound he knew that his grandson was utterly exhausted.

Birdperson stepped back into the room and handed the whimpering child back over to Rick. "As promised." He pulled up a chair and sat down, furling his wings around himself like a cape.

Rick wasted no time moving his arms around the little boy, enveloping him in a hug. "H-hey, buddy. Stop making that noise, huh?" When Morty clung onto him and buried his face in his shirt, Rick felt terrible for him; the poor kid had gone through more hell today than he could ever comprehend, and there was nothing he could do to make it better. It was his fault that he had been through it in the first place and it was his fault he was even still alive at all.

"Rick," Birdperson said simply, "I know you do not want to get into this because you have been resisting me every step of the way, but it is important. It may be important for the continued future of Bird World, and perhaps for the fate of more worlds to come. What was it that brought you here?"

Rick let out a heavy sigh and put his forehead down onto the pillow; it seemed that his friend was going to launch into it straight away. He had been afraid of that. "Galactic Federation bullshit..." He admitted after a moment.

"Of course. I am not surprised that they would come after you," Birdperson replied, his voice calm and steady, "but there is more to this than what you are saying. Please continue."

"Fuck..." Rick hissed. "Fine. I don't really know how to explain it. I was just minding my own damn business, like I always do... I thought they were gone, done with. What I did to them? That... t-that was a long time ago."

"Intelligent lifeforms hold grudges, Rick. Those can last forever." Birdperson explained, his voice still calm. "It seems almost fitting that they would do the same to you as you did to them. This behavior is commonly called an act of revenge."

"I fucking know what revenge is, Birdperson!" Rick gritted his teeth, feeling his anger rising. He did not want to talk about this anymore, but a deal was a deal. "I don't know how the hell they found me. My flying vehicle wasn't bugged either, I check that shit all the time." He was quiet as he thought about it; how did they find him? Maybe he would never know. "They came in hard and fast, classic swarming strategy... I should have seen it coming, b-but... but by the time I was armed and ready to shoot back at them, there was nothing I could do. I-It all went to shit..." His voice broke up a little when he spoke, and he became silent again, mentally cuffing himself.

"Is there any chance of returning?" Birdperson asked. "Perhaps you can regather some resistance. Your planet is obscure and far out of the way, but there are many in the galaxy who would be willing to fight on your behalf."

"Don't you get it, Birdperson?! There's nothing TO go back to!" Rick raised his voice in anger. When Morty flinched in his arms, he thought better of it and sank back down on the cot. "Th-they... they fucking burned everything... vitrified. It's all gone..." He buried his face in his hands, his chest heaving; it was taking every ounce of his will to not break down.

Birdperson was silent now; it was obvious that Rick was clearly unable to handle any more. He could see that the other needed time to grieve and to process his way through the reality of the situation he was now stuck in. He could not offer any words of sympathy or solace for he had never experienced anything like it before, so he simply rose to his feet and headed out the door. Rick was always trying to save face, Birdperson would give him that. He closed the door behind himself out of respect.

Once he heard the door close, Rick's power of will crumbled and he broke down into a fit of harsh sobbing. Even in his grief, he was still angry at himself for even making such horrible sounds; everything he had ever known of his home world was gone. He didn't care so much about that though, as Earth was shit compared to some of the places he had been already. No, he was grieving over the fact that his family, the one he had invested his time in, was gone, and there was nothing he could ever do to bring them back. He was utterly breaking apart inside. He knew that there were versions of them in other realities, but that didn't matter; variances, even small ones, meant that they wouldn't be his.

He would never be able to replace them.

Part of him wanted to put a bullet between his eyes right there and then, but the only reason he wasn't going to do that was because he was needed. And, as annoying as it all was, he knew that was his fault, too.