Morty stormed into the living room silently and sat on the couch to return to his television watching. By now, Summer already took a seat on the far side of the couch. She stared at her phone like usual and didn't look up when Morty threw himself down. But a few moments of him silently fuming as he switched channels made her take a glance at her stressed out brother.
"Grandpa Rick again?" she guessed.
Morty let out a frustrated growl. "You don't know the half of it." he said curtly.
Summer continued clicking on her phone for a few more moments while Morty watched a little bit of Ball Fondlers before she finally turned her head towards him and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"
Morty stayed quiet for a few seconds before shutting off the television. "No, I'm good thanks." he murmured.
"Alright then." Summer concluded.
Morty stared at the blank television in front of him, his mind racing. Finally all he could do was sigh and stand up to head towards his room.
"I'll see you at dinner," he said to his sister as he walked away with his hands in his pockets.
"Morty wait!" he heard his sister say.
He turned to look at her, confusion lining his face. What did Summer want now?
"Whatever's troubling you...you know you can trust me to tell me, right?" She had turned around to face him while still sitting on the couch. Her face was popping out from behind the spine, somber curiosity on her expression.
Morty trusted Summer with his life, but he could never admit that outloud. She knew about his condition and she knew about his anxiety. That's enough for him. Besides, what else could she do?
"I know, Summer. Thank you. But I feel like this is something I have to deal with alone."
He fiddled with his shirt nervously when Summer gazed at him in sorrow.
"You don't have to, you know."
"It's okay really; I'm okay. Don't worry about me so much okay? I'll be fine!"
He hoped to god it was true.
He backed out of the living room and smiled at his sister, giving her a thumbs up. She gave a thumbs up back, but she did not look convinced that he was handling himself well.
Morty was unable to sleep that night due to the inability to get comfortable. He tossed and turned, flipped his pillow over, switched positions, masturbated, and read, but the clock said it was 2 in the morning and he was still unable to get to sleep.
It wasn't until 3 when he finally curled up in his favorite position that he was finally about to drift off. But without warning, Rick slammed the door open and turned on the lights. Morty jolted out of his bed with resentment boiling in his tummy.
"Morty come on I need to show you something," Rick mumbled and grabbed Morty from the foot and dragged him off to the garage.
Here we go again!
Once in the garage, Morty faced Rick of his counter as Rick drew out the plan for the next couple of nights.
"Alright Morty get this, are you listening?" Rick demanded.
"Yeah I got you," Morty murmured bitterly. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.
"Alright here's the game plan. Sol said we need to collect a certain plant we can make some...uh questionable things out of. We have already discussed what we need to do. Sol is going to inspect the planet we are heading to before we go all teleporty over there."
"'Teleporty?'" Morty challenged his choice of words.
"Yes now pay attention. In a few days I will hear from Sol again. He will tell us whether the coast is clear. Now we will have to take my ship so we don't seem suspicious. I'll park somewhere and then we'll teleport so we remain out of radar."
"I don't understand h-how is going to hel-" Morty was unable to finish his sentence when Rick reached over to shut his lips and shush him.
"Listen to me Morty," he warned. "We'll walk around, search for a plant, bring it home, you know, do all Rick and Morty things. It'll be just another mission for us."
Morty moved Rick's hand away from him. "I don't know Rick, I don't trust Sol. I feel like he's hiding something from us you know?"
"Sol knows what he's doing."
Irritation gnawed at Morty's belly. Why couldn't Rick see through Sol's weird stance?
"I don't think we should do it," Morty concluded.
A look of shock and anger glared from Rick's face. Morty swore he wanted to reach out and slap him, but Rick kept still. He seemed rooted in his place, but his voice now spoke with irritation.
"If you don't want to go, then so be it. I'll go alone. Don't you see? We need this Morty!"
They didn't need anything, Morty thought. Rick's mind was made up. Whatever hope Morty had that Rick would change his mind vanished. Morty didn't trust Sol and who knows if Rick will truly be okay on his own. His grandfather wasn't getting any younger.
Morty breathed a sigh.
"Fine, I'll go with you." He surrendered. "But after this I ask for three missions off."
"Make that one," Rick suggested.
"Two."
"Deal."
"I can't believe you talked me into this," Morty grumbled as he trailed behind an exhausted Rick. His own feet hurt too. They had been at this for two days and there was no sign of any "medical" plant anywhere.
Rick turned to face Morty with an exhale of bitterness. "Like you could do better," he scolded. "All you do is whine and complain when things don't go smoothly. Well things never go smoothly do they, huh Morty?"
He returned to leading Morty through the thick wilderness. Two days, and they have had no luck. They have had almost no food and little water and both were exhausted to the point of dropping and not moving for a couple of days. They were a couple of dirty, smelly pioneers with no destination to get to. Unfortunately the sun was setting, and Rick's flashlight broke the first night they were there when Morty dropped it. Now, due to the darkness and absence of the moon, they were forced to camp the night instead of treading on.
Morty was glad when Rick signalled for a camp to be set up. They unpacked their luggage and set up their sleeping bags. A small campfire was set up to toast whatever food they had left.
"Say Rick," Morty began as he munched on a fish on a stick.
"Why don't you portal us home? I mean we can head back and reach some supplies and get back before you know it!"
"Yeah you think I hadn't thought of that before?" Rick growled. "My portal gun has no charge left! It only has enough for one trip which will be our emergency getaway. I forgot to charge it before we got here." He slapped his hand on his forehead. "How could I be so stupid."
Morty gazed sadly at his grandfather for a few moments before finishing his kabob. He was homesick. His chest had never felt the way it was feeling now. All he wanted was to be curled up in his bed safely away from the dangers this extraterrestrial forest held.
The two finished their food silently and headed off to bed. Rick put out the campfire and curled up in his bag. Morty was unable to sleep and stared at the distant stars so different from the skies he saw back home.
"Hey Rick?" he called quietly. A gruff noise indicated his grandfather had heard him.
"Is there an end to the universe?" Morty wondered.
"Of course, Morty." Rick's sleepy croak answered. "There's an end to everything."
"Have you ever been there?" Morty pressed.
"Oh yeah, plenty of times. They have a bunch of restaurants and a convenient gas station for your needs."
Morty detected strong sarcasm coming from Rick's tone, but he didn't mind it. He was just glad Rick was answering his questions for once. For the past two days he had pestered Rick with questions so much, Rick ended up calling him a 'batterniskit' before shutting him out and refusing to answer any more questions.
"Do you think I'll ever see it?" Morty continued.
Rick let out an exasperated sigh. "Morty go to sleep." He commanded.
"But will I ever see the end to the universe?"
No answer.
"Then I guess-"
"Morty, if you shut up then maybe I'll take you to the freaking edge of the universe! But for no, go to sleep! We have a big day tomorrow if we're going to continue our travels."
Morty stared at Rick for a few moments before settling down with his back facing Rick.
"I think I'll like that. Goodnight Rick."
Once again Rick didn't answer, but Morty thought it would be nice to pester Rick one more time:
"I said goodnight Grandpa Rick."
"Good. Night." came Rick's passive aggressive answer.
Morty had just closed his eyes for what felt like a few moments before he was jolted out of his sleeping bag and held at gunpoint by a mysterious figure, arms wrapped around his neck. He faced Rick, who was glaring angrily at their attacker. Dawn light just barely began glowing.
"Sol? What the hell are you-"
"You have exceeded my time limit, Rick. You have failed." Sol's cold voice answered Rick's angry one.
"Bring me the herb within the next day or your assistant gets it."
Morty felt himself being dragged away. He was thrown into the trunk of Sol's spacecraft. He was calling Rick's name when the door was slammed onto his face. All he could see was darkness.
A/N: Hey wat's the haps my friends?