
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/12119784.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Major_Character_Death, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Rick_and_Morty
  Relationship:
      Rick_Sanchez/Morty_Smith
  Character:
      Rick_Sanchez, Morty_Smith, Beth_Smith, Jerry_Smith, Summer_Smith,
      Cronenbergs_(Rick_and_Morty), Robot!Morty, Birdperson_(Rick_and_Morty)
  Additional Tags:
      Blood_and_Gore, Gore, C-137, C137cest, robot!Morty_-_Freeform, Rick_is
      heartbroken, Character_Death, Suicide, Dark, Rick_loses_Morty, Morty
      loses_Rick, Rick_creates_a_Robot_Morty, Rick_cant_live_without_Morty,
      woah_there_satan, Heartbreak, Incest, RickMortycest, Depressing, I_guess
      Rick_is_a_bit_ooc, but_I_want_him_to_care_more_since_Morty_is_well_dead
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-09-17 Updated: 2017-09-22 Chapters: 4/? Words: 5868
****** Coping mechanism ******
by orphan_account
Summary
     Morty dies on an adventure and it's all Rick's fault. Rick can't take
     it and almost loses his mind. Therefore, he creates a robot version
     of Morty to cope with the loss of his Morty. Will Robot Morty mend
     Rick's heart or will he make things worse?
***** Chapter 1 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"C-c'mon Morty! We're going to CC-137 today! I'm gonna find -BURP- a cure for
the Cronenberg's cause I'm the best! Fuck yes! And I need your help!” Rick
cried proudly and grabbed Morty's arm tightly.
"B-but R-Rick! You said I could be in school today!" wailed Morty and crossed
his arms with an angry glance toward Rick.
Rick laughed and shook his head,
"Yadda, yadda Morty! It doesn’t matter, school is for losers! A better -BURP-
thing to do is if we can find a cure for C-137!" He dug up the portal gun from
his lab coat and aimed it towards the lockers in the hallway. A big vomit-green
portal opened and Rick drew Morty in.
After a few seconds of whirling, they left the portal and ended up in Dimension
C-137. The Cronenberg monsters ate each other, buildings were on fire, a smell
of blood and burned meat were thick in the air. Morty’s face turned green of
nausea, he would throw up at any minute. Rick rolled his eyes and drew the boy
next to him.
"Ig-ignore w-w-what you see and focus -BURP- on the mission," said Rick quietly
and stroked Morty’s curly head quickly.
Morty looked into Rick's eyes and nodded.
"I'll try," he said with disgust in his voice and drew a sharp breath.
Rick smiled and nodded,
"Come n-now Morty, we have things to do!"
They went with quick steps toward a ramshackle house without any Cronenberg's
in sight. Rick scrambled through debris and were suddenly fascinated by
something gleaming in the dirt.
"I think I found something M-Morty! Something we can use to fix this hell's
dimension again!” he said happily and grabbed it.
A loud roar echoed between the houses, a big disgusting Cronenberg with three
arms and eyes as a snail appeared before them. Its mouth was dripping with
drool and a fat tongue licked around its lips.
"Fooooood!” the monster belched and showed his great row of teeth. Between the
teeth, parts from a human were stuck. Morty could glimpse a rib and a smooshed
brain between the yellow teeth. He felt hot liquid soaking down his underwear.
His face flushed and he cried awkwardly when he realized he had peed himself in
fear.
"R-Rick, I j-just peed myself... and th-this Cronenberg ..." Morty almost
fainted from fear. He bounced back and went into a wall, losing consciousness
for a few seconds.
"You're disgusting M Morty!” Rick replied, he hadn’t heard the last of the
sentence. He was busy trying to catch the gleaming object. A loud shriek from
Morty almost blasted his ears. He turned his eyes to where Morty stood just a
few seconds ago. A gigantic Cronenberg had Morty’s head between its long teeth.
Blood poured from the holes where the teeth had broken Morty’s skull. Morty’s
eyes were bloodshot and seemed to pop out of his head any second.
"NO! Morty!" Rick yelled, his voice horrified and ran to the monster without
thinking. He pulled the jaws of the monster with pure willpower and took the
lifeless Morty in his arms. He fumbled to get the portal gun from lab coat
pocket. Tears flowed uncontrollably from his eyes, they burned his cheeks.
Finally, he managed to get hold of the gun and created a portal. He ran into
the portal with Morty hanging in his arms.
They tumbled down on the floor in the garage, Rick still held Morty while
throwing away stuff that were in the way from the table. They fell noisily down
on the floor. Footsteps were heard outside and a light knock on the door
sounded.
"Dad? Is everything all right in there?" Beth's voice had a slightly worried
tone. Rick didn’t have time to answer, he had to rule out everything that could
distract him from saving Morty's life. He was not a doctor, but he quickly
looked through the damage the monster had caused to Morty’s small head. A pink
liquid leaked from the deep holes, the liquid had smeared itself through the
curly hair. It smelled iron. Morty’s eyes were now two bloody lumps in his eye
sockets.
Rick pressed two fingers against Morty’s neck, still hoping, still wishing he
would feel something. But nothing. No flutter from Morty’s heart greeted his
fingertips.
Nausea roiled in Rick's stomach and a feeling of complete indifference fell
over him. A salty taste filled his mouth from his tears still dripping from his
eyes.
Morty was dead and it was his fault.
"Dad?" Beth's voice had now risen an octave and she knocked vehemently at the
door. "Are you crying?"
Rick fell weeping on the floor with his face buried in his hands. The stabbing
pain inside his chest was unbearable. A sharp thorn dug itself into his heart.
"Jerry! Please help me open the door, something is going on out there!" Beth's
voice cut through the silence in the house and Rick heard Jerry's running
footsteps.
"What do you mean something is going on in there?" asked Jerry concerned while
he tried to pick the door.
Rick wrapped Morty’s body in a white towel that hung in one of the cabinets and
held him close to his pounding heart as he opened a new portal and disappeared
from the garage.
Jerry kicked the door open and Beth ran in, almost slipped on the blood that
still dropped down from the table on the floor.
She screamed and Jerry took hold of her.
"Where is Morty? Where is dad?" She cried, horrified. Her eyes filled with
tears and Jerry hugged her harder.
"Everything will be all right, you'll see," he tried to comfort her while a
feeling of doom dug into his chest.
What had happened?
Chapter End Notes
     My first R&M fanfic. Still trying to learn about the characters and
     such. hope you liked the first chapter! It will only go downhill from
     here.
***** Chapter 2 *****
They ended up in the first dimension Rick think of. They had only been there
once before, but back then, they had left as soon as dawn broke. The sun's face
met them behind the clouds and it was screaming one last time before it went
down the horizon. Rick let out a breath of relief and hoped that the night
would be long. He stared at the nearly shining red spots of blood leaking
through the fabric from the towel covering Morty's body.
Morty. Dead. His fault.
A shiver went over Rick's body as he carefully put Morty’s body on the floor in
the small living room. What would he do? What would he say to Beth? To Jerry?
To Summer? He felt the taste of bile and sank down on his back next to the
body. He pulled the towel-covered Morty next to his chest and hummed silently.
An old but simple melody he had hummed for Beth when she wouldn’t stop crying
as a baby. Tears dripped along his cheeks, his nose was clogged. He could
hardly breathe.
Serves me right, he thought bitterly.
The thorn in his heart reminded him and he drew a trembling breath of pain.
You deserve all pain you’re going through. You killed the only one you cared
for. You've murdered your sole reason to live. You fucking idiot. You cursed
bastard. Disgusting pig.
The voices became louder inside his head and a sad sound broke from Rick's
throat. The tears left big wet spots on the towel. They mixed with the blood
stains and became pink.
Rick rose quickly, ran out and vomited up the little that was in his stomach.
The taste of bile was now overwhelming in his mouth.
"M-M-Morty," he cried desperately. Crickets played in the coming darkness.
Stars blinked in the sky. Everything was as usual on the small planet, but not
for Rick. Nothing would even come close to "usual" again.
--------------------
His beard had grown a few inches when Rick finally got hold of a mirror. He
didn’t recognize the man in the mirror looking back at him. Someone else looked
back at him with blood-blown, tired eyes, bushy beard and stress-induced
wrinkles around his eyes. He put the mirror down and quickened his steps.
"L-Look M-Morty! We're gonna use this f-for you," Rick stuttered and showed the
mirror for the now smelly body that was still in the same place on the floor.
Rick’s stutter had become so much worse in just a month. Morty's body, however,
had begun to rot. Flies had laid eggs in what was left of his eyes. The head
had stopped leaking the pink liquid. The face had sunk to the bones and his
mouth was dry, pale and had dark blue spots.
Rick sat in front of a copy of Morty, the only thing that really separated them
from each other were the glassy eyes the copy of Morty had. Their glassy
surface, however, wasn’t visible if you didn’t look at the eyes very close.
Another thing that separated the two Morty’s from each other was the hatch in
the back of Morty’s head. It was now open. When the hatch was closed, it was
very well hidden behind the brown hair.
Rick was kneeling behind the copy of Morty with a screwdriver in his hand. He
carefully split the mirror into small pieces and attached them to a disc that
resembled a motherboard from a computer. The Morty Robot gave a mechanical
sound when the mirrors came into place in his brain. Rick whimpered with pure
euphoria. Had he succeeded?
Robot Morty went still and froze. Rick muttered in frustration.
"W-Why’re y-you not working? What are you missing?" he snarled and gently
closed the cover to the motherboard and then he lay the robot on the floor. He
moved and sat across the robot. He gently pulled up the yellow shirt and
revealed a very human-like chest, with a navel and nipples. The skin was almost
as soft as Real Morty's skin. Rick had been fighting for several days to make
the synthetic skin as soft and warm as a real human being and he was very
pleased with himself succeeding.
He opened the cover to Robot Morty's chest. A mechanical heart beat in there.
He closed the lid carefully and pulled the shirt down, covering Morty’s chest.
"Everything is the way it should... what's missing?" Rick asked loudly with a
sharp tone of sadness in his voice. He glanced towards real Morty and sighed.
Had his struggle to find materials for the robot been in vain? He had almost
lost an arm in his attempt to find materials. His arm was still in pain from a
couple of deep scratches.
The sun was raging out there and a sharp headache made Rick’s ears ring. He got
up, stomped out on the yard and roared back to the sun in pure frustration.
"SHUT UUUUP!"
The sun went quiet and stared amazed at the little man who were shouting at it.
It went silent and disappeared behind the mountains. The night drove quickly
over the planet and Rick returned to the cottage.
"R-Rick? Who- Who's this?" Morty's troubled voice almost stopped Rick’s heart.
The pain from the thorn in his heart became a little easier. Robot Morty stood
next to the body hidden under the towel and had a look of disgust on his face.
"Are-are these blood stains? Have you done this?" Morty's glassy eyes were big
and worried.
"M-M -..." Rick could barely say his name. "Morty ..." he whispered
breathlessly, and in a few steps, he was in front of the boy and embraced Robot
Morty in a rough hug.
He hadn’t done anything with the robot before he had gone out. How could the
robot be alive? He didn’t know, but made a quick note in his head, he needed
research more when they were home and make a backup of the data inside Morty.
Morty smiled a bit insecurely and returned the hug.
"Rick ..." he murmured and Rick felt how Morty's cheeks got hot when Rick gave
his head a quick kiss.
"I’ve missed you so much," Rick whispered into Morty's brown curls. A few tears
escaped his eyes and dropped into Morty's hair.
"Missed me? I-I’ve b-been here all along! B-but Rick, w-what... who's under the
blanket?" Morty quietly asked while listening to Rick's heartbeat against his
ear.
"I-it’s... Nothing special. A failed experiment", Rick lied and wondered why he
lied. He had nothing to hide. Or did he?
"B-b-but, where are we? What are we doing here?" Morty let go of Rick, his
forehead was wrinkled. "You’re hiding something from me," he said with a sharp
tone in his voice.
Rick raised his hands as if he were to be blamed for the accusations.
"We are here on a mission, you became unconscious andUUURP- I had to fight the-
the thing beneath the blanket. You just woke up."
Morty gave Rick a skeptical glance, but nodded.
"I believe in you Rick. But are we done with the mission here? Can we go home?"
he wondered.
Rick nodded,
"Yes, yes, we can. I have to fix one thing first." He smiled stressed and gave
Morty's cheek a quick caress before he reached for the shutdown button. The
light in Morty's eyes went out and he fell on the floor. Rick caught him before
he reached the floor.
Rick carefully laid Morty’s head on the floor and gave his trembling hands a
look. Robot Morty didn’t know that he was just a substitute for the real Morty,
if he found out, it could have devastating consequences. Rick wiped away some
sweat droplets from his forehead. He must calm down, otherwise Morty would
suspect him even more. He couldn’t let Morty know anything.
I must get rid of the body... he thought, glanced at the body under the towel.
He approached it and lifted Morty into his arms and went out into the yard. He
found a shovel and began to dig a deep pit. After half an hour of digging he
had made a deep enough pit. He kissed Morty's brow through the fabric and
carefully lowered him into the ground. Tears dropped when he covered the pit
with soil. When he was finished he fell beside the grave on his knees and laid
his hand on the ground.
"I love you now and forever..."
He wiped his tears with a piece of his lab coat and took a gulp from his
bottle.
"I'll be back", he mumbled to the grave and went back into the cottage. Robot
Morty was still shut, his eyes were gray and lifeless, but Rick could still
hear a weak ticking from the mechanical heart's gear. He raised the portal gun
and opened a portal, then he put Morty into his lap and hit the button. Morty's
eyes flashed alive and he looked confused at Rick.
"What happened?" Did I faint?" he asked with a newly awake voice.
Rick shook his head,
“N-no, you just fell asleep. Come M-Morty, we're going home," said Rick, and
they disappeared, together, into the green light.
***** Chapter 3 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Beth and Jerry shouted in surprise when Rick and Morty came out of the portal.
Rick took hold of Morty's hand, but released it as soon as he saw that his
daughter looked at them.
"Dad! Morty!" Beth cried out with tears in her eyes and released Jerry to hug
them both. "I was so worried! You just disappeared and-"
Rick interrupted her.
"It's okay, sweetie, we're okay," he said calmly and stroked her quickly over
the cheek.
Jerry raised one eyebrow and crossed his arms skeptically.
"It didn't seem like everything was alright... there was blood in here, Beth
almost slipped and-" Rick shook his head and gave Jerry an angry glance.
"We're okay. The blood came from my arm," he said harshly and looked forward to
Morty. A warm feeling spread in his chest when Morty nodded and smiled at his
parents.
"It's f-fine mom and dad. W-we're okay," he said.
"But your wounds dad, they must be checked up!" Beth said uneasily, moving her
fingers along the wounds. "I can call one of my colleagues at work, so they can
come here and help you."
Rick shook his head,
"That's not needed Beth. I can handle it. W-We just need to rest a little. It
was a tough adventure, what do you say Morty?"
Morty smiled a bit in reply and were just about to answer when he was
interrupted by Summer storming into the garage.
"Rick! Where the hell have you been?" she shouted. Morty looked scared at her
and hid behind Rick, like a small child.
"Summer!" said Beth, clearly annoyed and approached her and briefly told me
what had happened.
Summer sighed,
"Okay, sorry I care about my little brother!" she said irritated and stamped
out of the garage.
"Teenagers..." Beth sighed and rolled her eyes. "Dad, you need to freshen up.
Take a shower and change clothes and I'll help you with the wounds later," she
added with a smile.
Rick didn't feel the need to shower. He didn't want to leave Morty for a
second. What if someone clicked the off button? Or noticed that Morty didn't
behave normally? The risks were too big.
"I'm fine, d-don't worry," he said with a smile. "C-cmon M-Morty, let's go," he
said, grabbing Morty's arm.
"Where are we going? I want to be home!" protested Morty with a whiny voice.
"We have just returned!"
Rick frowned and sighed annoyingly. He had to change the program because
something was not right.
"Fine," Rick sighed irritated. "We can go watch some Interdimensional Cable
instead?" Rick suggested and softened his grip of Morty's arm.
"W-why do I h-h-have to do everything with you? Maybe I wanna do something my
own for a change!" Morty snarled and moved his arm from Rick's grip.
Rick felt his heart breaking. Piece by piece. Something was really wrong with
the program. What had he missed?
Jerry looked awkwardly at them.
"I'll go to...town! And buy some... errr... pastries!" He said, hurrying out to
the car.
Beth crossed her arms with a quizzical expression on her face. "Morty what's
up? Did something happen between you out on the adventure?"
"I-I don't kn-know! Rick is a god damn liar!" Morty's mechanical eyes flashed.
Rick's heart beat faster.
"C-come Morty, we need to talk!" Rick stuttered and gave Beth a firm glance
with his eyes. She took the hint and went out of the garage with a sigh. Rick
heard how she called for Jerry to wait.
"M-Morty calm theUUURP fuck down!" he hissed and shook Morty's shoulders in an
attempt to calm him.
Morty's eyes flashed fiercely and suddenly his entire body froze. His eyes
became gray and he was shut off. The body was relaxed in Ricks embrace. Panic
and fear took hold of Rick.
"F-fuck", Rick panicked and searched for materials among the boxes to fix Robot
Morty. He found screws, nails, strange alien material from other planets and
dimensions. He opened the lid of Morty's head and the disc was exposed. He
fiddled with the disc for a while and managed to get it together. He went to
the memory room and put Morty into the chair. He placed the memory helmet on
Morty's head and injected Morty's memories into the artificial brain. When it
was finished, he made a backup of the data and hid the two tubes well in the
memory room. Hopefully they would never go there again.
Rick carried Morty from the chair and went back to the garage. He switched the
ON-button.
Morty's eyes turned on, they flashed a few times before he got up and looked
confused at Rick.
"R-Rick?" His voice was scared.
Rick pulled Morty next to him and placed him in his lap.
"Hush, I'm here," he murmured and caressed the brown curls.
"I feel weird," Morty said, touching the closed lid in the back of his head.
The memories that had returned must've made him confused.
Rick closed his hand on Morty's wrist and shook his head softly.
"The-there's nothing to worry about," he said calmly. Morty seemed to calm
down.
"You smell funny," said Morty with a careful smile. Rick laughed and nodded.
"I should shower but ..." he went silent and looked away.
"But what?"
"No nothing," Rick said quickly and kissed Morty's cheek. It was warm and soft.
He'd really managed to make the skin lifelike. A sting of pain went through his
arm. Morty's hand lay placed over the scratches.
"Wh-wh-what happened Rick? Was that my fault?" Even Robot Morty blamed himself
for everything that went wrong.
"No, no, it wasn't your fault. I just fell an-UUURP hurt myself. No worries,"
replied Rick.
"Hmm..." said Morty, not convinced
"Do you want to shower together?" he then asked.
Rick's face went tomato red and he laughed nervously. He had difficulties
keeping his face straight.
"Wh-what t-the f-fuck are you saying Morty?" he wondered on the verge of
hysterical.
"It was a thought just struck me," Robot Morty said innocently, drawing a
finger under Rick's bearded chin.
"I-I can help you shave," Morty added quietly with a cute smile.
Rick coughed and tried to ignore the hot heat that warmed between his legs.
Luckily, he had thought of making Morty waterproof.
"W-we can try Morty," he said nervously but at the same time excited. The
relationship between Rick and the Real Morty had never come this far. They had
only been at the beginning of the relationship, with a kiss or two at times.
Morty rose from Rick's arms. Rick already missed his warmth. It was already so
easy to forget he wasn't human.
"I-I will put a soundproof system around us M-Morty. So Summer doesn't hear any
noise," Rick smiled gently and looked around inside the boxes that were placed
on the floor.
Morty blushed slightly.
"I'm going to the bathroom in the mean time," he said, leaving the garage. Rick
heard his step as he walked up the stairs.
Rick collected himself for a few seconds before he found the instrument he
needed to make their noises silent. He quickly looked into the TV room before
continuing to the second floor. Summer slept in the armchair with a bowl of
popcorn in her lap.
When Rick entered the bathroom, Morty had already been undressed, his naked
skin became almost translucent in the light from the window. Gears, mechanical
pumps and circuits shone through the skin. Rick blushed and hurried to use the
instrument that would hide the sound that came from them.
The steam rose from the hot water in the bathtub and Morty stepped in with
careful steps.
"Ohhhh! Hot!" he sighed pleasantly and closed his eyes.
"I'm glad M-M-Morty," Rick murmured and took off his clothes. He stepped into
the water and sat down in the bathtub face to face with Morty.
Morty swam toward Rick and placed himself in Rick's lap with his eyes facing
Rick.
"H-hey," he said nervously, smiling. Rick digged his fingers into Morty's hair
and pushed lightly, so Morty moved his face closer to Ricks. Their lips met and
they kissed slowly.
Rick felt at home, a calm that only Morty could make him feel.
----------
"Woah, you're looking clean! Did both of you take a shower?" asked Beth with a
laugh. She stood in the kitchen with several bags of pastries in her arms.
If she only knew, Rick thought with a sly smile.
"Now you look more like yourself dad," she said with a smile and kissed him on
newly shaven cheek. Rick smiled at her.
"What did you buy?" Morty asked curiously and sat down at the kitchen table.
Jerry took the bags from Beth and emptied their contents on small plates.
"We have bought crossaints, donuts and meringues," he replied, putting the
pastries on the table.
Beth woke Summer who entered the room with tired steps. She sat at the table
with a yawn.
The Smith and Sanchez family gathered at the table and ate the pastries, drank
coffee and talked. Nobody seemed to notice that Morty chewed and chewed without
swallowing.
Chapter End Notes
     21/9
     I added a part to the end.
***** Chapter 4 *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
"W-wake u-up M-Morty, we're… We have to go!"
Rick stepped into Morty's room, drunk. He stumbled into Morty's bed, put his
arm around Morty's chest and drew him close. He took a deep breath and took
Morty's scent into his lungs. He smelled like plastic and synthetic material.
Rick frowned, a voice resounded through the fog of intoxication.
Robot. Machine. Not real.
His stomach bubbled worriedly. The alcohol he’d drunk was on its way up.
"M-M-Morty", he breathed heavily into Robot Morty's hair. His eyes burned with
tears.
"R-Rick?" Morty muttered silently and turned to Rick. His mechanical eyes gave
the room a dim light. "Wh-what’s w-wrong? Are y-you crying Rick?" His voice was
worried.
"M-M-Morty..." Rick mumbled sadly and pressed his body against Morty’s. Morty
held him close and stroked his hair softly.
"What's wrong? A-Are you drunk?"
Rick didn’t answer. The sorrow lay like a heavy blanket over him. How could he
think a robot could replace the real Morty? What was he thinking? The tears
burned his eyes a last time before they ran over.
"R-Rick ...?" Morty whispered worriedly and stroked his tears away with his
fingers.
"Morty... You..." The words disappeared. He couldn’t tell Robot Morty what he
was. Rick went silent and sobbed.
"I-I'm what Rick? What do you mean?" asked Morty as he gently caressed Rick's
cheek.
"No... it's... it's nothing ... you n-need to sleep Morty. I shouldn’t have
disturbed you. I'll see you tomorrow," Rick muttered and tried to get up from
the bed, but Morty clung to him.
"I-I love you Rick," Morty whispered, his cheeks blushing. Rick's heart
dropped. This Morty had real Morty's memories. The three words would come
sooner or later, that was inevitable. But could Rick really love a copy of an
original?
He pulled himself out of Morty's grip and stumbled against the door, closed it
behind him and tripped towards the garage. Tried to ignore Morty's sad facial
expression that burned on his retina. He locked the door afterwards and pulled
his bottle out of the pocket. He took a few gulps, the alcohol burned his
throat, a shiver went over his back.
He sat down at the desk and searched the boxes, pulled them out one by one. A
red gun appeared in one of the boxes.
IN CASE OF EMERGENCY, it said on a note that was firmly tied to the gun.
Rick took a tight hold of it, brought the pipe to his mouth and fingered the
trigger.
I should kill myself. I have done nothing but wrong. I've screwed up everything
for everyone. I'm a mess. I deserve to fucking die.
But something prevented him from firing the gun. Morty lying in the bed
upstairs was certainly not a human but he had Morty's memories. Maybe it was
worth living for?
He decided to give his pathetic life a last chance. He hid the gun with a sigh
and stared at nothing.
------
Hard knocking on the door made Rick wake up from his sleep. The hangover was
like needles in his head. He blinked a few times before he opened his eyes
completely. His neck hurt as he stretched out into the chair in which he had
fallen asleep.
"Dad? You okay in there? Clock's almost 3 pm," Beth's anxious voice cut into
his ears.
"I'm fine! D-don't... don’t sweat it," he shouted back and scratched his hair
with an irritated sigh.
"Do you want anything to eat? I can make something for you before I go to
work," said Beth softly. She really cared about her dad.
"N-no ..." murmured Rick. His tongue was thick and sticky in his mouth. He
would rather dig a tunnel and never come up again than going to the kitchen
right now.
Beth went away with a disappointed sigh.
Another knock on the door. Rick sighed.
"Yes?"
"A-Are we going on an adventure today R-Rick?" Morty's voice on the other side
of the door was small and more worried than usual.
"Don’t you need to go to school today Morty?" Rick said, and almost regretted
his choice of tone voice. He sounded angry and bitter.
"N-no, it's Labor Day today. I thought I said that to you yesterday," he
answered quietly. Rick heard how he sat down outside the door.
"I-I want to feel your body..." he whispered quietly so only Rick could hear.
Rick's heart beat two fast beats, his mouth went dry. He got up from the chair
and unlocked the door. Morty came in, closed and locked the door quickly.
"M-Morty..." he murmured when Morty almost threw himself into Rick’s arms.
"Are you angry with me? What have I done? Please tell me," Morty's body
shivered from his sudden crying. The smell of liquid metal filled the room.
Rick looked down on Morty's eyes with dreadful delight. They were filled with
dripping mercury, which became small bullets when they landed on the floor. He
marveled over his imaginative brain.
"P-please R-Rick..." Morty sobbed and tugged at Rick's lab coat.
"S-shut it you little turd," Rick suddenly growled, pissed off. Morty looked
shocked at him with his eyes full of mercury.
"We have stu-UUUURP-ff to do, so stop crying and take a hold off yourself!" He
pushed Morty away from him, not knowing exactly why since he loved being close
to Morty.
Morty gave Rick a hurt look. The mercury stopped dropping and he wiped his nose
with his arm.
"O-okay ... what are we doing then R-Rick?"
"Helping Birdperson", was Rick’s answer.
He opened a portal, went into it and dragged Morty with him.
----
"Oh shit! Oh jeez! Oh fuuuuck!" screamed Morty while he, Rick and Birdperson
fought against an angry burning Phoenix. It screeched loudly to the sky and
made another blow to them. This time, the claws hit Morty's arm. He shouted
with pain. Metal pieces from his arm scattered everywhere.
"MORTY!" Rick yelled and ran to his side and lifted him up.
"M-m-my arm!" Morty wailed.
Birdperson flew into the air and grabbed the phoenix with his hands and broke
its neck. Its fire burned out and it dropped down to the ground. Birdperson
picked up both Rick and Morty with his claws and flew them back to his nest. He
landed softly. Rick spat out a bunch of feathers that had flown into his mouth.
"M-my aaaarm," Morty moaned, upset.
Birdperson gave Morty’s injured arm a sharp look.
"Are you a..."
Rick shook his head sharply.
"I'm in a lot of fucking pain!" Morty spat and gave Rick a helpless look. "Are
you gonna h-help me or not?!"
Birdperson looked suspiciously at Rick but said nothing.
"Y-UUUURP-eees Morty. I-I'll help you," Rick said calmly, looking around in
Birdperson's nest to find something he could use to repair Morty's arm with.
"I can find bandages, I will be right back," said Birdperson, disappearing with
a few flutters of his wings.
Morty looked at the wounds on Rick's arm, they were bleeding again. The phoenix
must have ripped them open. Red blood drops dripped from the wounds. He turned
his eyes to his own arm and looked at the mechanical parts that sparkled
electricity.
"Rick...?" he said with a quiet voice.
"Hmm?"
"Why... why don’t I bleed like you?" asked Morty anxiously. "My blood is
colored silver, but yours is red..."
Rick froze. This event must be deleted from Morty's memory as soon as they
return home. He tried to think of a good reason that wouldn’t make Morty freak
out totally. Something that could keep him calm until they came home.
"Because you are different Morty. Y-you’re n-not like other teenagers. It's
that simple," replied Rick, stroking Morty's cheek sweetly.
“B-b-but Rick... What you say doesn’t match w-with my memories... I have
memories of bleeding before and th-the blood were red. I-I have seen my wounds
and my skin didn’t look the way it looks now. Th-this j-just reminds me of a-
a r-robot!” The boy suddenly became angry and rose from the floor.
"Y-you’re hiding something for m-me! T-this doesn’t go w-with my memories at
all!"
Rick put his hands over Morty's shoulders.
"Y-UUUURP-ou n-need calm down a little M-Morty. It's no d-d-danger. You’re sa-
safe with m-me", Rick said calmly and moved his fingers closer to the OFF
button. He hated that he lied.
Morty's eyes were filled with mercury tears.
"I-I'm so confused, nothing i-is right. W-wh-what's going on R-Rick?" He
sobbed. The mercury tears dropped onto the floor. Rick gazed sadly at him and
kissed him quickly over his mouth. Morty answered the kiss immediately, almost
desperate. He let out a sharp breath and pressed his body against Rick's.
"Forgive me," Rick whispered against Morty's lips when he gave the button a
switch. Morty's body froze and collapsed with a buzzing sound.
Rick sighed sadly.
Birdperson came flying and landed next to him with a few machine parts between
his claws. Rick thanked him for the trouble and repaired Morty's arm in a few
minutes.
"What have you done Rick? Where is the real Morty?" Birdperson asked. They were
sitting next to Morty’s body, looking at him. Rick had a beer bottle in his
hand while Birdperson had a bowl of worms. Rick took a gulp of his beer and
burped loudly.
"M-Morty is dead. A Cronenberg took him. I couldn’t do anything. I was too busy
with myself. I-I'm a fucking idiot. When the Cronenberg took him, it was
already too late, it broke his skull in less than a minute. I-I buried him and
started building this... this thing," he said quietly and gesticulated with his
hands against Robot Morty's body.
"You've really done a good job. I am very fascinated by your work with Robot
Morty. But why did you take the real Morty's memories and put them into the
robot?" Birdperson asked with his monotonous voice as he snatched a worm.
Rick’s eyes were filled with pain as he looked at Birdperson.
"B-because... I c-c-can't live without h-him." His voice trembled and tears
burned again in his eyes. The pain in his chest became unbearable and a sad,
heart-wrenching sound broke from Rick's throat. Birdperson embraced him with
his wings and hugged him.
"He's my only r-reason to live. I j-just... I can’t live... if Morty is not in
my l-life... I couldn’t... b-bear with t-the pain of losing him," Rick sniveled
sorrowfully. “I k-know I’m a fucking selfish bitch, but I j-just… I can’t b-be
without M-Morty…”
"I understand Rick. I am not judging you by any means. But I do have a
question," said Birdperson quietly and stroked a tear away with one of his many
wing tips.
"W-what?"
"What are you going to do when Robot Morty becomes more self-aware that he's
actually a robot? He will not be happy about it. You lying I mean."
Rick's heart dropped. He hadn’t thought that far. He wanted to live in the
present as much as possible. But that day would come. Would he continue to
erase Robot Morty's memories? How long was it sustainable? In what way was it
ethical to let a robot believe that it was a human being?
"I don’t know BP. I do not... I don’t know... " Rick whispered.
Chapter End Notes
     Whenever I write I always imagine Birdperson more birdlike than he
     actually is in the show... So, he's more like a harpy in my fic than
     a guy with feathers.
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