Cold

Summary: Rick A7Ω-89 has no family of his own. He dedicates his life to science and has all but given up on relationships with other people. Morty 7E-199 lives with an abusive foster family and wants nothing more in life than someone who honestly loves and cares about him. When the two meet, Morty discovers something in Rick he had thought he'd lost forever long ago, while Rick discovers something in Morty he never knew he needed or wanted.

Notes: These versions of Rick and Morty are obviously not the versions from the show or comic. I made up their dimension numbers - they are not specific versions of the characters from any Rick and Morty media. I made them up entirely besides for them being versions of the original characters. While I tried to keep them similar to the characters we know and love from the show, they are each also slightly different, as Ricks and Mortys from other dimensions tend to be. I figure all the different Ricks and Mortys are kind of the same person only with different life circumstances changing them a bit here and there - so I do want these two to be similar to the ones from the show - but their lives have been very different from those versions of themselves, so they turned out a bit different thanks to damaging circumstances they've encountered.

Furthermore, the Morty in this story does not go to an equivalent high school as our Morty from the show because he's a foster kid and doesn't live in the same place on his version of Earth as other Mortys. Similarly, Rick doesn't spend all his time in the Smith family garage because there is no Smith family in his dimension. So the locations in this story are not in the show in any way - I made them up. So that means the teachers and students from Morty's high school are different from the ones in the show. None of the students or teachers you already kind of know are in this.

I'm going to put some trigger warnings on here really quick in case it might bother anyone so you'll know in advance to read carefully or turn back, because this story does get pretty rough and potentially traumatizing in some places... I'm not putting warnings on specific chapters. Just here. Foster-kid Morty doesn't have an easy life. His parents are physically and verbally abusive and his foster-brother hangs out with some less than decent young men who are pretty cruel and twisted. This story contains descriptions of child abuse and sexual assault against a child. I've tried to keep everything as tasteful as possible, but as I always say, the stakes need to be high in order for a good payoff. It is very possible this could be uncomfortable to read if you are a survivor of child abuse or sexual assault. I don't aim to make anyone feel bad in this way... that's why I'm warning you. I feel like my abusive characters usually get what's coming to them or my abused character gets someplace safer in the end and it's satisfying in a certain way eventually... Just be ready. Don't let me catch you off-guard and traumatize you. That's not my goal at all.

(And just in case this isn't clear - Rick and Morty aren't going to be in any kind of romantic or sexual relationship in this story. This is more of a friendship/family thing. I know some people write stories where these two have a weird predatory incest thing going on, but Morty is a child, you guys... In my writing, any sexual act directed toward Morty is going to be treated as villainous and predatory unless it's something small and consensual between him and someone his own age, because he's fourteen years old... I honestly don't want to judge anyone's writing, and all these stories are only fiction, so write whatever you want, but don't expect that sort of thing from me. If I ever did write a version of Rick who was interested in his grandchild sexually, that Rick would be the villain of my story, and I don't want Rick to be a villain.)

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Chapter 1

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Rick Sanchez A7Ω-89 went a very long time without a Morty. In fact, he lived most of his life without ever knowing a Morty was even a thing other Ricks had. Though he was every bit as adventurous and intelligent as any other Rick, he generally kept to himself and never paid attention to what other Ricks were up to. He'd received invitations to meet with and possibly join an organization called "The Council of Ricks," but had always ignored the invites, feeling he could barely stand being around himself, let alone infinite other versions of himself who would be practically the same person as him, only not as good.

It wasn't until a particular quest of his continued to fail time after time that he decided upon questioning Ricks from other dimensions to see if their methods might by some miracle be an improvement of his own. If The Council of Ricks really had that many versions of himself meeting up, Rick A7Ω-89 could surely find one who'd succeeded where he failed and figure out once and for all what he'd been doing wrong.

The minute he set foot inside the council, however, Rick felt immediately creeped out and confused. It was bad enough to see dozens of Ricks who looked and dressed exactly like him, but stranger yet, at least eighty percent of them seemed to have been accompanied by different versions of the same young boy - a boy Rick had never seen before in his life.

As Rick walked cautiously across a large space filled with Ricks talking to each other, with most of their young companions looking around nervously, he frowned and furrowed his brow. Every version of this boy seemed uncertain about being here. Many of them looked scared of literally everything - the location itself, the other Ricks, the other versions of the boy, even sometimes their own Rick.

Rick stared down at one of them as he walked slowly past the kid. The boy stared back with wide eyes, shrinking down slightly against the Rick he'd seemingly come here with. Shaking his head, Rick looked away and continued walking. What the hell was this? Who was this kid? If almost every single Rick was traveling with different versions of the same kid, shouldn't it have been someone Rick AΩ7-89 actually knew a version of from his own dimension?

"Aww, man," an excited version of Rick's voice rang out from several yards ahead as a group of three Ricks stood talking with their little brown-haired side-kicks standing silently next to them, looking back and forth between all of the Ricks surrounding them. "I got some of that crystallized electric powder Vlymnaarx-9 the other day. Been powering the whole thing I've got goin' on the garage for the past week and I only have used like half a fucking ounce."

Rick AΩ7-89's ears perked up. Crystallized electric powder was the exact substance he had just failed to obtain. That was the reason he was here - to ask these guys if they'd been able to obtain it, and if so, find out how they did it.

As he stepped up toward the other Ricks, he noticed the second one high-five the first. "Alright! That shit is lit as fuck, man! I got like seven fucking gallons of it this weekend."

"I only got like twenty ounces," the third Rick grumbled. "Thanks to my Morty being an insufferable little dipshit and nearly getting himself killed at the worst possible moment." His voice raised to an actual shout at the end of his sentence as he glared down at the boy next to him and the boy frowned and looked down at his feet.

"Hey," Rick AΩ7-89 cut in as he approached the group. "You guys are talking about C.E.P... How did you manage to get it? Vlymnaarx-9 in my dimension is so heavily policed considering it's virtually uninhabited. Every time I set foot on that planet, I've got authorities on my ass in less than two minutes."

One of the Ricks frowned as he looked over, craning his neck as though trying to look around Rick AΩ7-89. "Where's your Morty?" He frowned.

Rick AΩ7-89 stared back. "My what?"

"Your Morty... Didn't get him killed, did you?" The other Rick frowned and the boy next to him stared up with his mouth slightly open and his brows furrowed.

Rick AΩ7-89 shook his head. Was that the kid's name? At least the boy had a name... Rick was still worried that perhaps these kids weren't all here willingly and were being treated more as props or servants than people. They all seemed so jumpy and nervous. "I don't have a Morty... I, uh..." Rick AΩ7-89 started. "I don't even know who Morty is... I've never been here before..."

All three of the Ricks and Mortys gasped and stared at him.

"What happened to his Morty?" one of the Mortys whispered to another.

"He doesn't even know him..." the third Morty whispered. "He never had a Morty..."

"Maybe he's lying..." the second one spoke.

"Shut up down there," one of the Ricks ordered as he glared down at the kid. "Come talk with me, Rick," he suggested as he put his hand on Rick's shoulder and led him away. "I'm Rick T-256," he offered, holding his hand out.

"AΩ7-89," Rick introduced himself back, shaking T-256's hand. "So what the hell is all this? You guys aren't perverts, are you?" He grimaced. Why would all the other Ricks want to travel with a young boy like this? The kid didn't even look smart or at all useful - seemed like a liability and nothing else... unless they were up to something gross...

T-256 laughed. "No... We're not perverts... Morty's your grandson, Rick. Don't you have a daughter? Beth? I hardly ever hear of a Rick without a Morty... I mean, you're not the first, but it's rare, and the ones who don't have a Morty usually at least know who the kid is... Did you step out of Beth's life before he was even born and never look back? Lots of Ricks don't have a Summer, but there's usually a Morty at least, assuming Beth and Jerry stayed together after the abortion."

Rick AΩ7-89 stared back at this guy with his mouth hanging open in shock. It took a lot to shock Rick, really, but that was a lot of information all at once. His version of Beth had died as a teenager. She had been dating a boy named Jerry, but she died before that relationship was ever anything serious. Rick hadn't ever thought much about what could have been... He assumed every version of his daughter would have died in the same unfortunate accident as his Beth. He never thought about checking out other dimensions and seeing if other Beths might still be around. They wouldn't be his Beth, so he never thought it mattered... And he never considered that versions of her who lived would have gone on to have children, and that Rick could have had grandchildren.

He looked back around the room at all the little Mortys standing next to their grandfathers. He felt a sinking, longing feeling in his chest as he observed them. He could see a hint of Beth in the boy's features - nothing striking or overly obvious, but just something small he couldn't quite put his finger on. This child was his daughter's... Not the version of her he knew, but many other versions of the same woman. This boy was something Rick could have had if things had been different, if Beth hadn't gone on Spring Break with her friends, hadn't gone into the ocean when the waves were too strong, and hadn't been pulled under for too long. And apparently some versions of Rick had a grand-daughter too, though he noticed none of them had brought her here.

Rick wasn't one to really get hung up on family, and he really didn't know this boy or the girl the other Rick mentioned. They really didn't matter to him... Neither did all the versions of Beth that were apparently still out there. None of them were his. He'd never met Morty or Summer - couldn't miss them because he never knew them... And even Beth, who he did know and miss, wasn't the same Beth in these other dimensions. She'd led a different life, had teenaged children, and had grown up with different versions of Rick, who probably raised her differently on small levels. None of them would be the Beth he knew and loved...

Even so, he felt kind of cheated being all on his own when he saw how things had turned out in other dimensions. These Ricks had a grandson. Some had a granddaughter, apparently... and they had their daughter still.

"Rick..." T-256's voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You stoned or something?"

Rick AΩ7-89 blinked and shook his head. "No... I just... My Beth died... She didn't get married or have kids. I just - Morty doesn't exist in my dimension. Beth never grew to adulthood. Never had kids. I had no idea other Ricks had grandchildren... I never knew..."

"Oh... Well, see? There's your problem with harvesting that C.E.P. then. That's why you keep getting found out," T-256 went on. "You've got to bring your Morty with you so you don't get caught. We're not just traveling with him for company, Rick. He's dumb as hell, annoying as hell, gets himself into trouble every other god-damned minute... But his brain waves sort of mask ours so we can't be tracked. Those Vlymnaarx-9 police keep finding you because your brain waves are too strong and they can pick 'em up. Morty's would kind of balance that out."

Rick AΩ7-89 frowned. "Are you shitting me? You drag this kid all over hell with you for brain waves?"

T-256 shrugged. "It works. I got a lot of C.E.P. and you don't... I got it because my Morty kept me hidden. That's what he's for."

It seemed cruel to use his grandson like that - to put him into danger when the boy would get nothing out of it, but Rick AΩ7-89 also didn't even know this kid, so what did it matter? He barely cared about anyone, ever, so why would he care about any version of this boy he had never met? If he could get a kid of his own to use as a cloaking device to further his science work, why wouldn't he?

"Are there any Mortys without Ricks that might be up for grabs?" Rick AΩ7-89 wondered. "I could certainly use one if he'll keep my brain waves cloaked and keep me from being caught. Can't exactly go back to Vlymnaarx-9 in my own dimension though. I'm very much banned, and they claim they'll vaporize me on site if I go back."

"I'll take you over to fill out a replacement Morty form," T-256 offered. "It might take a while to process though. I've only attempted to replace mine once, and waited a while, but the other one wasn't actually dead, it turns out, so I got him back and canceled the request."

Rick AΩ7-89 frowned as he followed the guy, whose Morty ran up beside him as they left the common area.

"Don't leave me again, Rick," Morty T-256 spoke in a small voice.

"I won't," Rick T-256 grumbled with a sigh and an eye roll. "Stop being so damn clingy. Here's the place. Just ask for the Replacement Morty form."

Rick AΩ7-89 nodded and walked inside a room that looked like the DMV, with several Ricks in line, leading up to a counter that another Rick sat behind. He rolled his eyes and groaned to himself. These versions of himself fucking sucked. Why did they set this council up to mimic all the worst parts of society?

He waited until he was in the front of the line and then found himself staring at a version of himself with glasses and a scowl on his face.

"Dimension?" The receptionist Rick barked.

"Uh... AΩ7-89," Rick answered. "I need a-"

"Hold on," the receptionist interrupted him as he typed something into a computer. "You're not in the system. Have you been here before?"

Rick exhaled as his shoulders slumped. "No... I just need-"

"You're going to have to fill out opening paperwork. We can't do business with Ricks who aren't on file. That's that line." He pointed toward another line of Ricks leading up to another desk with a different Rick-receptionist manning a different, yet identical computer behind it.

"Can't I just tell you whatever information you need?" Rick sighed. "I need a replacement Morty... I never got one in the first place, so... not really a replacement-"

"A Morty is a privilege, not a right," the receptionist-Rick began as though rattling off a rehearsed speech. "If you were not granted a Morty organically through life that does not mean you are entitled to one. Mortys are earned, not given. If you wish to apply for a Morty, opening paperwork must be completed first, then community service through the Council of Ricks, and then you can apply for one and one will potentially be assigned to you based on your performance."

Rick stared back. "That other Rick told me I just needed a form-"

"We've changed things recently. We're low on Mortys - a lot of Ricks happened to go on the same dipshit mission all at the same time and there were casualties... of the Morty sort."

Rick grimaced.

"You'll have to follow the procedure," the receptionist went on. "Step into the other line, please."

"Uggh... God damn it..." Rick exhaled and shook his head. "Never mind," he grumbled. That sounded like way too much work with the possibility of it all being for nothing. These versions of him sure did seem to over-complicate things. He could hardly understand how so many other dimensions' Ricks were such bureaucratic douchebags..

Why would he bother with tireless paperwork when he could just do whatever he wanted much easier and quicker? He'd just invented a pair of goggles that could see into other dimensions, and as always had access to an inter-dimensional portal gun. That's all he needed to just sort this out himself.

He'd just have to seek out a Morty on his own - one without a Rick, and then go collect the kid... No one who might disapprove would ever need to know he even did it. He'd find a Morty no one would miss... Or maybe he wouldn't even bother being that choosy. As long as the kid didn't have a version of Rick to come reclaim him, he was pretty much up for grabs. Rick knew better than anyone that the only person who could stop him was himself, so he could take any Rick-less Morty out there.

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