A/N: This takes place during Season 2 of Star Vs. The Forces of Evil, not after. Once again, I focus more on the Rick and Morty interactions, but tried to add in some more Star Vs. the Forces of Evil elements.
Heads-up: Word count is significantly longer than the last part, by about 1,500 words.
Warning: Mild profanity, plus two F bombs. Pretty dark themes.
----------
Rick stared at the blinking light on his scanner, lips lowering in thought. If it really was the missing half...
"Rick? What are you doing?" Morty asked, just as Star and Marco started to wake up.
Star sat up with a groan, shaking Marco by the shoulder. "Marco...Marco wake up," she said, soon coming back to reality as she saw the old man with her wand. The boy muttered something, but finally he, too, sat up. He blinked at the transparent blue dome they were under. He put his hand up to it, but found it wouldn't budge. Soon enough he was trying to punch and kick at it, but to no avail.
"What is this?" he said.
Star took out her dimensional scissors, cutting them through the air, only for nothing to happen. She frowned, before glancing at her friend. "Marco," she said. "My scissors aren't working."
The boy's eyes widened. "What?" Quickly he took out his own pair, trying to do the same, only to get the same result. He put his scissors away, and soon enough he was trying to punch and kick at the forcefield, but to no avail.
Rick didn't seem to notice, or care, as he turned to his grandson, a smile returning to his face. "There's another wand out there, Morty. And its on Mewni. It-It's probably the other half of this one. I need to get it."
"B-But Rick! Didn't you just come here for this one? Why do you - Why do you need another one?" Morty asked.
The man facepalmed. “Geez, Morty, do I need to spell it out for you? Its another piece of powerful technology, what do you think I want it for?” Seeing the sour expression on Morty’s face, he realized what he was trying to say. “Ugh, fine. I won’t hurt them like I did these two here to get the wand, all right?”
“O...Okay,” the boy nodded.
“Hey!” Star yelled, pounding her fists against the forcefield, getting their attention. “Give me back my wand, you old creep!”
“Sorry, no can do, *princess*,” Rick drawled, a mocking smirk on his face.
“Princess?” Morty asked.
“Yeah,” Rick burped. “She’s the princess of Mewni. Heir to the Butterfly dynasty. Well whoop dee doo.” He gave a deadpan stare, twirling a finger in the air.
“A princess? Oh geez, Rick, what about the king and queen, then? W-what are they gonna do, when they found out you imprisoned their daughter, and took her wand?”
“What are they gonna do? Pfft, nothing.” Rick scoffed. “After last time, they know not to screw with me.” He glanced at Star. “You know, I’ve been wanting this tech for a while. Your mother Moon was pretty good at keeping it safe. Glad to know that you don’t follow after her.” He took out his gun and opened a new portal.
“Hey, no! Give it back!” Star yelled, banging hopelessly against the forcefield, but Rick was already walking through the portal. It was only after he was gone that the gravity of the situation started to hit her. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she turned to Marco. “No, no...I’ve lost everything, Marco. I lost my spell book, I lost Glossaryck, and now I lost...my family’s most prized heirloom...”
Marco didn’t know what to say. He just wrapped his arms around her, trying to give her a hug of support. It was the only thing he could think of doing.
Morty glanced back at the two, his face full of concern. He felt guilty, awful about what he’d done, about helping Rick ruin someone’s life. But he knew he couldn’t do anything. Rick would kill him if he did. With a final look back, he only stopped once to throw away a wad of gum that had stuck to his shoe, before stepping through the portal.
---
They were in a large temple of some sort. A monster temple, by the looks of it, Rick noted. Only, it was full of rats.
Dozens, if not hundreds of them moved along the floors, doing various tasks. It didn’t take long for them to notice the intruders to the castle though, and start swarming toward them, their looks angry and vicious.
The scientist took out the wand, quickly and easily blasting them. After the first accidental triggering of its blast, it wasn’t hard to turn the attack into a constant ray on the creatures, shooting each and everyone of them back. They weren’t killed, but they wouldn’t be moving any time soon, either.
The old man and the boy continued like this in a similar manner, walking all through the temple. It wasn’t long before they reached the main chambers of the place. The double doors were closed, but outside of it was the sight of an abnormally large spider and red eagle that quickly turned to face them, hostility in their actions.
Rick shot at them but the bird took to the air, as the spider jumped out of the way.
Morty’s eyes widened in fear as the spider advanced toward him.
But Rick couldn’t focus as the bird swooped down, going for his head with its talons. The old man barely manged to dive out of the way, performing a roll in the process, before he stood up. He aimed at the eagle once more and fired. The blast hit, and with a pained screech the bird dropped to the ground. It didn’t move to get up again.
“Um, Rick!” Morty called, terror in his voice. “Help!”
He glanced over to find the boy being enveloped and wrapped up in the spider’s silk. Rick glared and fired the wand, blasting the creature back and sending it crashing against the wall. It, too, landed on its side, unable to get up again.
Rick quickly went over to his grandson, taking out the laser tool and cutting through the web. “You really keep getting tied up today, don’t you?” he mused.
A slight smile came to the boy’s face. “Yeah, haha...” he laughed slightly as the strands were finished being cut, removing them from himself before standing up with Rick.
That was when the double doors to the room before them opened, and a small, green, bird-like humanoid creature stepped through. The whites of his eyes were yellow, he had a long beard separated into three braids, and was wearing what looked to be a gold colored chip bag, as well as sandals. He was holding what looked to be the skeletal remains of a hand, gripping a dark piece of a diamond-shaped rock. Embedded in it was the other half of a green star.
“Star Butterfly!” Came the shrill yell of the bird monster, aiming the wand in front of him. “I should have known it was you when I heard the sound of all those magic blasts. Well, I wasn’t expecting you to find this place so soon, but now I Ludo, will kill you! You see, I’ve been training with Glos – Wait.” He suddenly stopped talking, his black colored beak pausing for a moment as he took the sight in of the man and boy before him.
His eyes narrowed in confusion as he lowered his wand slightly. “You’re not Star Butterfly,” he looked at Morty, casually gesturing his wand toward him. “And you’re not Marco.”
“Bingo!” Rick said. “But damn, your voice is even more annoying than Morty’s.”
“Hey!” the boy yelled.
“Who are you?” Ludo questioned.
“None of your business,” Rick retorted.
“And – is that a wand. Is that Star’s wand?”
“Right again! Man, this guy’s on a roll. Looks like your intelligence isn’t so diminished with that malformed body of yours.”
Ludo hissed at the callous remark, his eyes narrowing.
Morty frowned. “Damn, Rick, no need to be so harsh. Like, I’m sure this guy is cool and all, just like Star and Marco were.”
Rick scoffed, “Are you kidding me, Morty? Look at this guy. He’s a greedy little momma’s boy. He’s a monster. I can tell what he’s thinking from a mile away.”
“Wow...That’s kind of - Th-that’s kind of racist.”
“Give me the wand!” Ludo demanded, aiming his wand at Morty. “Or the boy gets it!”
“Go ahead,” Rick said, already in motion, as he waved his own device toward Morty. “Forcefield protection bubble, t-to keep this boy out of...trouble.” He decided to go for the rhyming type of “spell,” for the ease of not having to waste time turning a generator on.
The pink bubble appeared around Morty.
“Ugh,” Rick frowned at the color. Apparently the wand defaulted to its original color for “spells” like that. He didn’t really care too much though, as the bubble did its job, protecting the young man from the green blasts of energy just before they reached him.
Ludo growled at the sight. “You’ll die for thinking you could cross me, old man!” He swore, firing at the scientist.
Rick raised a brow at Morty. “Who’s racist - “ he belched. “Now?” He said, firing a blast to cancel out each one of Ludo’s.
The boy let out a sigh of resignation. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
---
Morty had nearly forgotten what he’d done until he saw the blue ripple opening up behind him and Rick, a pair of scissors cutting open a portal into the temple, before Star and Marco stepped through. He’d forgotten about the piece of gum he’d “casually” thrown away.
Star’s eyes widened at the sight before her, as she let out a gasp. “Ludo!”
“Ludo?” Marco gasped.
“Star!” Ludo’s eyes widened.
“Rick...!” Star’s eyes narrowed at the old man with her wand.
“Rick?” Ludo questioned.
“Morty!” Rick glared over at his grandson.
“Okay,” Marco interrupted. “Let’s not be doing this again.” He remembered doing something similar when Ludo first showed back up.
“I’m getting my wand back,” Star swore.
“Wh-What the hell are they doing here, M-Morty?” Rick questioned, as the bubble around the boy burst.
“Heh, it’s a funny story,” Morty smiled nervously. “I might have thrown away a piece of gum that might have accidentally hit the button to turn off the force field generator.”
“Uh huh, ‘accidentally,’” The old man gave him a deadpan stare. “You’re an idiot, Morty. Y-You do realize, that I have to do twice the work here now, right?”
The boy didn’t have a response, as he turned back to face Ludo. His first priority was getting that wand.
Ludo let out a battle cry, before firing at Rick. The man made sure to block them in the same manner as before, before spinning around. He quickly ducked Marco’s punch, who’d charged him in the meantime. Ignoring the green blasts being fired at Star, Rick retaliated by sending a kick to the side of the boy with the red hoodie.
Marco stumbled back, and he took the opportunity to also aim a blast over Marco’s shoulder at Star, managing to hit her by surprise. She let out a cry of pain, but wasn’t knocked out.
“Star!” Marco yelled, before refocusing on the old man. He delivered a powerful kick to the man’s hand, knocking the wand from his grasp.
“No!” Rick yelled, watching as the wand landed some feet away from them. Marco quickly took off running towards it. Just as he was about to grab it, though, a green portal opened up underneath it. The sci-fi looking wand fell through the portal right into Rick’s hand. He smirked, chuckling a bit as he messed with him, enjoying the look of disappointed anger that came to Marco’s face.
Star managed to recover from her blast and stepped next to Marco. The two entered battle stances, preparing to fight.
---
Meanwhile, Morty had managed to sneak away during the start of the battle in order to get close enough to Ludo. He couldn’t just let that bird-monster-thing attack them. Both Marco and Star seemed like good people, and he couldn’t let Rick get hurt. That’s why, soon after it began, he managed to get close enough and tackle the small bird creature to the ground. Which wasn’t very hard, considering he was only about half of Morty’s size.
Morty grabbed the wand. He struggled, trying to pry the wand from Ludo’s grasp. But Ludo’s grasp on it was firm.
“Is that your grandfather down there?” Ludo hissed, straining to keep his hold. “Does he fight all your battles for you?”
“No!” Morty grunted, forcing the monster’s arms away slightly, so he wouldn’t have a clear shot to use the wand.
Ludo seemed to realize this and glared, somehow gaining a surge of strength to move forward and use the wand. Not to cast magic, however.
He managed to strike Morty in the head with it. It was hard enough to stun the boy, causing his death grip to loosen enough to allow Ludo to break his arms free. He blasted Morty back onto the floor, and quickly got to his feet.
Morty soon recovered from the hits, enough to focus back on the situation he was currently in. His eyes widened as he realized a weapon was being pointed straight at his face. “Rick!” he called.
A sinister grin came to Ludo’s face. He glanced over to the old man – he was currently in the midst of fighting Star and Marco, dodging punches and kicks and grabs, while trying to deal some of his own – before looking back at the boy in front of him.
“Oh, so your grandfather always rescues you, is that it? Hmm?” he said. “Well he won’t this time. He cares more about that wand than he does your life!” he laughed maniacally.
“N-no. You’re wrong about that!” Morty stammered. “He’s always been there to save me...even though sometimes - ”
“Sometimes he seems to have ulterior motives?” He laughed at the dumbfounded expression on the boy’s face. He’d learned that the hard way from Toffee. “It isn’t that hard to figure out, stupid boy. But believe me...”
Ludo sneered in malicious delight. “It takes a monster, to know a monster.” His wand started charging, the green half-star starting to glow. “Now, prepare to die, boy.”
Just as he was about to fire a blast came out of nowhere and hit Ludo, smacking him against the wall, and sending him unconscious.
Morty glanced over to find Rick pointing the wand in his direction. A slight smile came to the young man’s face, before Rick started fighting again. It looked like he was having some trouble though. Maybe he’d win, like he always seemed to, eventually. But maybe Morty could help him.
He glanced down, over to the passed out Ludo. The wand lay on the floor, right beside him. After a moment’s deliberation, he picked it up.
---
Rick dodged another punch from Star, as Marco got out of the way of another blast from the wand.
“How,” Marco took a moment to breathe. “Is this guy...still go-oh-ing?” he practically whined.
“I have no idea,” Star muttered, readying her stance again. “But he’s goin’ down.”
That was when a green ray came out of nowhere, then another, and another, striking the ground by their feet. It halted their fight, as they glanced over to find not Ludo with the wand, but Morty.
“Nice shooting - ” Rick burped, “there, Morty. Where’d you learn how to aim? The st-stormtrooper academy?”
“Stop fighting!” Morty yelled, as Marco and Star gradually backed away from the old man. “That goes for you too, Rick!”
“Duuuuh,” the scientist rolled his eyes, holding up his wand. “I got what I came here for. Now let’s go.”
He reached into his coat, about to pull out his portal gun, but was stopped by his grandson yelling, “No!”
“Huh?”
“N-n-no!” Morty decided, Ludo’s words still rolling around in his head. The likelihood, the truth to what he said, was all too strong. “No, I’m not gonna do this anymore, Rick! We-We’re gonna give these wands back to Star and leave.”
Rick’s amusement quickly faded as he removed his hand from his lab coat, staring at the boy with an unimpressed look. “Come on, Morty, don’t do this now,” he said, getting annoyed. “We got the tech. No one was seriously hurt – The most powerful pieces of technology are in our hands, Morty. You know how much I’ll get paid for that shit? Now let’s just come on and leave.”
“No. That’s where you’re wrong. Someone did get hurt – Star did. Marco did.” He started to explain when Rick looked back at them in confusion. “Not physically. But Star – she lost everything important to her family’s dynasty. And Marco? Y-Y-You trashed his house, completely wrecked it, and I’m sure his family has no easy way of replacing the things they lost in there.”
“Not my problem.” The old man said.
“See? Th-th-that’s just the problem with you!” Morty’s eyes clenched, before he readjusted the wand to aim directly at Rick. “You’re always looking after yourself, and no one else! H-H-How about you concern yourself with me for once, huh, Rick? How about you just don’t harm someone for your greed, o-or because you feel like it.”
“Oh, so that’s what this is about, is it?” The man frowned. “You got yourself a weapon and now you think you’re all high and mighty? You think you can force me to do something just because you got your finger on the trigger again, huh, Morty?” He glared.
“You think I want to force you? Hahah! I wish I didn’t have to,” he glared right back.
“Uhh. Hey...!” Star interrupted, trying to get both of their attention. “Maybe you guys shouldn’t be doing this.”
“Star...” Marco whispered, thinking this was a bad idea.
She ignored him, taking a small step forward, concern shining in her eyes. “You two are family, right? You should be listening to each other, supporting each other. Um...” she glanced down a moment. “I know family might not be the very *best* thing sometimes, but...”
She looked back up, a slight smile coming to her face. “Sometimes you need to accept each others’ differences before you can accept the other’s opinions of you. Because, uh, you know, respect is a two-way street? And I, uh...” her smile faded as she lost her train of thought, and she pointed at the device in Rick’s hand. “I really need that wand back,” she muttered.
“Respect?” Morty questioned. “You want to talk about respect? Do you even know who you’re talking about here? This is the man wh-who Cronenburged an entire world and left it behind without a second thought.”
“Hey!” Rick protested. “You’re the one who wanted a ‘love potion.’ Remember that? Remember accepting responsibility on that one, *Morty?*”
They were back to arguing, as Marco gave his friend a deadpan stare. “Nice going, Star.”
Rick continued, “Not much to respect from a whiny little punk ass cry baby, is there?”
“No - ” Morty was cut off.
“A punk whiny little coward who always finds himself needing to be saved.”
“No, that’s - ”
“Always by me. *Me,* Morty. Who else is gonna save you from deranged wand-wielding deformed humanoid monster birds?”
“That’s all your fault! You’re the only reason I get into these types of situations! If it weren’t for you, I’d be at home watching *Ball Fondlers.* If it weren’t for you, I’d be watching tv. I’d be eating breakfast, and living a normal life with my family. E-Everything bad that’s happened is because of you!” Tears started to well up in the boy’s eyes. “If it weren’t for you, my dad would have stayed!”
Rick gritted his teeth, raising his own wand at Morty with one arm. “You think it’s all my fault? Huh? That’s what you think! Well think about how horribly dull your life would be without me. Think about how Beth and Jerry’s marriage was falling apart, regardless. Think about how, the next time an alien invasion happens, and I’m not around for it, who’s gonna save your ass. Because who’s gonna do it, huh, Morty? Who’s gonna protect you? Who’s gonna protect your mom? Or Summer? You wanna find out what that’s like? So you wanna see what life is like without me around? Well do it! Shoot me! Pull the proverbial trigger on that crap wand and kill me! Do it, you little shit! I’ve always cared about you and Summer but it’s about time someone killed me!”
Morty stood there, starting to sweat, but nonetheless kept his aim straight on his grandfather. “Prove it,” he muttered. “Prove you really care enough.”
“Done,” Rick muttered. He turned to Star, carelessly tossing his wand over to her. The blond caught it, staring at in surprise as it changed back to her design, before looking back up. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the scene in front of her, but she didn’t know what she could do to fix it. She raised her wand.
“There, no need to worry about retaliation,” Rick said, sounding calmer, but still serious. “There’s no gun to your head this time. Or Summer’s. This decision’s all yours. Just know that if you fire, there’s nothing to stop the blast from killing me.” As an extra measure he glanced over to Star, silently telling her to drop her guard. Hesitantly, she lowered her wand, not sure what else to do. The old man seemed to be sorting things out, sort of.
Morty was silent a moment, before, “Your...Y-Your portal gun,” he said. “Get rid of it.”
Rick sighed in annoyance. “Oh, come on. It’s in my pocket, Morty. How do you expect me to take it out and use it in the time you fire?”
The boy’s glare hardened, sweat running down his face. He didn’t trust him.
“Ugh, *fine.*” He took out the portal gun, turning around and tossing it over to Marco. The boy fumbled with the device, almost dropping it in surprise, but managed not to.
Star glanced at him. “Marco,” she whispered, giving him a silent look he could understand.
The man repressed the curse on his tongue as he turned back to his grandson. “There. No wand, no portal gun. You wanna kill me? Do it, then. Get on with it!”
Morty bit his lip, shaking as the wand started to charge.
“Do it. Don’t be a little punk, Morty. I’ll bet you miss the first shot, though, because you’re an idiot. And I’ll laugh in your face until you finally get it done,” Rick sneered. “So what are you waiting for? Get it over with! Shoot me, kill me! You’ll have no one to blame but yourself when things go to shit after I’m gone!”
The wand was nearly finished charging, and Morty’s eyes clenched shut tight. It was about to fire, he was sure it would, when suddenly the device was plucked from his grasp. His eyes opened, and he looked up to find it in the hands of Marco, a green portal swirling behind him.
“Geez dude, your grandfather was about to die,” Marco said, almost nonchalantly. The tension seemed to almost vanish in an instant. “I think he’s worth your trust.”
The other boy stared at him in bewilderment, not comprehending. Then he looked back at Rick, and saw the crossed arms and raise of his unibrow. That’s when it hit him, what he’d nearly done. “Oh my god, Rick. I’m so sorry...I didn’t...I didn’t mean to.” He said, as he started walking over to him.
The man waited a moment before speaking. “Relax. It’s okay. You...You had a few good points there, Morty. I’ll leave their tech alone here. Let’s just go home now - ” He paused as he remembered Marco had his portal gun. “Hey, kid,” he gestured with his hand.
“It’s Marco,” he said, tossing the gun over to him.
“I c-can fix up your house for you in no time,” Rick offered.
“No, no, it’s fine,” he muttered, feeling incredibly shocked about the situation. He couldn’t imagine how Morty must have felt. “Star can do that with her magic.”
“Y...Yeah...!” the girl cheered, giving an awkward smile. “That I can do for you, Marco, heheh...”
The moment was interrupted when a blue blur suddenly passed by, knocking the wand out of Marco’s hand. He and Star glanced over to find a small, blue-skinned bald man with a purple gem sticking out from his head. His legs were crossed as he sat, floating, in mid-air.
“Glossaryck!?” Both Star and Marco shouted in unison.
“Oh dear, oh, clumsy me,” Glossaryck said, raising a hand to his face in mock concern. “It seems I accidentally knocked the wand out of Marco’s hand.”
“Oh, shit,” Rick muttered in recognition of the being. “Nice to see another ‘Rick’ in the house!” he gave a smile.
“You know him?” Star and Marco asked both of them.
The blue man turned to look at the old man. “Rick Sanchez,” he noted. “From...”
The scientist’s smile faded. “Uh, listen, G-Rick, now’s not a good time.” He glanced down at the shocked Morty, his hands resting on his shoulders. “I gotta go.”
“As do I,” Glossaryck stated. Just as he spoke, Star and Marco glanced back to hear the sound of scissors tearing a portal open, and found Ludo getting back to his feet.
“Glossaryck!” Ludo commanded him to follow. Star’s blasts were unable to reach him in time before he headed through the portal.
The blond locked eyes with the small blue man, silently begging him not to go. He just gave a nonchalant shrug, before heading through the portal.
Star felt like crying all over again, and Marco could see it in her face. “At least we got your wand back,” he assured. She gave a small smile, giving him a hug.
Then she glanced over to where Rick and Morty where, only to see the vestiges of a green swirling portal close.
She pulled away from Marco, her voice shaking a little. “Um...I’m gonna go tell my mom and dad I love them,” she said, mind still reeling from the events.
The brown haired boy swallowed, trying not to look too nervous as he gave a small smile. “Me, too,” he agreed.
Quickly they each opened up their own portals to their respective families, but soon enough both would come to realize that when they returned to the Diaz household, everything inside was fixed, as if brand new.
---
Rick didn’t know what time it was. He was smashed, having drunk who knew how much that night, once Morty went to bed, and fell asleep for the night. It was late. That was all he knew.
The green portal opened up to the same temple, Ludo apparently having returned, and things going back into working order once everyone had left. Not that he cared, though, as he stumbled into the room where Glossaryck was kept in some kind of spell book, bottle in hand.
“G...Glossaryck,” he mumbled, nearly falling into his face.
“Yes?” Came the response, the small being already awake, floating near the doorway of another room. One that wasn’t Ludo’s bedrooom.
Rick followed after him, stumbling into the empty room, where he could speak freely. Really, only one phrase summed up how he felt. “Wubba lubba dub dub!” he cheered quietly, shutting the door behind him with his foot.
“So, which Rick are you? From what dimension?”
“C...C-13...7,” he slurred, taking a swig from the bottle.
“Ah, that’ll explain it,” Glossaryck mused.
“Explain what?” Rick frowned.
“Explain why you care about your Morty so much.”
“Yeah...Wha-What of it?”
“Well, that’s why you’re here, aren’t you?” the being asked.
Rick didn’t say anything, glancing away from him.
“Tell me, were you really going to do it?” Glossaryck asked.
“Do what?”
“Let him kill you.”
The old man looked back at him. “I was glad...I was reeeeally glad he didn’t.”
“Didn’t kill you,” he clarified. “But perhaps that was because he didn’t get the chance to.”
Rick went silent again. He took another drink. He could hear the liquid swashing around the bottom. It was almost empty. Shit.
“That’s what you’re afraid of, isn’t it?” Glossaryck questioned. “Or perhaps, you were afraid of what would happen if he did?”
Silence. A blank stare.
“You had something in mind, didn’t you?”
“Yeah,” Rick snapped, locking eyes with Glossaryck again. “Of course I did. I wasn’t going to let him - D-Do you really think I’d let some snot nosed little kid kill...? Do you think I’d let him just...shoot me, and be done with it?...No, that would never happen...I’d-I’d have to kill him...first...Kill that poor kid. He-He’s a good kid, Morty. I put him through so much shit...He was right to think I was manipulating him...”
He paused, taking another drink from the bottle. It was empty now, he finished it off. Damn it.
“It’s fucked up...I’m too fucked up to ever completely care.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because I always have a plan.”