*i edited this to taylor swift so it better be good. also, i took a few creative liberties in this chapter and probably made up some science lmao. plus, i may start adding incorrect quotes between cas and rick, i used them a lot to help develop the dynamic i wanted them to have. anyways enjoy season 2 because there's so much in store for all the characters (especially rick and cas)!*
"Hurry up, Morty. Grandpa's about to unfreeze time," Summer said as she came out side. Morty ran a pet vacuum across Jerry while Cas held the bucket of laundry out with Jerry's shirt in it. "You really should be cleaning from top to bottom," She added and Morty rolled his eyes. The frozen time had been alright for the two of them but as most siblings did, they had their arguments. Most of it seemed to stem from both of them seeking Rick's approval and attention, something Cas was guilty of as well. It was painful six months of neither of them bringing up what happened in the Evil Rick's dimension yet, on top of the tension that was already there before, and Rick not mentioning the fact that Cas drunkenly kissed him twice, even if one of them was just on the cheek. Summer and Morty could feel the awkward tension but said nothing.
"I know how to vacuum mom and dad, Summer. I've been doing it for six months," Morty argued back, snapping Cas out of her thoughts.
"Then you've been doing it wrong for six months," Summer pointed out. "Oh my god, is that mildew?" She exclaimed, pointing towards Jerry.
"It's not my fault we froze time on a humid day," Morty snapped.
"You have dropped so many balls, man. Do you ever get scared Grandpa Rick might make me his new sidekick?" Summer taunted and Cas smiled at the thought. "Hell yeah, girl power, bitch," Cas said and the two girls high-fived and Morty sent Cas a glare, expecting her to take his side of the argument.
"What?! What kind of monsters are you two?" Morty exclaimed and Summer smirked.
"Competent ones," Cas and Summer replied at the same time as Rick came up behind Summer at the door.
"Who cares about the *burp* thing you guys are talking about *burp*. The whole point of freezing time was the stop giving a fuck. Put a shirt on your dumb dad and let's get this dumb universe rolling!" Rick said before turning back inside, pulling the device to unfreeze time out of his lab coat. Cas quickly handed Morty Jerry's shirt before going back inside to hide the laundry basket. "Alright listen, you three. We froze time for a pretty long time so when I unfreeze it, the world's time is gonna be fine but our time is going to need a little time to, you know, stabilize." Rick explained.
"Our time is going to be unstable? What does that even mean?" Morty asked, looking to both the adults in the room for answers.
"It means relax and stop being a pussy, Morty. Uh, I thought you learned that by now." Rick said as he began to adjust the way they were all standing. "It also means don't touch your parents or we could shatter into countless theoretical shards," He added quickly before going to press the button as Morty panicked. "And away we go!"
"Hey, did we put that mattress under your neighbor?" Cas asked, looking around Rick to peak at Morty only to get shushed as the door opened.
"-a thing or two about... wait, what?" Jerry began shouting angrily before seeing how clean the house was and stopping. Beth looked around in awe as Cas plastered a smile on her face. Rick had thrown his arm around her, practically leaning his weight against her in attempts to 'look natural'. She supposed awkward contact was just the normal between them now, knowing Beth and Jerry wouldn't question it. "Was the house... When we pulled up I could have sworn the house was completely trashed?" Jerry and Beth began to look around the house in awe and confusion.
"Negative visualization, Jerry. Explains a lot about where you're at," Rick commented. "Hi, sweetie," Rick smiled, waving at Beth.
"How was the trip?" Cas asked, a smile on her face as well.
"Hi, dad." Beth smiled back and went to hug him, only for the four of them to step back quickly. Beth gave a confused look but turned to answer Cas' question. "The trip was... interesting, Cas. Are you guys okay?" She asked and Cas nodded quickly.
"We- We just missed you a lot," Morty said awkwardly.
"Yeah! We missed you so much," Summer covered quickly. "Too much to hug you, though," She added.
"Yeah, it would literally destroy them." Rick said, pushing them two kids behind him and Cas. "Now, listen, why don't- why don't, w-why don't you guys go get a free Sunday ice cream? Get out there and get some ice creams. Here's five hundred cash in unmarked monies. Just gonna put it on the floor and kick it on over to ya," Rick offered, dropping the wad of cash on the floor. It was a plan of Rick and Summer's to replace the bank's money with cookies for their own gain.
Cas spent the money on a new motorcycle after Rick accidentally crashed his ship into hers one night. Rick reminded her that time was frozen and anything they did, they didn't really have to face the consequences and that she could steal the motorcycle instead of leaving the cash for it on the counter in front of the worker. Said motorcycle now sat in Rick's garage as he promised to 'upgrade it' as a sort of forced apology for wrecking her last one.
"This better not be a bribe. If I find a single thing out of place in this house, my love of ice cream won't save you," Jerry threatened. Cas noticed at that moment his shirt of backwards and gulped, hoping he wouldn't notice either. "I'll get my jacket," He added, beginning to head up the stairs.
"Sweetie, is your shirt on backwards?" Beth asked and Cas heard Morty gasp quietly.
"Yeah... I like it this way. I'm not stupid," Jerry said awkwardly, walking up the stairs.
"Man, that guy is the Redgren Grumbholdt of pretending he knows what's going on," Rick commented, sipping from his flask. Summer and Morty began to laugh along with Rick, "Oh, you agree, huh? You like that Redgren Grumbholdt reference?" Rick began to ask, "Well, guess what? I made him up. You really are your father's children. Think for yourselves, don't be sheep," Rick said before heading back towards his garage.
"God, I feel terrible," Summer commented later as her, Cas, Rick and Morty looked out the window. Their neighbor had been in the middle of falling off a ladder when they froze time. Cas remembered assigning Summer to put a mattress underneath him to prevent injury but the four of them clearly forget. Cas frowned as the ambulance drove off.
"Yeah, it really makes you appreciate how fickle the universe can be," Rick shrugged, turning towards the kitchen. Cas followed, hopping on the counter as he reached in the fridge. He tossed her a can of soda before reaching back in for his own. "One minute you're falling off a roof for six months, the next minute, bam!" Rick reached behind Cas, opening his cabinet as she leaned to the side. He grabbed his box of water cookies as Morty placed the blame on Summer, who obviously denied it.
"Uh, just to be clear, it was Summer's job to put the mattress under-" Morty began.
"Uh, what? It was your job, Morty!" Summer blamed, shoving him lightly. The two began arguing as Rick and Cas shared a glance.
"Actually, sorry, Summer. I gotta back the "M" bomb on this one," Rick interrupted, leaning against the counter next to Cas. "Yeah, Sum, I specifically put you in charge of the mattress while Morty was supposed to replace the bank's money with cookies," Cas added, giving Summer a look that said she was sorry she couldn't back her up.
"Boom! In your face, Summer!" Morty cheered, "You really dropped the ball, man." He added, bringing up what Summer said to him only a few minutes ago.
"Shut up, Morty, you vindictive little turd!" Summer snapped.
"Shut up, you big... female asshole!" Morty said as Cas watched with one eyebrow raised.
"This, Darlin', is why I'm glad I can't have children of my own," Cas commented as the two teenagers argued in front of them. Rick remembered the conversation during the party when Cas mentioned that, chuckling slightly at her comment. Both of their smiles were wiped off as the ground began to shake, Cas wincing at a brief pain in her head before it fully hit her.
"Woah, what the hell?" Rick asked, his voice echoing as he spoke. "Oh, god. Oh, no. What did you guys just do?" Rick looked around, hearing his voice echo as Cas hopped of the counter, clutching her head as if she had a headache. The sound of the echoed voices and a faint buzzing sound was almost unbearable to her.
"What do you mean?" Summer asked, a different response echoing her words. "Wait, what am I saying?" She scratched her head slightly, confused by the echoed response.
"We're either of you guys uncertain about anything just now?" Rick asked, burping out the first word. Cas winced at the sound of his burp echoing, feeling like she was being repeatedly stabbed in the head. Cas knew it had to have something with her abilities, the small tremor in the earth cause by them sending out electromagnetic waves that must have overwhelmed her.
"Oh, man. I don't feel so good," Morty said, slouching slightly. "My head feels like it's being ripped apart," Cas whined. The sound of their echoed phrases only making the pain worse.
"Alright, both of you just don't move, don't speak, don't think," Rick said to Morty and Summer before grabbing Cas by the arm. "Come with me. We have to check something," Rick pulled her into the garage, Morty and Summer following, despite being told not to. Cas winced at the movement but tried to put the immense pain aside to focus on helping Rick.
"What's happening, Rick?" Morty asked as Summer echoed a similar question.
"Sh-shut up." He mumbling, pulling a computer like device out of his desk. "Oh, crap, are you kidding me? Two dots? This never needs to be more than one dot. The two of you made us uncertain," For once, Cas was thankful to hear Rick's voice. His echo wasn't as severe as Morty and Summer's, giving her brain a break from the incessant pain.
"What are you talking about?" Summer asked, Morty echoing behind her.
"Our time is fractured. You two somehow created a feedback loop of uncertainty that spilt our reality into two equally possible impossibilities. Not the mention, the electromagnetic waves from your idiocy is *burp* overwhelming Cas. Every time you speak you're basically torturing her." Rick explained frantically, "We're exactly like a man capable of sustaining a platonic friendship with an attractive female co-worker. We're entirely hypothetical," Rick finished.
"But I thought there was infinite timelines?" Morty asked.
"We're not on any timeline, Morty," Cas replied, her voiced strained as she tried to focus on the task at hand. "Look," Rick said and pressed the button to open the garage to reveal various floating objects and dozens of cats in the black abyss.
"Oh my god," Morty exclaimed. "Are those cats?" Summer asked, both of them stepping to look out the garage.
"I assume they're Schrödinger's cats. Or, actually I assume they both are and aren't," Rick replied. "Just like us," Cas added.
"Is the world gone? Where are mom and dad?" Summer asked, Morty's voice echoing the same questions.
"What about mom and dad? Get your head out of your family's ass. The three of us are lost in a timeless oblivion. Your parents get to exist. They're probably living it up in some pointless ground story about their shitty marriage," Rick snapped. Cas hadn't noticed that he had been putting together a pair of ear pieces until he held his palm out. "Put these on. It'll hopefully lessen the feedback until I can fix this." Cas took them, shoving them both in her ears. The faint buzzing and echos lessened enough for her to feel like she could breathe, causing her to give a relieved smile. "This is why you don't freeze time you guys. It's incredibly irresponsible," Rick commented as he pulled out a bright pink crystal.
"And you did it so we could clean the house after a party?" Morty exclaimed and while Cas could hear a faint echo still, it didn't hurt anymore.
"Look, there's no time to hold me accountable, Morty. Like, literally no time. Look around," Rick pointed out. "Uncertainty is inherently unsustainable. Eventually, everything either is or isn't. And we've got about four hours to be 'is'."
"Or...?" Morty asked.
"We isn't," Rick replied. "Alright, since this time crystal exists in both possibilities, and since it's impossible that I didn't nail this, I'm probably about to press this button in both possibilities at exactly the same time."
"How do you know-" Summer, and Morty's echo, both began to ask.
"Whatever you're asking me, the answer is I'm amazing," Rick snapped again. "And away we go!" He grinned, pressing the button quickly. Cas could hear the faint buzzing come back, even through her ear pieces, as Rick commented that it was working before she heard a loud high pitched noise, causing her to yell loudly, covering her ears. "Oh, shit! What the hell is wrong with you two? I-I-I mean you four," Rick placed a hand on Cas' shoulder, as she whimpered quietly.
"That hurt!" Morty exclaimed, "That was painful!" Summer said at the same time.
"Good, I'm glad it was painful. You deserve it! Imagine what Cas is feeling because of your uncertainty!" Rick snapped at the two of them, "I saw you! Y-you're both *burp* all over the damn place. We've been spilt for 20 minutes and your lives are already scattered into the quantum fucking wind? What the hell do either of you two have to be so uncertain about? Your brand of zit cream? Which chair to sit in while I do everything? Come on, spit it out!" Rick rambled on as Cas rubbed her temples to ease the pain that built up. The ear pieces could only do so much for her.
"Well, you don't exactly make it easy, Rick! You're always picking on me, leading Cas on, and now you got Summer to kiss your ass since Cas won't anymore!" Morty explained angrily. Had the situation been different, Cas would have thanked him for sort of standing up for her or snorted at the comment.
"Me? What about you? Could you be more excited to see me fail because you want Grandpa all to yourself?" Summer fired back in defense.
"Alright, alright, cool it. I see what's happening here. You're both young, you're both unsure about your place in the universe, and you both want to be Grandpa's favorite. I can fix this," Rick said, switching the sides that Summer and Morty sat on, Summer now standing next to Cas. "Now listen, I know the two of you are very different from each other in a lot of ways, but you have to understand that as far as Grandpa's concerned, you're both pieces of shit. Yeah. I can prove it mathematically," Rick boasted that last part before a look of realization came to his face.
"Actually, Cas, g-g-grab my whiteboard. This has been a long time coming, anyways," Rick added.
Cas sat awkwardly on Rick's desk as he wrote on the board, explaining exactly what he said earlier. "So, in conclusion, you're both equally mercurial, overly sensitive, clingy, hysterical, bird-brained homunculi," Rick explained to his grandchildren. "And I honestly can't even tell the two of you apart half the time because I don't go by height or age, I go by amount of pain in my ass. Which makes you both identical. Alright, everything resolved? Everybody nice and certain about their position in my world?"
"Yes," Both Summer and Morty sighed. This whole ramble only made Cas worry about what her place was in his world now before shoving the thoughts aside quickly to avoid yet another headache from surfacing just as the last one began to slowly fade.
"Alright, perfect. Sit still, *burps* arms down. I'm gonna do this again. This time, be like Grandpa," Rick said, a slight glare in his eyes as he looked at the two kids. Cas heard the quiet echo of Morty's voice saying "you mean drunk?" and knew exactly what was going to happen.
"And away we go!" Rick grinned again as Cas could hear him faintly snap at Morty in the the other possibility. It was exactly what she expected when nothing happened after Rick presses the button. "Huh, that's weird," Rick commented. Cas chose to remain silent, letting him figure out his own mistake on his own.
"Oh my god," Rick's face dropped as a false realization set in. "The son of a bitch is gonna kill me!" He exclaimed and Cas rose an eyebrow, partially enjoying both sides of the panic as Rick ran to his desk.
"What?!" Both Summer and Morty asked, highly alarmed.
"Diabolical unfeeling sociopath," Rick mumbled, "Don't you get it? The other Rick isn't trying to merge us anymore. He thinks he can save his own skin by using the crystal to kill me. He probably figures it's *burp* easier to eliminate one of the possibilities rather than merge them," Rick said before chuckling lightly. "I have to admit, it was always in the back of my mind too. The difference is I would never do it... until now." He said, quickly building a form of gun with the time crystal.
"Rick, what the hell are you doing?" Morty asked quickly.
"Saving our lives! After he takes me out, he's- he's gonna be coming for Cas, and then you two!" Rick explaining frantically.
"Who?" Summer asked.
"Me!" Rick answered, the sound his speaking and the small gun shots blurring together in Cas' head as she winced at the noise. Rick pulled her off the desk just in time to keep a blast from hurting her before hiding behind the whiteboard as she crouched next to Morty and Summer. Another high pitched around rang through Cas' head, causing her to groan loudly in pain, clutching her head, each shot from the gun Rick used making the noise ring out in her ears. Summer placed an arm around her to comfort her as the pain seared through her head. "Oh, god, now there's three of them! We're out numbered!"
"Grandpa, you're hurting Cas!" Summer exclaimed and Rick sparred a glance towards Cas before ordering the two kids.
"Get in the cupboard," He snapped, trying to focus on what was happening and not the pain on his chest from the sound of Cas' pain. "Wait! Don't do that! They'll know! Think about getting in the cupboards but don't really." Rick added quickly before jump forward and shooting repeatedly at the cabinet. Cas felt like each blast hit her head, the sound of them cutting through the possibilities becoming almost too much.
"Rick, please!" Cas shouted, gritting her teeth in pain as he shouted out. He stopped, turning back to look at her. Her short hair was messy from her gripping her head and tears began to prick at her eyes. The pain of guilt built up in his chest as he stopped momentarily to help her up.
He lead her next to Summer before quietly moving around the garage, "I know where you are, you creepy old monster. I know how you think," He began to ramble to himself as Cas looked around the garage, her sight settling on the fire extinguisher. With a flick of her wrist, the extinguisher flew towards him, smacking him on the back of his head just hard enough to knock him out.
"For the love of god, just shut the fuck up," she grumbled, running her hands through her hair to straighten it out as Summer and Morty watched.
"Holy shit, now what?" Summer asked.
"Well, if all of Cas knocked out all the Ricks, and you peed in all your pants, doesn't that mean that we're all synchronized?" Morty asked, looking towards Cas who nodded, confirming his thoughts. "Okay, so from now on, whatever we do, we have to be certain."
"Right," Summer agreed was the three of them walked towards the desk.
"I think I'm certain we're f'd in the a," Morty commented as Cas looked back towards Rick's unconscious body. "What should we do with him? What if he wakes up in the same frenzy?"
"Put him in a cage?" Cas asked, shrugging her shoulders. "If he dies in the cage, I get a lot of money anyways so it's a win-win," She shrugged.
It didn't take long for Rick to wake up, Cas sitting on the floor next to Morty and Summer who both stood. "Oh, god, my head," Rick commented, groaning quietly in pain as he rubbed his head. "Tell me about it," Cas commented in response and Rick gave her a slightly sympathetic look for a brief moment.
"What did you guys do?" Rick asked, looking over at them.
"Cas knocked you out. It was pretty badass," Morty explained. "We put you in a dog crate because you were acting crazy and you caused another time fracture. Told us to be careful because of Cas, only to cause her more pain yourself!" Cas pointed up at Morty, agreeing with his statement.
"You tried to kill yourself!" Summer added quickly.
"Only in self-defense! Myself tried to kill me first." Rick defended, "Guys, I don't expect you to understand this, except maybe Cas, but time breaking twice means our problem is two times bigger and we've got half as much time to solve it. Well, actually I do expect you to understand that. It's basic math." Rick shrugged, "C-can somebody just let me out of here? If I die in a cage, Cas wins our bet."
"Well, is there someway you can prove you're not a threat to yourself and others anymore?" Cas asked, "And can you stop making my problems worse?" She added, crowing her arms and raising one eyebrow after she stood up.
"Oh, for god's sake. Alright, here, give me the time crystal," Rick asked, reaching out for the crystal in Summer's hand.
"What are you doing?" Morty asked.
"Calling myself. Here listen. It'll probably go to voicemail since you know, I'm calling myself," He replied, pulling his phone out and dialing his number as he plugged the crystal into his phone. 'Hello, Rick here,' his voicemail began. "Don't fall for it, it's a bit," He added. 'Just kidding! Ha, ha! You just got Ricked. You've reached Rick's voicemail. You know what to do.' His phone beeped and he began to leave a voicemail for himself saying, "Hey, Rick. It's Rick. Listen, sorry about earlier. No hard feelings. I know you know I mean it, too. Take it easy." He finished before getting oddly excited about the three new voicemails on his phone, replaying the message three times.
"We get the idea, Rick," Cas interrupted.
"W-we're cool now," Rick replied to her.
"Okay, well, we're still not letting you out of the crate, darlin'," She shrugged. "Fine, I'll just do it by myself," He huffed, grabbing the top and kicking the walls of the crate down.
"If you could get out that whole time, why didn't you?" Morty asked.
"Because I waited until I was certain it was what I wanted to do, Morty. I also refuse to let Cas win that bet," Rick said. "That's the difference between you and me. I'm certain and you're a walking burlap sack filled with turds."
"Aw, geez, Rick. Y-Y-You're really tearing into me right now. You know, words hurt," Morty fired back just as a bubble appeared in front of them, some sort of wrinkly creature inside of it. Cas gave a small wince at the sound of the bubble appearing and disappearing as the rest let out various noises of surprise.
"Hey, you. Hey! Quit yelling!" The creature said, "What the fuck? Your time is all ripped up to hell!" The creature reached out, touches something in the air causing Cas to wince at the noise again. "You broke your time twice. How did this happen?" The creature turned to Rick who sighed annoyedly in response as Summer and Morty began to shout what happened, Cas going to cover her ears.
"Nevermind, shut the fuck up. Goddamn," The creature snapped. "I'm from the fourth dimension. I can hear all of y'all just like the girl can. Now let's just set what we got here for a second." Morty have Cas an apologetic look, as did Summer, before they all turned to the creature who was floating around, grabbing Rick's phone with the crystal from his hand. "Goddamn it, We're you trying to use this to- Oh, see. You broke your time and you thought you could just stick to back together with this? How you think you gonna move time while you're standing in it, you dumbass three dimensional monkey ass dummies?"
"Oh, way to go, Rick," Morty said. "Yeah, Grandpa, way to go." Summer added.
"Thanks a lot, asshat," Cas replied, glaring slightly at Rick who looked rather grumpy.
"What, you're just going to listen to this guy now? He's got a giant testicle for a head. He came here in a bubble. For all her know he could be the David Berkowitz of Nutsackland." Rick argued, looking at the three of them. Cas rose an eyebrow at him as she continued to glare at him.
"Shut up. Here, put these on." The creature dropped four collars on the ground and removed the ear pieces from Cas' ears, handing her new ones that looked much more sophisticated. "Those will help with the feedback much better than this bullshit will. The collars will sync your possibilities so I can bring you back to certain time. Y'all are just- just- negligent." He mumbled the last part before turning to Rick and then to Summer and Morty. "Hey, hey, hey, the three of you put your collars on."
"We have them on," Rick said and Cas couldn't even hear the echos of their voices anymore. She almost sighed with relief at the sound of them speaking one at a time now. She barely even registered what the creature said next before finally, her headache began to cease as she felt four memories of everything begin to fill her brain.
"Yes! We're back!" Summer cheered, the other three joining in. Cas high-fived Rick with a grin on her face, just happy to finally not be in pain. "Oh you did it! You fixed it!" Morty grinned as they looked out the garage to see the neighborhood now.
"Yeah, I did." The creature said. "Now keep those collars, and ear pieces, on so you don't break your weak ass time again."
"How long, exactly, do we have to wear these things? They're really embarrassing," Rick asked, pointing to his.
"Well, since you're going to time prison, I'd say you can keep them on forever." The creature replied, pulling out some organism and pointing it at them. The four of them put their hands up in defense despite not knowing what exactly it was. "Well, I don't know where you expect me to think you got that crystal over there but the only way your dumbass assin' ass asses could ever have one is if it was stolen."
"You stole a time freezing crystal from testicle monsters?" Cas asked, her eyes wide as she looked at Rick who had a guilty look on his face.
"I would have been happy to pay for it, Cas, *burp* but they don't exactly seek them at Costco." Rick replied back and Cas rolled her eyes at that. "Besides, there's a larger lesson to be learned here... Get him!" Rick shouted before pointing at the creature.
"No, no, you better get back!" The creature said, cocking his weapon. "Man, this will turn your ass into a third trimester fetus from 30 yards," he warned. Rick backed up, the other three following him. The creature pulled out some form of phone, calling another one of his colleagues. "You know what they do to third dimensional life forms in time prison? Same thing they do in every prison, only forever."
"Why are you doing this?" Morty asked, hoping to reason.
"You think I want to be an omniscient immortal being transcending time and space my whole life? I got ambitions, man. Bringing you guys in is my ticket up." The creature explained.
"What if I told you there's a huge ticket up right behind you?" Rick asked, pointing behind the creature.
"You really think I'm that stupid?"
"Alright, hear me out on this. You're immortal, right, which means your life infinite. Okay, well, then that means there's a 100% chance that you'll eventually do everything, including turning around to look behind you," Rick explained while the creature debated it. He looked down at Cas, "do you trust me?" He mouthed and Cas somehow knew what he meant. She hesitated for a brief moment but nodded slowly as the creature turned around to look at the street. Rick pulled the wrench from behind him, hitting the creature on the head, grabbing his weapon from him.
"Oh, god, gross and weird!" Rick grimaced as the thing began to squeal and wiggle around. His dropped his, wiping his hand on his coat at small organism moved towards the street, a car running over it.
"Chris! You killed my gun!" The creature shouted.
"Guys, take off your collars," Rick shouted and the creature protested as they did, asking Rick what he was doing as they removed theirs. "Good question, I suppose the answers I'm... not... certain," Cas winced loudly as the time began to spilt with each thing Rick did, Summer gripping her hand to give her something to squeeze as Rick began to fight the creature. The ear pieces the creature gave her helped but the more time spilt, the more her head ached and the louder her groans got. The buzzing grew louder and with each spilt a loud high pitched sound rang out in her ears, along with the echoing of multiple different versions of Rick's voice.
She didn't even notice her nose began to bleed or that time had ceased splitting until Rick helped her up from the ground. The blood dripped down her lower face and she wiped it away, smudging the red liquid as Rick began to fix her collar.
She couldn't even hear what any of them were saying, the ear pieces doing nothing to solve the high pitched buzzing of over a dozen time splits. She assumed they weren't meant for this amount of time spilts. Rick handed her the collar and she could barely make out the sound of him telling her to put it on. She buckled it around her neck, gasping in relief as the buzzing stopped and she fell to her knees next to Summer.
"Where are Rick and Morty?" She asked, looking around as much as she could. Summer crouched next to her, looking around to notice Rick and Morty had yet appear. "Rick?" Cas called out but the only response was Morty phasing back into reality. "Morty!"
"Cas, are you okay?" Morty asked, ignoring everything else that just happened.
"I'm fine, where's Rick?" Cas brushed it off, despite the throbbing pain in her head. While the buzzing and other noises had ceased, she knew her head would be aching for long after this. Morty stammered for a second before Cas repeated her question, "Morty, where's Rick?"
"I-I," Morty began, not even sure how to respond with all the different memories flashing in his brain.
"Yes! I did it! There is no god! In your face!" Rick's voice came through as Cas looked up to see him appear in front of them. Cas didn't even bother to hesitate before jumping up, wrapping her around him. "One dot, motherfucker!" Rick cheered, putting one arm around Cas and smiling as Morty and Summer cheered as well.
Cas only pulled back to punch his shoulder, "That's for all the headaches." Rick winched slightly at the pain, rubbing his shoulder as he smiled guiltily again.
"Guess I deserve that," Rick shrugged.
"Why did you guys take longer to get here than me and Cas?" Summer asked, noticing Rick kept his arm around Cas but didn't say anything. "I don't know. I think, like, 1/64 of my collars didn't work. It's hard to keep straight now that I have 63 other memories of everything." Morty replied, pausing before continuing, "but I feel like one of the 64 Ricks like, sacrificed himself for me?" Morty said confused as Summer smirked at Rick.
"Shut up, Morty. The last time you felt something, we all almost died. You little piece of shit," Rick mumbled and Cas rolled her eyes with a smile. The tone of voice made Cas believe Morty's claim was right.
After a few hours, and plenty of bad jokes told by Jerry, Cas sat quietly in her room with the lights off hoping for her headache to go away. The slight green glow of the collars and the ear pieces was the only source of light, illuminating her face slightly. A quiet knock came to the door before it opened, "You better be decent," Rick commented as he opened the door. Cas let out a small chuckle at that, opening one of her eyes to peak at him.
"Sorry, by the way," He shrugged, shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat.
"For what?" Cas asked, there was so much he could be apologizing for in this moment that she couldn't even decide which one she wanted to hear more.
"Depends on which one you want to hear more right now," Rick replied quietly. Cas sighed, sitting up on her cot and rubbing her forehead. "I don't blame you for the headaches and all that, Rick. You couldn't have known splitting time would give me a splitting headache. Hell, I didn't even know it would." Cas shrugged, wanting him to say it himself instead of giving him the easy way out and making her say.
"I guess so..." He said awkwardly, leaning against the wall next to the door. Cas sighed at that.
"I'm not going to say it for you, Rick. If you want to apologize, come back when you can say it yourself." Cas said, a frustrated tone in her voice as she spoke. "Just leave me alone right now. I can't even think straight because my brain feels like it's on fire." She mumbled quietly, putting her head in her hands. She heard Rick sigh quietly before leaving the room, the door clicking shut. Cas sighed shakily before pulling her knees to her chest, a few tears prickling at her eyes. At this point she couldn't even tell if it was because of the physical pain or the emotional pain that swirled around her.
Either way, she knew that it was something she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it.