Her Own
Title: Her Own
Fandom: Rick & Morty
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Summer, Rick, Morty
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: She's better than they'll ever know.
Word Count: 1375
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 372: Type
Warnings: Slight Spoilers
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
She's used to the vicious snarls of words that whisper behind her and her brother in the hallways. They never used to bother her when the words were aimed at Morty, but then she's changed a lot from the girl she'd been just a few years ago. She's changed a lot and, in her opinion, the changes have all been for the better. The other students with whom they have to contend on the rare occasion when they do go to school could never guess at the things they've seen or done. They could never do the things they've done, and not just the saving the world parts.
She just spent this past weekend galaxy hopping from one system to another and screwing all kinds of beings. There isn't a thing here any of these guys could offer her, and she's been, seen, and done more hunks than the other girls will ever know. She knows what a real man is, and she's had several. But more than that, she knows what a real woman is and she is already more mature, stronger, and smarter than the cheerleaders laughing behind her will ever be or know.
She's surprised when her little brother falls into step beside her. "If Rick was here, he could vaporize them."
"Are you kidding me?" Summer asks. She's come to love her grandfather, and greatly admire the man's genius, but she also knows the type of man Rick Sanchez is. "They're cheerleaders. He'd screw every one of them and not care. He doesn't care about us, Morty." Even if we care about him, she thinks but does not say aloud. She'll never give her little brother anything he can use to his advantage against her, never again, even if they do tend to be there for each other when the chips are down and universes and life forms are being eradicated from the very fabrication of existence.
Yeah, those girls could never begin to imagine the wild things she's seen and done! They could never begin to do what she's done, to face the worlds and strange creatures she has, to overcome the losses, to not go freaking out of their minds nuts...
"FUCK OFF! I'M A TIME GOD!"
Summer catches a glimpse of Morty's face falling. There's a part of her that wants to reassure him that his ex-girlfriend -- what was her name again? Jessica? -- will one day be sane again, that he doesn't have anything to feel bad or guilty about, that her life will go on one day as normal... There's a part that wants to tell him a bold-faced lie in that she's better off for having known him and that her absence in his life is her loss. There's a lot of lies she'd be willing to feed Morty, if their lives were any easier, if she or he were any less strong than they are.
But they'd both know that any such reassurance would be nothing more than a lie. They also are both mature, wise, and experienced enough to recognize that lying only adds to the pains in the end. Yes, if you lie to yourself enough, you might escape some of the hurt, especially at first, but in the end, when it catches you... She bites back something she cannot name as a strange shiver shimmies down her thin spine. There's a reason Grandpa Rick drinks as much as he does. There's a reason why he can't put the stuff down, and why he can't, and will never, tell them he loves them.
It's also way more than just the survival mode he claims. There's a weakness in opening up, a weakness that allows others to have the ability to hurt you. The man is the galaxy's greatest genius. He knows all about that pain, and he knows that the only way to stop it is to never let it begin. Maybe that's another reason, Summer thinks, that she never tries to date an Earthling any more. Nothing lasting can come from anything with an alien, but it could with a male of her own species, from her own world, if he'd be willing to stick around throughout all the insanity that is her life.
That is their life, she corrects herself, glancing again at her little brother. "Hey, you wanna stop for an ice cream on the way home?"
"Sure!" He beams excitedly, but then his apprehension begins to appear on his face. "Wait. Are you paying or -- ?"
"Fine. I'll pay." He sighs heavily, and she doesn't feel sorry. She is a Sanchez, after all. Rick Sanchez's blood is in her DNA. She knows better than to care, than to love, than to open herself up. She's better than the people behind her, and she's smarter than her brother too. She'll always be better than them, because she is a Sanchez and what's more, she knows what it takes to survive a life as a Sanchez in this crazy world with its prejudices and petty jealousies. She knows what it takes to survive this life. She's already survived far more than the rest of her classmates will ever have to endure, and if it is indeed more than she should have to endure, Summer doesn't let herself dwell on that notion.
Dwelling doesn't do any good, after all. Brooding, or thinking too much about any one little thing, isn't good for survival. She will not only survive; she will always be better than the people around her, better than everybody but her own grandfather. Her mind can't begin to surpass his, or even come close to matching it. Trying to compare her intellect to that of Rick Sanchez is like trying to compare a dung beetle to a true genius, but she knows, too, survival has its limits. Everyone has an end, and eventually that end will catch Rick Sanchez. It'll catch her grandfather, and she will be there to mourn, to draw together the pieces that are left, and to take over the helm of everything he leaves behind. She will survive, and she will be the Queen when the proverbial King, the man who is King to them all in everything but name, is finally gone.
She feels the ripple in the space-time continuum just a moment before her grandfather appears in yet another strange, green spacecraft. "Hey! I need someone to -- "
She doesn't know what he needs; she doesn't care, not really. But she's there. She's there as she always is, to catch him, to support him, and to follow him to a life and destiny far better than this school and any of its narrow, little minds could ever hope to have. She jumps into his passenger seat even as Morty's protesting.
"Sorry, bro! Go get that ice cream like the baby you are! We've got adult stuff to do!"
Rick grins, and pride swells within Summer. It does feel good to make him happy. It does feel good to know he's proud of her. But she knows even his reign will eventually come to an end, and when it does, she will be there to rule over all who are left. She's never been the type to not see a golden opportunity to benefit herself when it appears, and being Rick Sanchez's right hand woman is exactly the opportunity that will take her far, far, far beyond the stars where no little, snobby cheerleader can ever again touch her with her ridicule and no boy can ever again break her heart.
"Let's go!" she doesn't even have to say the words before they're out of the dimension in which everyone else she knows is stuck and into another one with greater opportunities. Her life is a golden opportunity, with no end to the things she can be or have, as long as she plays her role right, and she will always play it right. She wasn't meant to be Daddy's little girl or Momma's; she was meant to be her Grandfather's girl, her grandfather's second in command, and eventually, her own, and the cosmos', Queen. Bye, suckers! she thinks, laughing in her head at all the classmates, and their cruelty, she's left behind.
The End
Fandom: Rick & Morty
Author: Apache Firecat
Characters: Summer, Rick, Morty
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: She's better than they'll ever know.
Word Count: 1375
Written For: Fan FlashWorks 372: Type
Warnings: Slight Spoilers
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.
She's used to the vicious snarls of words that whisper behind her and her brother in the hallways. They never used to bother her when the words were aimed at Morty, but then she's changed a lot from the girl she'd been just a few years ago. She's changed a lot and, in her opinion, the changes have all been for the better. The other students with whom they have to contend on the rare occasion when they do go to school could never guess at the things they've seen or done. They could never do the things they've done, and not just the saving the world parts.
She just spent this past weekend galaxy hopping from one system to another and screwing all kinds of beings. There isn't a thing here any of these guys could offer her, and she's been, seen, and done more hunks than the other girls will ever know. She knows what a real man is, and she's had several. But more than that, she knows what a real woman is and she is already more mature, stronger, and smarter than the cheerleaders laughing behind her will ever be or know.
She's surprised when her little brother falls into step beside her. "If Rick was here, he could vaporize them."
"Are you kidding me?" Summer asks. She's come to love her grandfather, and greatly admire the man's genius, but she also knows the type of man Rick Sanchez is. "They're cheerleaders. He'd screw every one of them and not care. He doesn't care about us, Morty." Even if we care about him, she thinks but does not say aloud. She'll never give her little brother anything he can use to his advantage against her, never again, even if they do tend to be there for each other when the chips are down and universes and life forms are being eradicated from the very fabrication of existence.
Yeah, those girls could never begin to imagine the wild things she's seen and done! They could never begin to do what she's done, to face the worlds and strange creatures she has, to overcome the losses, to not go freaking out of their minds nuts...
"FUCK OFF! I'M A TIME GOD!"
Summer catches a glimpse of Morty's face falling. There's a part of her that wants to reassure him that his ex-girlfriend -- what was her name again? Jessica? -- will one day be sane again, that he doesn't have anything to feel bad or guilty about, that her life will go on one day as normal... There's a part that wants to tell him a bold-faced lie in that she's better off for having known him and that her absence in his life is her loss. There's a lot of lies she'd be willing to feed Morty, if their lives were any easier, if she or he were any less strong than they are.
But they'd both know that any such reassurance would be nothing more than a lie. They also are both mature, wise, and experienced enough to recognize that lying only adds to the pains in the end. Yes, if you lie to yourself enough, you might escape some of the hurt, especially at first, but in the end, when it catches you... She bites back something she cannot name as a strange shiver shimmies down her thin spine. There's a reason Grandpa Rick drinks as much as he does. There's a reason why he can't put the stuff down, and why he can't, and will never, tell them he loves them.
It's also way more than just the survival mode he claims. There's a weakness in opening up, a weakness that allows others to have the ability to hurt you. The man is the galaxy's greatest genius. He knows all about that pain, and he knows that the only way to stop it is to never let it begin. Maybe that's another reason, Summer thinks, that she never tries to date an Earthling any more. Nothing lasting can come from anything with an alien, but it could with a male of her own species, from her own world, if he'd be willing to stick around throughout all the insanity that is her life.
That is their life, she corrects herself, glancing again at her little brother. "Hey, you wanna stop for an ice cream on the way home?"
"Sure!" He beams excitedly, but then his apprehension begins to appear on his face. "Wait. Are you paying or -- ?"
"Fine. I'll pay." He sighs heavily, and she doesn't feel sorry. She is a Sanchez, after all. Rick Sanchez's blood is in her DNA. She knows better than to care, than to love, than to open herself up. She's better than the people behind her, and she's smarter than her brother too. She'll always be better than them, because she is a Sanchez and what's more, she knows what it takes to survive a life as a Sanchez in this crazy world with its prejudices and petty jealousies. She knows what it takes to survive this life. She's already survived far more than the rest of her classmates will ever have to endure, and if it is indeed more than she should have to endure, Summer doesn't let herself dwell on that notion.
Dwelling doesn't do any good, after all. Brooding, or thinking too much about any one little thing, isn't good for survival. She will not only survive; she will always be better than the people around her, better than everybody but her own grandfather. Her mind can't begin to surpass his, or even come close to matching it. Trying to compare her intellect to that of Rick Sanchez is like trying to compare a dung beetle to a true genius, but she knows, too, survival has its limits. Everyone has an end, and eventually that end will catch Rick Sanchez. It'll catch her grandfather, and she will be there to mourn, to draw together the pieces that are left, and to take over the helm of everything he leaves behind. She will survive, and she will be the Queen when the proverbial King, the man who is King to them all in everything but name, is finally gone.
She feels the ripple in the space-time continuum just a moment before her grandfather appears in yet another strange, green spacecraft. "Hey! I need someone to -- "
She doesn't know what he needs; she doesn't care, not really. But she's there. She's there as she always is, to catch him, to support him, and to follow him to a life and destiny far better than this school and any of its narrow, little minds could ever hope to have. She jumps into his passenger seat even as Morty's protesting.
"Sorry, bro! Go get that ice cream like the baby you are! We've got adult stuff to do!"
Rick grins, and pride swells within Summer. It does feel good to make him happy. It does feel good to know he's proud of her. But she knows even his reign will eventually come to an end, and when it does, she will be there to rule over all who are left. She's never been the type to not see a golden opportunity to benefit herself when it appears, and being Rick Sanchez's right hand woman is exactly the opportunity that will take her far, far, far beyond the stars where no little, snobby cheerleader can ever again touch her with her ridicule and no boy can ever again break her heart.
"Let's go!" she doesn't even have to say the words before they're out of the dimension in which everyone else she knows is stuck and into another one with greater opportunities. Her life is a golden opportunity, with no end to the things she can be or have, as long as she plays her role right, and she will always play it right. She wasn't meant to be Daddy's little girl or Momma's; she was meant to be her Grandfather's girl, her grandfather's second in command, and eventually, her own, and the cosmos', Queen. Bye, suckers! she thinks, laughing in her head at all the classmates, and their cruelty, she's left behind.
The End