It should have been an easy run, one or two hours tops.

In the end it took three hours, and by the third, Morty was out of ammo and running for his life.

They were on a mission to find some super important crystals that Rick needed for his current and future projects. They would increase his inventions' abilities by thousands, Rick had said. Morty didn't even know what they were called, but apparently they were important enough for them to raid an alien spaceship which was manned by the kinds of creatures that nightmares were made of.

It would have been easier, but something was….off, and that something was….Rick. Morty couldn't put his finger on it until they were completely surrounded, and he realized he didn't have any ammo left, and he also realized that suddenly Rick wasn't responding. He wasn't taking any action. He wasn't doing anything.

"Rick!" he'd hissed out of the corner of his mouth, "I'm out of ammo...DO something!"

Meanwhile, the aliens were advancing upon them. There were aliens of many different kinds on this ship, some the likes that Morty had never seen before-and he'd seen hundreds of different species-but these were particularly terrifying; they had multiple appendages sticking out from all different angles, and thousands of eyes staring at him, like flies. One of them was preparing to pounce on him like a venus fly trap and swallow him whole. "Rick!" Morty hissed again. "Where's your portal gun?"

The look on Rick's face scared him. It was an expression Morty had never seen before: his eyes were wide and unseeing. The expression scared him more than the silence, because Rick was only silent when necessary.

"Rick…" Morty couldn't believe he needed to narrate what was happening. "We're surrounded….use your portal gun!"

He was preparing to reach into Rick's lab coat himself when suddenly Rick's fingers were wrapped around his wrist like a vice.

And when Rick finally spoke, he spoke only two words, and those two words made Morty's blood run cold.

"M-Morty…." Rick's voice was like ice. "Run."

Morty didn't think twice; he turned and ran, following Rick at breakneck speed down a seemingly endless corridor. The aliens weren't far behind. He knew the ship was close, he wasn't sure how, but he could feel it. Sure enough, there it was, right around the corner, right where they had left it. The ship was parked right by a loading dock. It didn't take long for Morty to find the exit button, which he activated immediately.

For a moment he didn't see Rick anywhere, but then he saw him and his eyes widened with horror. Rick was just standing there, his eyes glued to the advancing aliens-but he didn't react. "RICK!" Morty yelped. "Get-GET INSIDE!"

Much to his amazement, Rick didn't even seem to hear him. He still didn't move.

"RICK!"

Finally, Rick turned round, and Morty almost shrank back with shock, because the look on his grandfather's face was one of complete and utter…..terror.

"C'mon!" Morty grabbed his strangely stupefied grandfather by the arm, and practically shoved him into the driver's seat.

But Rick didn't take the controls. Instead he just sat there, staring straight forward like a zombie, and it terrified Morty more than the aliens that were coming to kill them. He was staring at the wheel as though he didn't even know how to use it.

"Fine-I-I'LL drive!" With a huff, Morty pulled Rick out of the driver's seat. Surprisingly, Rick didn't protest, which was even more alarming, because Rick was always at the helm, and preferred to be the one in control. Now, he let Morty pull him around like a ragdoll.

Morty tried to remember how all the buttons and knobs and switches worked, all the while keeping an eye on the ever-advancing group of vengeful aliens. Thankfully, he'd had some practice recently and was getting pretty familiar with it. As he activated the ignition, Morty let out a sigh of relief when the engine burst to life. He immediately shifted into advanced speed, and at last the ship took off into space, putting enough space between himself and the spacecraft that the bloodthirsty aliens finally became only tiny specs of colorful light in the distance.

Once they were finally a safe distance away, Morty slowed the ship down in an effort to calm his nerves, as well as confront Rick on the debacle he had just witnessed. "Wh-WHAT the HELL was THAT, RICK!?" His voice rose unexpectedly in spite of himself. "Y-y-you almost just got us KILLED! Y-y-you-" He turned to really let Rick have it, but when he saw his grandfather, he stopped mid-sentence, his entire body frozen with shock.

Rick was huddled tightly against the window, his forehead pressed up against the glass, his body pulled inwards as though he were trying to hide. More unnerving to Morty was that he wouldn't even look him in the eye. And he was shivering….but not just shivering...he was wheezing, as though he were gasping for air.

"RICK! Oh my god! What-are you injured?!" Morty instantly put the ship on autopilot.

"N-n-NO!" Rick's teeth were chattering, as though he were cold. It alarmed Morty even more. (Was he sick?)

"Are-are you sick?"

"N-NO!" Rick barked. He pulled his body into an even tighter knot, as though he were trying to make himself disappear.

"Then what-"

"J-j-j-JUST FUCKING TAKE US HOME, M-m-m-MORTY!" Rick bellowed, causing Morty to jump as his grandfather swung around with wild eyes. "JUST-" He stopped suddenly, chest heaving as though he'd run out of steam. "Just….fucking take us home," he finished, his voice suddenly flat and almost devoid of all emotion.

"Geeze…." Morty winced, immediately retracting his hand. He bit his lip, feeling guilty, but he wasn't even sure what he was feeling guilty for. "I…I only wanted t-to-"

"I DON'T FUCKING GIVE A CRAP what you want from me, MORTY!" Rick snarled, and this time Morty shrunk back into the seat, practically shaking himself. He had never seen Rick switch signals so quickly, and now he was really worried, but he knew he couldn't bring it up again, at least not now, because he didn't want to be yelled at again.

Much to his relief, Rick seemed to have run out of steam again, as though his outburst had completely zapped him of energy. Instead of yelling more, Rick just turned his back to Morty, pressing his face once again against the glass. "Just…." His voice was unusually calm then, and that, perhaps, terrified Morty even more. "Just take us home," Rick said finally.

And Morty did just that.

For the entire ride, Rick didn't say a word. He kept his face pressed to the glass, staring blankly into the vast expanse of outer space. Morty tried to keep his thoughts elsewhere. He didn't understand what was going on with his grandfather, and that scared him more than any adventure they had ever gone on, even ones where he'd had to fight for his life couldn't compare to this, because his grandfather, or so it seemed, was always someone who could overcome anything. Now, Morty felt like he was riding in a car with a stranger, and he was beginning to wonder how well he knew Rick at all.