#so if Rick began tracking him down (which I imagine would take some time) EM would promptly do some modifications and then use the device

[glitteringcrab]

Nip this in the bud (2)

Okay, I think I finally figured out what Rick Prime was hoping to accomplish with this:

Because I was all "WTF" during that scene.

First things first:

It's clear that Rick Prime has been monitoring Rick C-137 during this whole time. Maybe not continually monitoring him, but monitoring him often enough that he knows:

Rick lived in the Prime Dimension

Rick is hanging out with Morty Prime

Rick has two Beths now (LOL) "echoes" of Prime's daughter since C-137 Beth never grew up

Likewise, he knew Rick C-137 was accompanied by Morty Prime, and could tell (without actually checking nor monitoring this, because then he wouldn't have fallen for Evil Morty's trick) that one of the Mortys Rick C-137 showed up with was Morty Prime, his original grandson.

In a similar vein, it's theoretically possible that he has some inkling of Evil Morty's identity. I mean, otherwise why tell him "you're like an evil Morty, a clever one". Um, excuse me? Evil Morty didn't do a single "evil" thing during the Prime fight. Why the heck call him "evil"? Just because he's wearing an eyepatch? WEAK. Call him clever, sure. But evil? Nope.

UNLESS... Rick Prime has also sporadically been monitoring the happenings in the Citadel of Ricks. News of Evil Rick's killing spree might have reached him, he might have read witness accounts and known that Evil Rick was accompanied by an eye-patched Morty who disappeared (although I seriously doubt anyone would bother to write more than a single sentence on Evil Morty in any report). Or he may have noticed (you know, after he was teleported in the Prime dimension right after Evil Morty contaminated EVERYONE'S portal travel) that the Citadel blew up, that there was a breach in the Central Finite Curve, and he might have investigated the ruins out of curiosity. He might have found out Stuff.

(Edit: nah, the name "Evil Morty" was mentioned a couple of times in the box, so Rick Prime using it only means that he was paying attention to what was happening in the Box)

In any case, even if all that isn't true, even if Rick Prime had originally no clue that there ever was any animosity between Rick C-137 and Evil Morty, and him calling Evil Morty "Evil" was just a lucky guess, Prick Prime was definitely able to tell that was no love between Evil Morty and Rick C-137 during this scene:

...in which he uses Evil Morty as a literal human shield and Rick C-137 shoots without hesitation (on a different note, I'd like to say how sad is that when strangled Evil Morty doesn't have the presence of mind to try and use any of his implants; he's just a 14 year old boy against an grown-up man at that moment. Forget shooting him with plasma guns; you can literally just strangle him).

And so we come to this scene:

Okay, Rick Prime could already tell that Evil Morty and Rick C-137 weren't family, but the suggestion of "nip this in the bud" was still absurd!

(I've written a similar post in the past while venting, but this one is actually getting somewhere, so please bear with me)

Because Evil Morty and Rick C-137 were, at worst, temporary allies. Rick C-137 owned to Evil Morty:

his freaking life (Evil Morty revived him)

his revenge (Evil Morty let him kill Rick Prime)

and (depending on to what degree Rick Prime was monitoring his clones and the killing box) he might have also known that Evil Morty helped Rick C-137 track Rick Prime down and helped him to escape the box.

That's a huge debt. And I know that Evil Morty helped Rick C-137 to save his own skin from getting Omega-ed if/when Rick C-137 failed to win, and to get the weapon plans, but he wasn't at all obligated to save Rick C-137's life nor to hand him his nemesis on a plate.

Arguably, Evil Morty did this precisely so that he'd have an Omega-enslaved and morally indebted Rick to come to his aid in a hypothetical future hour of need. However, the truth is that Evil Morty and Rick C-137 worked well with each other since the beginning of the episode, before any Omega Device threat (nor carrot!) dangled in front of Evil Morty to influence his decisions (he had just wanted to... talk) and Rick had trusted him enough to leave Morty Prime alone with him.

Like, under normal circumstances, Evil Morty honoring their alliance during the Prime Fight could have been the beginning of a friendship (or at least a more honest and permanent alliance) between Rick C-137 and Evil Morty. Evil Morty is insecure and traumatized enough to need the failsafe of the Omega Device backing him up, but Rick C-137 was game...!

Rick Prime instead puts in Rick C-137's head the idea that Evil Morty might kill him in a tantrum. Not because their interests might clash in the future. Not because Evil Morty may get power-hungry when he grows up. But because he's young and emotional. (Mind you, this is about a boy whose whole characterization revolves around being extremely cautious and calculating; not someone who'd kill another person in a fit of fury.)

Of course, the first idea that pops up in our minds (at least... it was in mine) is that Rick Prime said this hoping that Rick C-137 will drop everything to go stop Evil Morty, and so Rick Prime would get a chance to escape.

...But that doesn't make any sense, either!

Rick C-137 isn't so stupid as to give Rick Prime that chance of survival. Even if he took Rick Prime's warning seriously, he'd hurriedly shoot him in the face before running out to deal with Evil Morty. Rick Prime was toast, and he knew that. This wasn't about his own survival.

Rick C-137 wasn't about to take his worst enemy's advice to turn against his temporary ally. Like, what the heck? Since when Rick Prime fancied himself trustworthy? He could have easily lied, made this up. Rick C-137 couldn't have actually known if Evil Morty really had the weapon plans at that moment, and he'd have to take Rick Prime's word for it. No way he'd drop everything at his worst enemy's word.

Rick Prime saw that Evil Morty downloaded the weapon plans straight on his person. There was no external device that you can just snatch away (like the cone thing Evil Morty used when scanning Rick C-137's brain). So Rick Prime knew that the only way to "nip this in the bud" would be for Rick C-137 to run outside, confront Evil Morty, find out that there was no external device to forcefully take from him, and promptly attack him with lethal intent. But, come on, Rick C-137 was not going to do that, because of the aforementioned debt. Even Rick C-137 isn't so ruthless as to have his own life saved one minute, and him returning the favor with a murder attempt. This was never going to work.

Even if Rick C-137 took Rick Prime's warning seriously, even he trusted his advice, even if he was willing to murder a version of his grandson (to whom his owned his life) in cold blood, I doubt he could do it. He was a mess physically, while Evil Morty was perfectly fine. If they did clash at that moment, I think Evil Morty could have escaped easily with a portal. So this was never going to work.

And don't even get me started on what a joke it is for the Rick who wanted to murder Rick C-137's whole family, one by one, to express Rick-to-Rick camaraderie. As if...!

So what was all this for? This would never work, Rick C-137 would not try to kill Evil Morty at that moment...

...but he can do it in the future.

Any seeds of trust or appreciation that were planted that day were promptly poisoned by Rick Prime's "well-meaning" warning.

Evil Morty himself did trample said seeds further by warning Rick C-137 he could kill him any time he wanted as of now, but he also said that "using a weapon like this doesn't get you. Left. Alone." His whole speech would have hit very differently without Rick Prime's warning. We would have trusted him, we would have trusted that he did all this with the single goal of being left alone and that this is going to be the end of it. Worse case scenario, we would have thought Evil Morty might demand Rick C-137's support for A Thing (like a slave) if he had no other choice, but we still wouldn't have thought Evil Morty would murder him in a flight of rage during a disagreement. Now, the idea that Evil Morty might become unhinged in the future has been planted in our heads, by Rick Prime!

We fans were discussing on how the narrative seems to be setting Evil Morty as the final villain, but it's not the narrative, not really! It's Rick Prime manipulating Rick C-137, hoping he'll attack Evil Morty sometime in the future, so they can kill each other.

He fueled Rick C-137' paranoia on purpose, so as to get delayed revenge on the Rick who dared to think himself better than him... and on the one person who actually bested him.

#Evil Morty is a good boy #he won't use the Omega Device unless horribly cornered #and you know what I actually don't like Evil Morty's odds in case Rick C-137 DOES decide to attack #because of the Omega Device threat there is really no room for error - either he succeeds or he shouldn't even try #and Evil Morty's warning “just don't force me to improve on the design” suggests he will be keeping an eye on Rick C-137 #so if Rick began tracking him down (which I imagine would take some time) EM would promptly do some modifications and then use the device #so Rick has to either be extremely cautious and hide what he's doing extremely well or seize a sudden opportunity #Evil Morty #rick c137 #rick sanchez #rick prime #rick and morty #nip this in the bud

[emiliaclarkesdragons]

"We gotta go! We gotta go now!" y/n shouted pulling Carl's arm. He was trying to fight her, "The ceiling's going to give way if we stay here! Carl!" She screamed his name, it sounded as if it came from the pit of her stomach.

He snapped his head around after hearing her scream. "I have to find my brother! I have to find Daryl! I'm sorry Carl, but I have to go" y/n said, crouching down, she planted a small kiss on his lips and then she was gone.

That was the last time Carl saw y/n, it was the last time anyone saw her. They did look, Daryl tried to go back to look for her. He was thinking he was looking for a dead body but he couldn't get through. He couldn't get through the walkers and he couldn't risk the Governor's followers seeing him. That's if there were any left.

y/n was slowly forgetting what they all looked like. It had been so long ago now. She couldn't remember her own brothers face, let alone a stupid romance, or whatever it was. Merle was long gone in her memory, she never really liked her older brother. He bullied her and Daryl. But that's what older siblings do from where they come from. She knew It was from their dad, she was just happy Daryl didn't turn out like that, otherwise, she wouldn't know where she would be.

"Come on people! Let's move!" Simon shouted, "Boss is waitin'" he added. Simon walked slowly over to y/n, "you never know, they might be there, then we can arrange something that will benefit them"

y/n lifted her head up, she was looking at a photo of her and Daryl. Merle was also in the picture but she had folded him out of it. She was fed up with people talking like that. "You need to watch your back; the guys are lurking around you like a bad smell. Negan wouldn't like it if he had to kill some of his men-"

"Well, he should control his men then, shouldn't he?" y/n snapped back. Simon was an asshole, it wasn't her fault that some of the men in this place couldn't control themselves.

"I'm just looking out for you," Simon said, holding his hands up and walked away. "Alright! Let's move!" he shouted to his men, they loaded onto the trucks and y/n walked to Negan's.

"Ready for your first day out, little lady?" Negan asked with a smirk.

"Sure" she replied as she got into the truck, she was sat in the middle of Negan and Simon. Simon was driving and Negan was in the passenger seat.

As they got closer to the 'safe zone' of Alexandria, Negan turned to y/n, "I got something for you" he handed her a small box. She wanted to say she didn't want it but she couldn't resist her curiosity. She took the box from him, "you had it on you when we found you, I fixed it for you" Negan said as she opened the box. It was her iPod. Daryl had said he brought it her for her birthday, but she knew he had stolen it, just like the computer they had.

"Thank you," she said as she turned it on. To her surprise it actually worked, all her old songs were still there.

"I added a couple of my personal favourites to the playlist," Negan said, "go ahead, we don't mind," Negan said. y/n placed the earphones in and pressed shuffle. She smiled as the music filled her ears, it had been so long since she heard music. As she listened she realised there was also a charger in there.

y/n saw the walls come into view, so this is what they call a safe zone, y/n thought. She didn't turn off the music as they stopped at the gate, Negan and Simon hadn't told her to turn it off yet. There wasn't anyone in sight, which made y/n wonder if they were hiding from the saviours. What had they done, she thought. She knew that Negan would have done something, but what that something was she didn't know.

Negan got out the car and walked to the gate. He began bashing the bat on the gate. Simon glanced to y/n. The gate opened and the saviours drove in. y/n got out the car, music still playing. She couldn't hear what they were saying and the men were crowding around her so she couldn't see.

y/n didn't want to be there, she wanted to work on the crops, do something other than fighting and driving people out of their homes. Someone nudged her and she looked at them. Annoyance was written all over his face, the man motioned for her to take out the earphones. So, she did, but unwillingly. "Alright! Get to work!" Simon shouted. y/n looked around, she knew she would have a different job, but she wasn't sure what it would be.

"y/n!" Negan shouted and she huffed, then jogged over to him. "Do you see that boy over there? With the hat on?" he asked, pointing. She nodded, "I want you to make friends with him, get him to trust you... you're a pretty girl, you can do it. Make him believe you want to escape" Negan squeezed her shoulder and pushed her forward gently. She didn't know what Negan meant by escape.

The boy had a sheriff's hat on, Carl used to do that. But, this wasn't Carl. y/n was certain it wasn't and as she got closer, he got taller. She had to put her past far behind her, this was her life now. She was a saviour, she was Negan.

"Hi," y/n said, leaning forward a little, she stood a good distance away from him. She didn't want him to feel as though he was intruding. She moved a piece of her long hair out of her face, "I'm glad that there's some wind, it would be too hot to function if not" she said light-heartedly. She was trying a different approach, but she knew it wouldn't work. The boy looked at her. "I'm y/n by the way," she said and stuck her hand out for him to shake.

He did so, "Carl," he said. Something in y/n's heart skipped, she swore he was familiar. But she was pushing the possibility that this was her Carl, her Carl Grimes. He was also doing the same, it can't be her, he thought, she died.

"How long have you been here?" she asked, for some reason, she was already looking for answers.

"Couple months, how long have you been with them?" he screwed up his face and looked to Negan. He was watching, y/n didn't think he wasn't.

"erm... too long, I lost my group" she paused as she thought, "must be at least two years ago, maybe more." Really, she couldn't remember. Then she tried to think what his face looked like, Carl Grimes, but nothing. The face had gone.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that, we lost someone on the way here too... we lost a lot actually" Carl said.

y/n thought he needed a haircut but said, "I'm sorry." Carl shrugged. "I don't want to be here you know," she said, which was the truth. "They took me in. I have to work to pay them back" she said, which was a lie. But she really didn't know what else to say. She needed him to like her, her life probably depended on it.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Carl asked, getting a little aggressive as he stepped closer.

"No, I don't know-"

"That was bull shit"

y/n sighed, "the last part was, but I really don't want to be here..." then she knew how to play with his heartstrings, "I- I'm looking for my brother, they don't know I have one-" she cut herself off and looked around to make sure they weren't looking, "if they knew, they would use him to make a deal" she said, most of this was true. Enough for Carl to ask more.

"What type of deal?" He asked.

"Well, Negan has wives, he treats 'em right and all but... he uses it to bribe people into a better life, so they do more for them" y/n explained.

"Alright, look. If you tell me his name, I'll see if there's someone here with that name. But, that's it" Carl pointed to her. He was being aggressive, but that was because he knew it was her. It had to be, she talked the same, acted the same but he couldn't remember her face. They both didn't want to remember.

"Thank you, and if-if you need information. I- I can give it to you in return" she said, "his names Daryl" she said. Carl stumbled a little, it was certainly her. "I- I have to go to Negan, find out what your leader wants to know-" she said and jogged to Negan.

(AN: I couldn't find a gif without the writing on so please ignore it)

"How did we do, little lady?" he asked.

"I made a deal, I said I was looking for my brother, he would look around in exchange for information on us," y/n said. She also said 'us' to make it seem as though she wanted to do this. She had to sell herself to both sides.

"Very good! I'm impressed, you've achieved more in five minutes than this lot have" Negan was clearly happy, which made y/n happy. "Oh, looks like he wants to talk to you, oh and look, he's brought the 'leader' with him" Negan teased, using air quotations when he said 'leader'. "Go on, little lady, don't keep 'em waiting" he smiled over to Rick and nudged y/n forward.

Add gif of carl and rick

"Is there someone?" y/n asked as she ran up to them. She barely took notice of Rick at that point.

Carl nodded, but his dad spoke, "yes, there is. Would you like to see him?" he asked.

"Yes," y/n said and followed them, she knew that Negan wouldn't be happy with her for walking out of sight but if this was her brother.

"Daryl!" The man shouted, he looked familiar too, but someone else came into sight.

"Daryl" she stopped in her tracks, "oh my god" she didn't run forward as he stayed still. y/n walked slowly towards him, "Daryl, it's me, y/n."

"No, she died," he said bluntly. y/n knew he knew it was her. But, with what they were going through, he needed proof but the picture wouldn't be good enough. She took out the iPod Negan had repaired for her. She handed it to Daryl.

"You stole that for my birthday, can you remember?"

"I didn't steal it, how many times do I-" Daryl cut himself off and looked up at her, "where did you go?" he asked softly, stepping closer and pulling her into a hug. This was a rare thing for them, they didn't really like human contact. They had had a bad experience with that.

"They found me, took me in," she said, she really didn't know what to do now. Would Negan let her go?

She pulled out of the hug and turned to the boy, "Carl Grimes" she said and pointed, "Rick" she pointed at the man. They nodded. "I knew it was you," she said to Carl as they hugged.

"I knew too"

"You're finally taller than me" she joked as she pulled out the hug.

"Yeah" he breathed as he laughed. There was a question on all of their minds: would Negan let her stay?

"I don't know if he will," y/n said, knowing what they were thinking.

Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long, if you want another part just let me know and tell me where you want it to go.

ps. gifs not mine

#carl grimes #carlgrimes #the walking dead carl #carl twd #carl imagine #twd carl #The Walking Dead #the walking dead cast #Chandler Riggs #chandlerriggs #daryl dixon #DarylDixon #daryl #Darly Dixon #twd daryl #Norman Reedus #normanreedus #imagine norman reedus #sister!reader