I promise this won't be all sad backstories and angst. It's just the start-up chapter where things have to be boring and full of stuff happening. Also, there aren't any OCs beyond minor one-chapter people who are essential to the plot. This'll no doubt be AU as the show continues, but I still like the idea.

Disclaimer: I don't own We Bare Bears.


"Alexi we missed one."

"What? Where?"

The man pointed with his chin. Just behind a snow drift, they could make out the outline of something camouflaged in the bleak landscape of white. The bear twitched it's ears, and blinked innocent, black, eyes at them. It was unaware of the fate that his siblings had met only minutes ago.

"Over there."

Victor received a cuff over the head for his troubles.

"Ignore it Victor. It's the mother we want."

"Where there's a cub, there's a mother."

"Just tranquilize the stupid thing if it bothers you so much! We'll use it as bait!"

"Da."

The cub watched as the human reached for something on the ground. It was shiny and grey in colour. He'd never seen anything like it before. He realized that it was slowly being pointed in his direction. The bear ducked behind the snow drift before anything could happen. The human made an annoyed hissing sound. The other one said something back to this.

The cub nervously peeked over the heap of snow once more, pressing himself flat against it. He could see that the two now had their backs facing away from him. They were concentrated on something else now. The cub's nose twitched. He picked up the scent of something familiar. Whenever his mother returned with food, he was typically stained with the seal's red stuff. It smelled almost like this, but there was something different about it. Were they hunting for food as well?

He had found the two when he was looking for his siblings. They had not been out of the den often before. Usually it was only when their mother carried one of them. All of his family had been missing when he woke up that day. He followed the trail of his mother for a little bit, but the cub soon realized that she was going to where the holes in the ice were. The food came up for air in these spaces. So she would wait there until once of them did. That could take days at a time though.

The cub instead retraced his steps, and followed the path that his siblings had taken. The path led towards another hunting ground. This one was for fish. His brother's scent remained fresh, even as he reached these two humans and their den. The bear figured that they had passed through here before the humans came. Now he needed to find a way to get around them without getting seen by them. He was much smaller and weaker than them. Without his mother there, it was dangerous to be off on his own.

Keeping pressed against the snow, the bear knew what he had to do. The cub wasn't sure where the idea had come from. It simply made more sense to just do what he was doing. He had learned from what method a few times. He'd picked up growling a little, and learning how to swipe with his paws at other things.

He was still keeping flattened along the ground, but the bear now knew how to move while doing so. Stretching out his front paws, the cub stuck his claws into the ice. He pulled himself forwards across the snow, and used his back legs to help. Bit by bit, the cub inched his way around the snow drift he had been hiding from.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the scruff of his neck. The cub was pulled off the ground, and was met face-to-face with one of the humans. He saw and felt something sharp being pressed against his chest. The cub gave a raspy growl, and tried to swipe his paws at him. The cub received a blow to the head for his troubles. The cub howled, unable to see through the pain in his head.

A familiar roar tore through the air. The cub felt himself being dropped to the ground. Even more pain spread through his paws and his stomach at this. The two humans screamed, and he could hear the sound of them running, and his mother charging at them. The ground beneath his paws shook with vibrations. Then, a gradual cracking sound was heard. The ground started to tremble more violently.

"VICTOR!"

One of the men screamed, and his mother roared at them again. The cub tentatively opened his eyes. Not far off, he could see one of the humans standing there. The cub realized that he and his mother were standing on the ice. Where an air hole had once been, there was now a yawning, gap in the ice. Black water rolled underneath it, gradually turning red. The remaining human gave another yell.

"Do svidaniya mama medved!

He pointed his stick-thing at her, and suddenly, there was a sharp crack. His mother gave one final howl before collapsing to the ground. The man was sent recoiling backwards. He slipped on the ice, and fell backwards into the freezing water as well. Once or twice, his head popped above the surface before the undertow dragged him back downwards. Within a few minutes, the screaming and thrashing around had stopped.

The cub ran towards the ice to where his mother now lay. Was she hurt by the man's stick? When he stepped onto the ice, it groaned. The bear could feel it shattering under his paws. The cub didn't know why he did it, but he suddenly dropped onto his belly again. The ice instantly stopped making noise. The cub gradually slid his way across the thin ice, without it ever making a sound. He made it to the spot where his mother lay.

Nudging her side, he waited for her to respond. His mother didn't move, or make any sound. She was still. Walking around her, the cub saw that there was red stuff coming out from between her eyes. The cub suddenly realized he had seen this before. When the seals went still, and they were covered in red, that meant that he could eat... They never woke up from sleeping after that. Did this mean that his mother wasn't going to wake up either?

The cub gave a whimper. There was red stuff leaking from a part of his chest already. Was he going to sleep as well? Where were his brothers? How come the two of them had gone missing? The cub curled up next to his mother, giving another pitiful wail. Above him, the sky danced around, multiple colours threading their was through the inky darkness.

It was nightfall. Well, at least the start of winter had begun in the North. For the first six months of his life, the cub had seen nothing but the sun. Now it had gone, just like his mother had. The cub didn't know what to think of the frightening blackness that surrounded him. It got harder to see, and the sky continued to do strange things above him.

The bright and sunshine-filled world that he had known his entire, short, life faded into a strange, unfamiliar place.

He was completely alone.

The cub watched the dancing lights above him with tired eyes. They cycled through green, purple, and blue, with the occasional bit of yellow. Where had the sun gone? What were the dots in the sky doing there? Once or twice, he reached out a paw to grab them. He couldn't reach any of the dots or the colours in the sky. He sat up a little, hoping he could reach them that way.

Something new caught his attention. The cub saw that there was a bear in the sky. What was it doing up there? How was it supposed to come back down again? Didn't it have to eat? The cub was reminded of his mother. It didn't need to eat if it was sleeping all the time. Maybe that bear... Maybe it was his mother!

Red lights pierced the sky. He hadn't seen any red before. The bear turned around, and he realized that the red lights were creeping across the snow, getting even closer to him. Then, even more light began to appear. Her heard sounds, and he heard even more human beings. They were talking and yelling as well, and he could hear them walking across the snow.

"RCMP! SHOW YOURSELVES!"

Holding a gun in one hand, and a flashlight in the other, the officer and his coworkers continued to search the camp. Several tents were set up, but they all seemed to be abandoned. Inside of them, countless items were there to show proof of the poacher's wrong-doing. Knives of all sorts, maps, and enough camping supplies to last the fur-poachers years.

The officer came across a note book in one of the tents. He cautiously flipped it open, not wanting to disturb too much. Inside of it, he was frustrated to realize that it was all in Russian. They would have to get a translator again to help figure things out. Why would Russians come to Canada when they had polar bears of their own? On second thought, why wouldn't they try in Alaska before crossing yet another border? It didn't make any sense, but it was his job to find out the hows and whys of it all.

Exiting the tent, the officer ventured farther down into the tiny camp. Along the way, more evidence was found, and he called over some of his partners to deal with it. He continued to follow a group of tracks down the snow, and was careful not to get in the way of any of them. Blizzards would be upon them soon. They needed to grab everything that they could before the case literally went cold.

The officer realized that there were the tracks of two men, and the paws of one, very large polar bear. They continued downwards, to where a visible patch of ice began. He continued to shine his flashlight across the ice, until he came upon the still body of the polar bear. Not far off, he could see the ice stained red, and a hole punched clean through it.

"Oh dear." He muttered to himself.

A tiny flicker of movement caught his attention. He saw a small head peek out at him from behind the dead polar bear. It must have been one of her cubs.

"Hey guys! C'mere!"

Two of his partners showed up. He pointed to where the baby polar bear was hiding. One of them let out a low whistle.

"Poor fella'."

"I'm going to get him." The officer said.

"What? Are you out of your mind?!"

"Just get me a rope and a life jacket."

Both of them shook their heads. The man didn't really mind. He was outfitted with a life jacket and had a rope threaded through the back of it. Once he was strapped in and as safe as he could be, the officer clipped a tranquilizer gun to his belt. Slowly and carefully, he slipped his way onto the ice. He could feel his weight causing it to shift underneath him.

Still keeping cautious, he lay down on his stomach, and started to inch his way across. It was survival 1O1. So long as he spread his weight out evenly across the ice, he wouldn't fall into the freezing water below. Ironically, people had first discovered this from polar bears. They'd seen what they had done, and then copied the movements. Just like the one that he was now rescuing.

The ice grew more thin as he approached the two. Here was here he had to be really careful. There was already one hole smashed in the ice. He didn't need to make it any larger. When he reached them, he could now fully see the cub. Despite his thick fat and warm fur, the cub was still shivering, and no doubt frightened. Glad for the thick gloves he wore, the man reached out to grab the cub.

The cub had other plans though, and dodged out of the way. The man then reached for his tranquilizer gun. The cub growled at him as he did so. The officer noticed that the second he took his hand away from it, he stopped barring his teeth. Clever little guy knew what a gun was then. The officer reached for it again, and this time, the cub hid behind his mother.

So he was going to play this the hard way...

After a lot of fighting, scratching, and swearing later, the man eventually managed to get the bear cub away from his mother. Having to hold on to the bear at the same time, he let his comrades pull him back with the rope. By the time they reached land again, the cub had fallen asleep on him. Already the size and weight of a medium-sized dog, he had a bit of trouble getting the cub off of him.

The cub was already drowsy. Then he felt something cold and sharp prickle between his fur. He tried to fight it off, but he was suddenly much too tired to do anything about it. The darkness of the sky seemed to close around him, the bear in the sky and the colours fading with it.

The bear fell asleep, completely oblivious to the fate of his remaining family.