NOTE: After someone told me I should write an alternate ending where Grizz dies, I decided to go with it. Here is what I came up with.

WARNING: This is going to be extremely sad! Break out the tissues.

The sight of Grizz cloaked in a warm glow radiated from the pitch blackness. Panda shielded his eyes against the blinding light and Grizz smiled softly at him. Panda felt his heart stop as Grizz reached out and touched his paw, "I'm free, brother..."

"Please don't go." Panda whined softly, tears beginning to roll down his face.

Grizz hugged Panda close, ghostly tears welling up, "Sorry, Pan Pan. It was just too much for my body to take."

Panda choked back a sob, desperately trying to wipe away tears but they were now flowing like Niagara Falls, "Don't leave us...please..."

"I'm sorry, bro. I'll miss you..." Grizz replied sadly.

After breaking away, Grizz slowly faded into nothingness. Panda fell to his knees and cried like he had never cried before.

Just then, Panda snapped awake. His eyes darted around the room and he noticed it was 4 in the morning. He didn't know why but he had an immense feeling of grief and dread welling in his chest as he tried to cuddle himself for comfort.

Meanwhile, Ice Bear was having a dream that he was in his garden practicing yoga. He opened his eyes and turned his head to notice Grizz's glowing form smiling at him. The polar bear's eyes widened and his tear ducts thawed. He knew what this meant. There was a long silence before Ice Bear spoke, "Ice Bear will miss you, dear brother."

A large tear escaped Ice Bear's right eye and slipped down his cheek but it was swiftly wiped away by Grizz's ectoplasmic paw, "I'm fine, Ice Bear. Remember all the good times, we've had. I'll miss you guys."

Ice Bear closed his eyes and bowed as a sign of respect, silent tears running down his muzzle, "Ice Bear will miss you too."

Grizz hugged Ice Bear close before fading away into thin air. In reality, Ice Bear's eyes snapped open and he peered away the room. The same feeling of despair leeching off of Panda was stabbing his heart repeatedly and he felt a horrible depression wash over him.

In about an hour, Panda received a call from Chloe. She sounded nearly hysterical and had to pause several times to compose her emotions. The child prodigy explained that Grizz had fallen into a deep, vegetative coma. When she explained over the phone to Panda that she had no choice but to pull the plug, Panda let out the most hysterical, bloodcurdling scream.

His phone clattering to the ground, Panda began to literally vomit on the cave floor. Ice Bear put his arm around the vomiting, sobbing Panda as he tries to blink back his own tears.

Grizz was dead. Gone for good. With his departure, the atmosphere of the cave seemed colder, darker and emptier. All Panda could do was tremble, cry and vomit as Ice Bear held him and rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him.

About an hour passed and there was a knock at the door. Ice Bear opened it to see Chloe standing there. She looked like she had been crying as her face was streaked with tears but it was nothing compared to Panda's constant stream of waterworks. She took a step forward and hugged Ice Bear, burying her face into his fur. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, "Grizz gave me this. Go in the attic of the cave and use this key to open the locked chest with the bearstack on it."

The locked chest. The one item in the house that was a complete mystery to even Ice Bear. Panda would ask his brothers about it when he found it one day. Ice Bear hadn't been able to open it no matter how hard he tried and Grizz danced around the subject whenever Panda brought it up. Grizz was keeping a secret from his brothers and it was time for them to discover it.

Ice Bear grasped the key and made a beeline for the cave's attic as Panda and Chloe followed. Openeing the door, the polar bear crawled in and looked around for the chest. It was a dark blue chest with the classic bearstack engraved on its exterior.

Slowly turning the key, Ice Bear popped the chest open and inside it was a brown teddy bear that resembled Grizz with a note attached to it. The polar bear pulled off the note and scanned the words with sad eyes:

Dear bros, I know I make some pretty dumb choices in life and I try not to think about the negative but let's try and be realistic here: Someday I might do something really stupid and it may be the last mistake I make. You know how we bearstack so if anything ever happens to me, you can use this teddy bear to replace my part of the stack.

If you are reading this note, I am either hurt really badly or dead. Use this doll to remember me by, maybe even treat it with love, the same way I treated that burrito with love.

Panda, try not to get too caught up in depression. Try and remember the good times. Ice Bear, don't be afraid to show your feelings. If you need to cry, I understand. Chloe, you have your whole life ahead of you but be there for my brothers in their time of need.

We had great times together and I truly love you all.

-Grizz.

Ice Bear handed the note to Panda, his eyes now full of tears. Panda took the note into his paws and read it. He let out a choked sob and a hot tear slid down his nose, falling onto the paper and smudging the ink. Chloe noticed Panda shed the tear and put a comforting arm around his back, her own tears filling the rims of her glasses.

It was too much for Panda's fragile heart to take. He dropped the note and took off down the ladder and through the cave. Tears blurring his vision, he went on all fours, sprinting out of the cave as fast as he could while Ice Bear and Chloe chased after him. They dashed through the city, chasing after the sobbing Panda until they reached a small 99 cents store. Panda made his way down a sandwich supply aisle, coming across a large jar of crunchy peanut butter.

Dark thoughts of suicide filled the panda's mind as he grabbed the jar with his paws. Snot oozing from his nose from crying so much, Panda unscrewed the lid of the jar and poked his claw into the seal protecting it when he was suddenly tackled to the ground by none other than Ice Bear, "Ice Bear won't let you."

"WHY NOT?! THAT STUPID DOLL IS NOT GRIZZ! THERE'S NO WAY HE CAN EVER BE REPLACED! MAYBE IF I DIED FROM ANAPHYLACTIC SHOCK, I'D SEE HIM AGAIN!" Panda screamed tearfully, fighting against Ice Bear's iron grip.

Tears were now streaming down Ice Bear's muzzle as he pinned his black-and-white brother to the ground, "You're being selfish. Ice Bear is your brother, too."

"Ice Bear?" Panda whimpered softly. The polar bear was crying. No sniffles or sobs, just silent tears with a calm yet concerned look on his face. He wrapped his arms around the Panda in a close hug as the partially opened jar of peanut butter rolled across the aisle. Panda hung his head in shame, warm salty tears running down his snout and dripping onto Ice Bear's sea green apron. Ice Bear stroked Panda's head with his paws, a few tears of his own falling off his face. Chloe watched the crying bears hug it out, tears rolling down her own face.

Lucky for them, the store was nearly empty with the exception of a couple cashiers and an old guy browsing in the freezer section. Eventually, Panda calmed down and breathed a heavy sigh, "I'm so sorry. That was a pretty stupid outburst."

Ice Bear smiled despite his muzzle being slick with tears, "Ice Bear forgives you."

Panda nodded sadly, "I...I just don't know what to think anymore...I...I'll miss Grizz..."

"Ice Bear will miss Grizz, too."

Panda sniffled, wiping his muzzle with the back of his paw, "It's just not the same anymore. Grizz was always so strong and social. He'd always go out of his way to try and make friends while I just sat at my computer, chatting over social media sites. I wish I have the courage to start conversations like he did. He was so warm and energetic and caring. Our cave is now an empty shell of what it used to be without him around."

"You have to be strong, Panda." Chloe replied, "We all have to carry on. It's what Grizz would have wanted. He may not be here physically, but we all remember the good times we shared with him. Grizz may not have fulfilled his bucket list but he couldn't ask for better brothers."

Ice Bear nodded in agreement, "Ice Bear thinks you have a good point."

"So please Panda, don't go all crazy and attempt suicide. The last thing we need is another dead bear." Chloe replied.

Feeling a lump in his throat and a new batch of fresh tears flooding his eyes, Panda walked over to Chloe and pulled her into a hug, "I'm so sorry, Chloe, I..."

"I know, it's hard for all of us to be without him but the doctors did everything they could to try and save him. We'll just have to accept the fact he's gone and perform a funeral service." Chloe replied, "Of course, I have no idea how we'd afford the funeral."

"Ice Bear will take money out of retirement fund." The polar bear offered, "Retirement is completely optional to Ice Bear."

Chloe nodded, "Okay then. We'll do that then."

The girl and two bears exited the store while the dumbfounded cashiers watched. The funeral would be in two weeks.

Two weeks later, Panda, Ice Bear and Chloe all stood in front of Grizz's grave. It broke Chloe's heart because they were the only ones who even arrived to his funeral.

Chloe was the first to pay her respects to Grizz, kneeling in front of his tomb, "I remember breaking to the cave and meeting you for the first time. Sure, we had a rocky start but over time, we grew pretty close with each other. You truly are a great friend who always helped others out. You would always protect us and that's one of the many reasons we admire you. Rest in peace, Grizz, I'm sure you're in a much better place."

Chloe returned back from the grave and Ice Bear stepped up. He sat by the grave, gently stroking it with his paws. A tear escaped his eye and rolled down his nose before it fell and hit the tombstone with a splat. His face as blank as always in spite of the tear, he gently nuzzled Grizz's tomb stone with his snout and let out a deep sigh. The polar bear didn't speak a single word. He didn't have to.

And with that, Ice Bear got up and moved away from the tombstone.

Panda was the final one to mourn. He stopped by the tombstone and gave a deep, watery sniffle, "Grizz, if you're still here I want you to hear me out..."

The was a long pause before Panda let out a loud, hysterical wail and practically screamed through his tears, "YOU'RE THE BEST BROTHER WE EVER HAD! YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN THERE FOR US WHENEVER WE WERE SICK. You...when I locked you in the c-c-closet you still v-v-isited me at the hospital after that h-horrible d-d-date with L-lucy." The tears were hitting Grizz's tombstone like bitter rain as the emotional panda continued his rant, "And...and that time when Ice Bear and I couldn't contain our f-f-feral side and you brought us back t-to reality. Even through you s-sometimes c-c-cause trouble...we...we...we...STILL LOVE YOU!"

Panda hung his head, bawling loudly over Grizz's grave, his entire body trembling as tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. After three straight minutes of weeping, Panda calmed down and began to sing in a quiet, pained voice:

The lake sort of knows me.
Was it you who promised time?
Lead me to a land so green
So she'll stay a while.

Please take me there.
I'm ready.
The ship sways, but the heart is steady.
I have time.

When Panda finished his tearful singing, the three hung their heads in sadness. One by one, they walked away from Grizz's grave and back into the cave. Panda whimpered as he picked up the teddy bear version of Grizz and plopped it on his back, sitting in the space where Grizz used to top the bearstack. For a moment, they thought they could hear Grizz's voice being carried by the wind but Chloe just chalked it up to their imaginations. Grizz was gone for good. Things would never be the same for Panda, Ice Bear and Chloe.

The end.