Chapter Text
“And… here I am.” Shigaraki let out a sigh, who spent the entire time explaining this polar bear every detail of his story. Not the entire story, from the moment he appeared in the theatre up until this very moment.
He explained about the films and what he had seen. Ice Bear questions every time, but not about the film, but curious about Shigaraki, about how he feels about watching the films.
When he talked about the Avengers, Ice Bear asked what he thinks about the hero team, his response was the same, he hated it and wanted them dead.
He keeps saying every bit of how it annoyed him that in most films, the heroes survive to live another day. He wanted to not watch the films and get out of wherever he was.
As for Ice Bear, he listens, taking it in, curious and yet remains silent in his reaction.
But once he finished his explanation, Ice Bear finally spoke.
“Ice bear… sees.” he started, “and what are your thoughts?”
Shigaraki scoffs, “What do you think?”
“Same as always, no change or understanding.”
“Pretty much.” He looked away, “Who cares about some dumb films and some dumb heroes in another universe, not that I care, just stupid heroes are.”
“What makes heroes stupid?”
“That people are so reliant on them, that they can just show up and people think that everything is going to be better. It’s a fabrication, and I want to tear it all down.”
“And that is what you wanted? The truth?”
“Yes.” Shigaraki quickly answered, “For everything to tear down and reveal the ugliness of the world so I can destroy it all.”
“Ice bear do no see ugliness.” The bear looks down, “What Ice Bear see is… chaos.”
“Any difference?”
“Afraid not,” Ice bear grabs another piece of liquid from the stream, “because they can all mean the same thing, but it depends on your perspective.” He takes a sip.
“There are only two perspectives, bear.” Shigaraki said, “the perspective of an NPC and the perspective of a player.”
“Ice Bear knows game logic,” the bear spoke, “you believe that your perspective is unique than others, that yours matters more than anything.”
“Yes,” Shigaraki grinned, “because I am playing the game of life, and I will never stop till I win.”
“And how do you win?”
“Once everything is dead, once everything is gone, once there is only me in the world, which is how I win.”
The bear looked at Shigaraki, faceless, with no fear, no concern, just nothing.
“Once I get my quirk back, I’ll destroy you and… and…”
Suddenly, there was a feeling in his brain, a painful feeling, he screamed grabbing his hair, trying to endure this newfound pain he was feeling.
“Ice Bear wonder when it occurs.”
“What… what is this?” he started; the pain continued to pierce through his skull. “What did you do to me?”
“Ice Bear did not do anything,” he looked down, “the effects of the water put you in a state of remembering.”
“Remembering…” the villain said, “remembering what?”
“Everything.”
When the doors closed, Wyatt returned to his snack bar, where he spent most of the time when the people were watching the films, he waited there until they came out.
But something was different. The weird pink dirt outside was coming in, sand was covering the floor, and more came in as if there was some sandstorm without a storm.
But he does not mind, he only does what he is told. To listen, follow and help. And he helped a lot here.
However, it was not the sand that was different, it was an addition, on top of his counter.
A mask, with a note.
Curious, he grabbed the note and read it aloud.
‘wear diz, eye will pick u up laytar.’
“Okay,” he said with a smile, wearing the mask, as more and more sand started to fill the room.
The villain ended up on the floor, what felt like lifetimes of mental torture, with new information plunging into his brain, trying to comprehend it.
All while Ice Bear watches, and continues to drink the water.
The pain grew and grew, but after a long while, he endured the pain, it was not so bad, still felt it but it was not bad.
Recovering he looked at the Ice Bear, as his mind was in a different state.
“What is this?” Shigaraki demanded, “What am I seeing.”
“You are seeing the visions of your time,” Ice Bear explained, “past, present, future. Ice bear is curious, what do you see?”
The villain smiled, and felt pleased at first, “I… think I did it.” He started, “I became powerful, I gotten everything I wanted, but…” his smile dropped, “but… after all that… what happens to me is… is…”
“Disappointing?”
Shigaraki turns to the bear.
“Ice Bear is aware, as Ice Bear have visions of Ice Bear.”
“What do you see.”
“Ice Bears himself with his brothers” he answered, “various days, situations and lessons learned. Nothing more.”
“Sounds boring.”
“It’s peaceful.” Ice Bear corrected the villain, “and since Ice Bear’s time here, Ice Bear spent the entire time trying to escape, Ice Bear was here when the town project was abandoned, and perhaps, this theatre will soon be abandoned as well.”
“But we were promised to return to our world.” Shigaraki pointed out, “of course they lied, we were never more than puppets.”
Shigaraki said, angered by the thoughts of being a puppet, which is what he always thought he was, a puppet trying to cut off his strings, trying to be free from society and have nobody tell him who he is.
Yet these visions, what he saw in his future, showed that he had always been a puppet, just an illusion of freedom for someone else’s benefit. Is that all he is? All he will ever be?
“Unfortunately,” Ice Bear responded, “Ice Bear is not sure if we’ll ever get out, the author has abandoned their creation.”
“So, what is the point of any of this?” the villain asked, unsure about his situation, he had seen what he become, and he was unsure if he wanted that or if he could change it. Perhaps that was the point, to learn and change, but if there is no escape, then learning and changing is meaningless.
“Perhaps, it’s never about the lesson.” The bear perked up, “maybe it is about the moment, experiences, different thoughts and responses to what is shown in front of them, if we were put in here to have these little moments, then it becomes a new experience. But unfortunately, we only care about the destination, the lesson, and the end. And if we are so focused on ending, we never live in the moment.”
Shigaraki heard this, previously he would have scoffed this, but considering his position, his situation, and his visions, he has a sense of what he is saying.
But there is still one unclear answer.
“We got what we wanted… what now?”
“Ice Bear is not sure.” The bear replied, “but knowing that another Ice Bear got to live his life, while Ice Bear… me, remain here, regretting on focusing on escape rather than living the moment.”
“Yet, there is no point when everything is gone.” Shigaraki pointed out.
“Does it matter?” Ice Bear counted, “everything ends. But what we do with the time we have left is more important. Tell me, did you enjoy it?”
“No…” Shigaraki looked down, “I didn’t… but… Such as life… right…”
He reached down to the stream and grabbed a handful of liquid, he now knew that he would see visions of his life from the stream, his traumatic past, his uprising present, and his downfall future. Before he did not know what to see and saw it all, now. he wants to go back, back when it was much simpler and easier.
“I’ll be right where I started, but at least I’ll live in the moment.”
He takes a sip and lets the visions take him over.
The next thing he knew, he was back at the theatre, confused, unsure, surrounded by those he hated.
The heroes are here, his league was here, but where was he?
“You got to be kidding me!”
Then Time repeats.
Thank you for reading.