Ezekiel picks up the magazine he skimmed through last week. It's in the same spot he had left it: tossed atop a small, equally dusty pile of other crumpled issues that layer the petite waiting room table. Sure enough, flipping through the slightly torn pages, he finds the contents of the magazine unchanged from his last perusal: an ad for a perfume long since discontinued, an article on a celebrity couple long since broken up, and a review for a 'new' hit summer song long since forgotten. Hospitals never seem to change these shitty magazines as the years go by; perhaps that was the last year there was enough funding to splurge on new reading materials for the waiting rooms.
Yet, the young rhino thought the inclusion of these outdated relics somewhat comforting. In the waiting room, devoid of any windows or other indicators of the outside world, he can even pretend he's in another time. Back all those years ago when the magazine had just been published and the world was a little simpler. Back when his mother was healthy. Back when his father was alive. Back when the celebrity couple had just gotten together.
Not that he would've been in the hospital waiting room to read such a thing. He had no reason to go to hospitals back then, save for his yearly flu shots. His father would nod his head proudly when Ezekiel would put on his brave face and endure the jab with confidence, even though he really wanted to yelp out in pain and fear. His father always drove him to be stronger.
"Rhino Ezekiel, you can come with us now."
The white rhinoceros returns to being seventeen years old and his ears flicker towards the nurse. She's a familiar face; a tired-eyed doe who often had shifts when Ezekiel visited. They exchange silent smiles of recognition as Ezekiel walks up to her and allows her to lead the way, despite knowing where to go himself. More of a formality, at this point. Their polite smalltalk lasts perfectly until they reach their destination, and the nurse offers one last bow of the head before going back the hall they walked down. With a delicate knock unfitting of a rhino, he lets himself in and is greeted by his mother's smiling face expecting him from her bed.
"Zekey! How was school?"
Wasting no time, Ezekiel sits down on the chair closest to his supine mother, careful not to disrupt the countless tubes and wires that slither around the pure white bed frame.
"S'alright. Got the results from that pop quiz back. A minus."
"My big ol' genius!"
"Nah," the younger ungulate sniffs. "It was really easy, I'm mad I only got A minus."
"That's what you always say." His mother pouts. "For the millionth time, the fact that you think it's easy means you're smart to begin with. You've always been so humble and I don't know why for. Your father never got grades like this."
"Well, Pop also taught me to not go bragging about stupid stuff like grades."
"Oy," His mother smacks her head, feigning frustration. "He also passed down his hardheadedness, looks like."
Mother and child exchange laughter before settling into a more normal tone of conversation. Talk of homework, crosswords and daytime television.
The female suddenly lights up, as if remembering great news. "Dr. Oscar told me that I should be good to go home by Thursday."
"You know I don't like that guy." Ezekiel huffs. "Always sends you home too early."
"The body gets lazy if you rest for too long."
"That ain't true, you know."
"Aren't you Mister Know-It-All?" She teases. "I'm getting bored sitting here on my big fat butt. The girls at the office miss me."
Her son crosses his arms in satisfaction. "Well, they'll have to miss you for a bit longer. You're number one priority right now is resting."
"Nooo," His mother drawls. "My number one priority right now is you, and it always will be."
"You're grossing me out."
She nudges his shoulder in mock disapproval before remembering something else. "How are your friends? It's been so long since you've told me about them."
"Ah, they're the same." Ezekiel says, rubbing his neck. "It's been a while since our last big idea, what with summer break and all. But new semester, you know? Who knows what we'll come up with."
His mother gives an encouraging, but slightly worried smile. "This is your school club, was it? That one about… what was it about again?"
The boy almost rolls his eyes. "It's called DAVID, mom! We're campaigning for the safety of herbies on campus!"
"Right, that's right," She answers hurriedly, seemingly distracted. "They're your friends?"
"I mean, yeah. I'm friends with lots of people."
"I know you are, honey…" His mom smiles again, but her face sags. "Are you guys still doing all those protests?"
"Like… less than before, but here 'n there." A sudden wave of guilt nips at his skin, but he soon snaps out of it, now a little braver. "I mean, it's part of our duties. You know I'm glad to be studying there, Mom, really, but all their intertrophic pandering is just depressing. You should be proud your son's this proactive, heh!"
"I'm always proud of you, honey, you know I am," She insists. "I just… I just think that maybe... this isn't what's best for you."
Her words come as something completely foreign to Ezekiel. For a split second, he questions reality itself and considers the possibility that the plastic fern behind him must have spoken, because there is no way his mother, his flesh and blood, actually said that.
His next question comes out slow and far too calm.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm glad you're standing up for what's right, but you should… do it for the right reasons. And I don't know if you're doing it for the right reasons."
"The right reasons?" Ezekiel repeats, his face contorting in disbelief. "Is protecting all of the herbies in the academy not the right reason? Is speaking out against censorship and injustice in our society not the right reason? Is being a hero not the right reason?"
For a few seconds, his mother doesn't say anything. She just stares at him with sad eyes. Very sad, as if she had seen a shooting star pass by and couldn't think of a wish in time.
She then looks down at her lap, and for no more than a second, at her hand, still attached to the IV drip. She finally settles her gaze on the window, which reveals a glimpse of trees, now speckled yellow in September chilliness, and the mostly empty hospital courtyard below.
Ezekiel couldn't help but follow her gaze, and another moment passes, where they just stare out at the drifting autumn clouds.
"When I'm in here…" Ezekiel's mother begins in a gentle voice. "When I'm resting… The air's a little different here. You see things differently."
She blinks. "I noticed that my health usually starts to act up whenever I get really stressed. Office deadlines, bills, coworkers. You know, those little annoyances. They start to build up and up, and before I know it, it feels like I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders. And that's when it crushes me.
"You're young, so maybe this won't make sense to you. But the more I thought about it, the more I remembered. I've been carrying this weight for a long time, Zekey. So long I didn't even know I was carrying anything at all.
"I think maybe, if I led a different life, I wouldn't be so crushed. And that's what I want for you, Zekey. It's all I've ever wanted for you. Living like this takes a lot out of you, but you don't deserve it. You're smart, and kind, and," She reaches up to stroke his cheek. "Good. You're good, Zekey. For your soul, you shouldn't do this to yourself."
Ezekiel jerks his head back. "Do what to myself?! Are you out of your mind?!"
"I'm scared for you, Zekey!" His mother cries out, lurching forward. "I'm only telling you this because I love you and I loved him! You don't wanna end up like your father!"
"My father ended up like that because meat-eaters killed him!" Ezekiel roars. "Fucking carnivores, mom! That's what killed him! And now you're saying it was his fault?!"
"It wasn't his fault, but—"
"You should be fucking ashamed of yourself." Her son spits. "He's your husband. He's my— was my father! And you're telling me to make friends with the bastards who killed him because it's easier?"
Ezekiel's huffs and pants grow more frantic, concealing a mist behind his eyes that dared not condense to form tears. "What the fuck is wrong with you? Is-is everyone going crazy?"
"Zekey… baby…"
"You should be fucking ashamed of yourself!" He screeches, storming out the door despite his mother's frail protests.
It's then that Ezekiel realized he'll never cry again.
DAVID had been quiet for months. He'd had to visit the hospital more often after spring break, and he never felt like doing much after visits. Summer was a rush of job after job to help keep the bills in check in between hospital trips. Only the occasional board game night with his mother kept him sane. His brothers-in-arms never outright said anything, but he noticed the slight stink of disappointment as he roamed through the halls of Noah's Arc. His herbivore allies were disappointed in him.
He had been turning soft and didn't even notice it. Because of his mom. Because of the way she made him feel that everything could be just fine as it is.
What a repulsive thought.
If this doesn't make him cry, nothing will.
A wildebeest wriggles about sulkily in the common room kitchen chair, slumped over the crumb-littered table.
"'Bout time. Thought you forgot about us."
"Shut up." Ezekiel grumbles. "I was just letting CHAMP have their moment in the sun. Build up their little egos, let the little shits think they're hot stuff, and then sneak in and destroy them."
"Just like the election."
"Exactly."
But a hippopotamus isn't exactly convinced. "So we round up everyone else for real? We talk shop?"
"Big time." Ezekiel smirks, but his glare contains no joy. "DAVID's gonna have its way by Rexmas. I'm sick and tired of this shit."
The small herd of herbivores gathered in the kitchenette murmur a round of agreement, their fur standing on edge from anticipation.
"This campus is fucking ours." Ezekiel's voice is as rough as scales and as dark as panther's fur. "Carnies should know their business and stay out of ours."
'Yeah's and 'damn right's encircle him.
"I was fed up with those picket fence pageants." A moose chuckles darkly. "It's time to make some actual change."
"For the future of herbivores in this academy. In society!"
A surging power engulfs the herbivores. It crescendoes, inside and within them, righteous and terrifying. In this moment, they are no longer prey, no longer victims.
Ezekiel remembers his mother's words.
You're good, Zekey. For your soul, you shouldn't do this to yourself.
For his soul…?
Peace would never soothe his soul. Backing down is the way of cowards and sick old women.
Heroes don't back down. Even if they must become villains.
AN: Thank you for reading! Short chapter, just setting up the new semester.
Take it easy and stay safe.