The Dream and Reality

All rights go to DC and the creators of Justice Leage and Young Justice. I only own my OC and her parents and her animals family.

I ran as fast as I could, there was a burning heat all around me. The flames were licking at my skin, and I could see it slowly burning the small hairs from my arms. I screamed and kept running. I had to get out, I had to, but there was no escape. No escape from this terrible, terrible place. The flames were getting closer to me, and I could hear the wooden beams of the house slowly creaking from the pressure. Where was I? This place was seemingly familiar. Looking around the room I observed my surroundings. It was a clay house with wooden supporting beams and one of the few rooms I was in had a wooden table in one corner with some matching chairs. I guessed it was the living room as well as the kitchen. There was a large bowl and pitcher in the far right corner on a small counter.

I continued to run. I had to get out of here. I just had to. I kept repeating this in my mind. But, there was no way to escape, the fiery flames were everywhere, they were surrounding. My heart was racing rapidly, beyond normal speed. The flames were taking away my supply of air, there was no escaping this. I crouched down and hugged my knees. I was going to die here, in this very room, among the flames. Despite the scorching heat, I began weeping wildly. My whole body was aching and trembling from the fire.

"Please, don't cry." I looked up from my burnt hands; tears were still streaming down my face. Who had spoken? There was a small slender woman near me by the burning table. She had long blonde hair and fair skin with kind, caring blue eyes. She wasn't in pain, nor was she burning. The mysterious, but familiar woman was just staring down kindly at me. "Who… Who are you?" I squeaked through my gasping throat. I was confused. How had this strange woman gotten here and why was she not burning? "It's going to be alright, my Moyo. It's going to be alright." The woman was now next to me, clutching me in her arms. She was trying to calm me down.

I studied her as her arms were wrapped around me. Why had she called me 'my Moyo,' or my heart? Her hair was pulled back in a long braid, and, although we were in a burning house about to face our death, she was calm, determined even. This woman had a strength in her that I could not understand, but I felt comforted by her. Just as I was beginning to feel as though we would die here, in this very place, I heard a crashing sound coming from in-front of me. I looked away from the woman's face to see a large blonde man standing in the fiery doorway. His expression changed from determination to anguish when his green eyes found us. He ran towards us, knocking over fallen and burning wood and objects from the house to try to get towards us. Just when the man was near to us with his arms out, a large beam fell before him. Cinders and flames shot from it towards me and the woman. I screamed as loud as my throat could manage when the flames from the large wooden beam reached towards my outstretched arm that was towards the man.

I heard a masculine voice calling me, it was his voice. But, it was panicked. "You have to listen to me, please," he pleaded to me. "You can do this; just reach as far as you can again. I'll get you, I promise." Who was this man and why did I feel as if I knew him and this lady surrounding me? Why did they not just get out while they could? I remained silent and looked back to the woman clasping me away from the flames. She gave me a look as if to tell me that everything was going to be okay. And, strangely enough, I believed it. I looked back at the man who had his arms stretching through the little space the fallen beam had not covered. He looked so… so desperate to get me free. It was like he was willing to do anything for me, a girl who did not know who he was, nor this woman. I slowly got up from the woman's protective arms and stumbled towards him. I reached out my burned hand towards his and he grabbed me.

His muscled arms were around me, protecting me from the protruding fire as he carried me towards the door he had entered. "What about her?" I screamed, "YOU CANNOT FORGET HER! Please, please." Again, again and again I was pleading, but this man did not turn around. He kept running towards the door. "If I don't get you out first we'll all parish. You have to trust me. I'll come back to her, I promise." The man kicked aside another fallen and burning piece of wood in-front of the doorway.

We stepped outside of the burning building and the man put me down on the ground. He looked deep into my blue with green eyes. I was still crying, despite the burning heat. He bent down and ordered me sternly to stay outside where it was safe. No matter what I saw or heard, I was to stay outside, where it was safe. And then he was gone… He ran back inside the burning house, back into the inferno. As he entered a large explosion ruptured from the house as the roof collapsed on them. They were gone, each of them gone, gone, and gone, gone forever. The people who had saved my life were now gone in the process. And it was because of me. "NO! NO! This can't happen, please." I cried louder than I ever had. My tear drenched face pointed towards the dark sky. Every single tear that went down my face hurt from my burns. I gave one last shout towards the sky as I blacked out from this horrible nightmare.

I woke up screaming that late morning. I was out of breath and it was hard to get my heart back to its normal rate, even after my screaming had stopped. Looking out of my ragged house, I saw that the sun had risen. The house, which was now more of a shack, was one roomed and had been abandoned many years ago and only consisted of a small mat on the floor, which I used as my bed, and a wash basin and some cabinets. This place was now my home. I looked down at my hands. They were burned, along with the rest of my body. I had had these burns for as long as I could remember. For all I knew I had been born with them, which I knew was impossible. You had to obtain them.

But, the problem was, I didn't remember ever getting burned, let alone getting them all over my body. The only idea I had were the dreams I had been having. Each of them had been me in a house that was, indeed, burning to the ground. The dreams had been getting worse the more and more I had them. Now, it took me minutes to get my heart beating regularly again. But, I had never seen these people in this dream before, people that had risked their own lives to save my insignificant one. But, the weirdest thing was that I felt I knew them. I felt as if they were important people in my life and I could trust them. They couldn't be my parents. As far as I knew my parents had abandoned me when I was an infant, and that's why I didn't remember them. I had been raised by the animals of Africa, and when I was old enough, I was by myself.

"Oh, well. I am busy with my job protecting the animals that raised me as a child." Getting up from my mat on the dusty wooden floor, I walked over to the wash basin and cleaned my face. The water had been put there the night before, which I had gotten from the Runde River a couple of miles away. I put on my brown tattered dress to head out to the closest town to… acquire some food and other necessities. I put on my cheetah mask and left.

As I travelled into the town I remembered the time I got my mask so I could become the protector of my land and the animals that lived there.

It was very crowded and there were street vendors, merchants, and large groups of people gathered together. The air was musty and arid. People were buying all sorts of goods such as: candies, clothing, jewelry, and fruit. You could hear the shouts of the sellers as they hackled in trying to get the people- tourists- to buy whatever they were selling. I was among them, watching the people as they spent much money on whatever they wanted. I was being pushed and shoved and came across an elderly lady at a stand. She was advertising unique animal masks with delicate detail. The mask I was wearing just consisted of a brown cloth I had made from the same material as my clothing, with little cut-outs for my eyes. My curiosity brought me to the stand, and I saw many African animal masks.

I saw an elephant, giraffe, lion, and even a small meerkat mask for a child. Then, my eyes came upon a beautiful cheetah mask. It didn't completely cover the face and stopped just below the cheek bones and nose, leaving the mouth uncovered. The mask was slightly furry and had spots and there were gems around the holes for the eyes. I picked it up cautiously and felt the soft fur with my thumbs. Then, the lady who was selling them came to me after helping a costumer. She was a large black lady about the age of eighty with kind dark brown eyes and a scarf covering some of her hair. "Mhoro, tumidza yangu i Nanji," she said. I smiled down at the short woman and put down the mask. Nanji's eyes followed my hands, gave an upset look, and put the mask back in my hands. "Aiwa, aiwa," I told her. I spoke to her in the Shona language, which was the same which she had spoken in. I told her that I had no money and could not pay for the beautiful mask. But, she kept insisting. She told me a beautiful woman who had to hide her identity, such as myself, had a reason and deserved to hide it in a beautiful mask. I finally agreed and went on my way wearing the newly acquired cheetah mask. I now wore it everywhere I went, hoping that I would see Naji again.

The town was finally near me and it had changed a lot since that day a little over five years ago, when I was only thirteen. The air was now much dirtier from the new factories and large multistory buildings. I did not approve of this, even if it did add jobs to the growing town. It was killing the atmosphere and natural beauty of Zimbabwe. It was making my own job harder and there was less and less land for the animals to live on. Trees were constantly being cut down and more and more tourists and poachers had come. The poachers were killing off the lions and other magnificent large animals. "They do not care. They do not care for these animals. All they want to do is to kill. They bring deforestation and death to the land. They call them wild animals, but they are the true animals." I said this to myself as I grumbled under my breath and balled my fists together. I was almost into the town, my home land was hurting, but the land in the towns and cities were not great either. The government violated the rights to shelter, food, freedom of movement and residence, freedom of assembly and the protection of the law. And I had seen and heard of alleged assaults on the media, the political opposition, and civil society activists. Are there no heroes anymore?

I had finally reached my destination and saw a street vendor selling breads and fruit. It was now time to get some food. Yes, I had no money and did not care for the idea of taking my food. But, it was the only way I could think of. It was hard enough to find a job here, let alone one when you wore a mask. When people saw it, they knew you had a secret to hide. Why else would you be wearing it, right? Besides, there were many other people who needed the job more than I. They couldn't take their food like me, or at least, not without being caught. "Good," I thought. "He is looking away; helping a customer, now is my chance."

A large awning was above the stand that looked large enough to hide me. There were a few boxes next to a stand that I could climb on. Silently jumping on them, I used the momentum to kick myself off of the boxes and onto the nearest wall. I dug in my long claw-like nails to the building and kicked off and on top of the awning. Peaking over with my blue with green cat-like eyes I saw the top of the vendor's bald head. "Flexibility of the cobra," I whispered and I felt the blood go faster through my body, and my heart began to beat faster. The bones in my body began to take a different, more flexible shape, and my incisors took the shape of a snake's teeth. I gave a small hiss and bent backwards from the awning to the fruit. The man was facing away from me and I grabbed the nearest piece of fruit- a cantaloupe- and scurried away before letting a small hiss escape my lips. The man turned around, and saw me as I jumped from rooftop to rooftop. "Eh! Iwe didn't bhadhara kuitira rino, mhuka." "You didn't pay for that, animal." The man shouted waving his fist in the air, and I gave a mischievous laugh like a hyena for the seller calling me an animal. "Ha! I am, indeed, an animal," I laughed.

I stopped at one of the roofs and sat down as I was about to eat my newly acquired food. Below me was an old man begging for money, there seemed something the matter with him and I crept closer to the edge to have a better view of him. He was a native of the area, very skinny from malnutrition… and was blind! The old man was blind, that was why he was pleading for assistance. I watched the crowd that passed him. The greedy tourists were passing him, acting like he was not even there. I could hear the man mumbling for help, and if there was someone who stopped, they only gave a small amount, not enough to help him even a bit. Anger grew inside me and I balled my fists up tight until my knuckles turned white. "How can they not help him? He is obviously blind! He cannot help himself." I yelled and ran off of the building quickly and swung my body onto a large clothes line. I went down to the ground and when I was close enough I let go. Then, I did a back flip into the air and I landed in-front of the sightless man.

The small cantaloupe was still in my hand and I looked down at it. Compared to the other fruit and food sold here, this was… relatively fresh. I squatted down next to the man and said, "Iwe uno fanira iva nzara. Ida iwe farira amwe cantaloupe? I i obvu." "You must be hungry. Would you like some cantaloupe? It is fresh." He gave a meek smile towards me and I took that as yes and gave him a large amount of my fruit, leaving just a little for myself. The remainder of the afternoon I sat with the old man and ended up telling my story. The story of how I became what I am and my powers. I told him of how my parents had left me and I had been taught to use my powers by the animals and they had raised me until I was thirteen years old. Then, I went home; to do what my guardians had asked of me, protect them. That was the least I could do for them after they helped me when no one else would.

The sky was a deep orange color when I got home, and it was a bit colder than earlier. The air was comforting and peaceful, but I knew my job today wasn't over. I still had to protect the animals of Africa, my home land. I walked into my small shack made of clay and straw, it was rustic, but it was what I called home. It only had one window by the mat and the doorway had no door. I walked into my place and grabbed my spear by the cabinets and looked into the small cracked mirror that was left there.

The mask was still on my face and I could see my crystal clear blue eyes with light green around the edge of my irises and pupils through my mask. When I saw my reflection I was shocked. I looked like, like someone I had met before. My hair was a very light blonde and reached my hips. The way I looked was shocking because most people here were dark skinned, had dark curly hair, and dark eyes. I was tan, but not close to the others I had seen here, well, the ones that weren't tourists. So, was I a tourist? Were my human parents tourists and decided to leave me here and return home? I removed my cheetah mask and looked at my face, anger bubbled inside me at what I saw. I put the mask that covered it back on, tied it on my face, and headed back out the door with my spear in hand.

I remembered during my training what one of my teachers, a cheetah, had said and what she taught me. It was on an evening like this one, and it was with one of my many lessons on using my cheetah powers, like her speed.

"Dindingwe, I am tired, can't we quit?" I complained as I stood next to my teacher. Her long tail swayed from side to side as she planted her feet in the dirt, ready to take off as we stood there. She shook her head and growled at me. "Quit? As a worrier- as a protector- you never quit, even if you are tired. While you are running, what have you learned?" She asked. "Ok, quiz time. Okay, Delmira. What have you learned from your teacher?" I thought to myself. My teacher waited patiently for my response. "I learned… that, even though you're fast, you have to wait for the right time to use it, because it doesn't last long." I watched the cheetah carefully, waiting for her response to my answer.

She smiled and nodded at me, and then we began to run again. When we were done testing out our speeds we sat down by the river and cooled ourselves down with the water. I looked over at her and asked her a question I had been wondering for a long time. "Why do I have to hide my face?" Her expression wasn't one I expected. I expected shock from the haphazard question, but one of my many teachers just looked at me with honesty. "I have been waiting for you to ask this question for quite a while," she paused. "You must always wear the mask no matter where you are, for you do not know how people will take to seeing your face. Take the hyenas for instance. What do you think of them?"

Thinking of what to say I told her that I thought they were weird and creepy with how they were always laughing. Also, they were not appealing to the eye with their dog face and backs that make them look like they were always bent over. Dindingwe gave a short, small laugh and was expecting this as my answer. "See, you have just judged them by what you saw on the outside. But, do you know them? No, you only know of them. Yet you have judged them, like others might judge you if they saw your true face. That is why you must keep it hidden. To be a warrior you must stay un-judged by others, to truly be free. If you are not truly free, you will not reach your powers. And they will be taken away from you. Do you understand?" I waited for a long moment before answering. I was taken aback by the cheetah teacher's words. To stay truly free from the world and to keep my powers I must stay free. And, to do that, I must keep my face away from the eyes of others. "I understand now teacher," and with saying that we headed back to the cave to get a night's sleep.

That was ten years ago, when I lived in the cave with the lions of my home, but I still remember Dindingwe's words like they were said yesterday. The rest of the day I kept repeating in my mind what my speed teacher had said, 'to be a warrior you must stay un-judged by others, to truly be free,' always wear the mask, always. Until sundown, I spent patrolling the area and helping the animals of the safari. I kept a baby boar from being trampled in a stampede; I helped a group of feuding and hungry lions, and stopped a couple of poachers from killing some baby elephants. And, I did all this with only some minor scratches that would be healed by the morning with the help of my super healing. I went to bed that night tired and hungry, but I was proud that I lived another day to help. And this time, I did not dream of that horrible fire.