Shayera woke to something cold and wet pressing against her left hand. She lightly frowned as she lazily waved her hand only for the same sensation to return a moment later. She lightly groaned as she cracked her eyes open and the bright sunlight caused her to tightly shut her eyes again. Then the sensation came back for a third time. Shayera forced her eyes opened and looked over to see a deer sniffing at her hand.

The deer looked at Shayera before lowering its head further and skimmed its nose against her palm once again. Shayera let out a small sigh as she slowly moved her hand. The deer froze as its ear immediately stood straight up. She wasn't entirely sure if she felt relief that the deer hadn't run away or if she did want it to leave as her hand softly made contact with the animal's snout. She rubbed her thumb over the firm yet soft fur and, despite herself, Shayera lightly smiled.

After a few minutes, the deer apparently had enough of this type of contact and moved away from Shayera. It walked a few feet away and began to graze on a patch of grass.

Shayera slowly sat up with a grimace. Her back and wings were aching and extremely stiff from laying on them all night. Her eyes also felt heavy and still stung. Shayera moved to her hands and knees before pushing herself off of the ground. She momentarily stood slightly hunched over as her back protested against straightening out. She forced her back to straighten with a small crack that forced a small, pained gasp to escape from her lips.

"Goddammit," she muttered to herself with a deep frown. "You know better than this."

Shayera looked back over to the deer and quietly began to walk towards it, holding out her hand. The deer picked up its head and stared at her as it noticed her approach. When she was within a foot of the deer, it quickly turned and ran away from her.

"Wait!" Shayera desperately called out to it. Her expression fell and her hand returned to her side when she realized the deer wasn't going to return as it ran deep into the woods. She partially felt ridiculous since she knew deer were skittish and that it was in fact a wild animal. The fact it even got that close to her to begin with was nothing short of a miracle.

Shayera sighed as she walked in the opposite direction the deer had gone. Shayera knew she needed to find food eventually. On top of being hungry, she was also getting dehydrated. Though the late spring weather wasn't much that Shayera was concerned over. She could easily handle hot weather. She would have been more concerned had it been late fall or winter. She couldn't tolerate cold weather that easily. Especially if all she had on was a t-shirt and jeans.

Shayera trudged through the forest for some time before finding a lake. Though she also could see some industrial buildings past the lake. She knelt in front of the water and ran her hand through it. Cupping some water in her hand, she inspected it. The water was dirty and she was not yet desperate enough that she would willingly drink it. Instead she splashed the water onto her face and lightly shook her head. She lightly frowned as the water hardly made her feel refreshed. She looked down at her arms and could see the specks of dirt on her skin. She then glanced over her shoulder a bit. The white t-shirt she had also had dirt stains on it. Her frown deepened; she never liked feeling grimy.

For a moment Shayera felt like she was on one of those ridiculous survival shows on TV. She remembered how she and John used to mock those shows and other reality shows whenever they watched TV together. She never could enjoy TV no matter how hard she tried. Thankfully John hadn't been one to enjoy TV shows either. Movies, on the other hand, she found that she liked. There were plenty of movies she enjoyed and she could fondly remember the date nights where she lounged with John in his apartment as they watched movies together.

Shayera then shakingly exhaled as she lowered her head. The mere thought of John made her heart feel as though it was being ripped right in half. Part of her wanted to fly all the way to Detriot and beg him for forgiveness. Another part of her was too prideful to do so. Shayera had also convinced herself that John was better off without her. She had caused him nothing but pain and heartache. She didn't deserve someone like him and he deserved much better than her.

Shayera caught her reflection in the water and paused for a moment. She tentatively ran her fingers under her lower eyelids. They were slightly puffy and her eyes were still bloodshot from her prolonged bouts of crying. She then glared at herself and scowled.

"You did this," she darkly muttered to herself. "You caused all of this."

Shayera couldn't tolerate looking at herself anymore so she stood. She contemplated her choices. She could go back into the woods or she could go towards the buildings. Shayera's only concern was that she didn't know how humans would react to her at this point. Part of her hoped that they would still view her as Hawkgirl, if they would even recognize her without the helmet. Though Shayera also knew there was a chance they could be terrified of her the second they laid their eyes on her.

She also knew that she had no way of getting food for herself at this point. She wasn't in Midway City where she could get whatever she wanted for free. She also didn't know what direction Midway City was in nor did she know if she would even be welcomed back.

Abruptly Shayera was reminded of her first day on Earth five years ago. She had nowhere to go and had no one to turn to. She hadn't known where to acquire food or shelter. She found it ironic that she was in the exact same situation as back then. Yet this time she knew she had no one to come help her. She wouldn't coincidentally run into Superman and be saved this time. She was going to have to fend for herself.

She also remembered that odd feeling she had back then whenever she had thought of Thanagar. Had that been a premonition of some sort? Had something tried to warn her of what was to come? Shayera shook the thought from her mind. All it had been was mere coincidence and homesickness and nothing more. Shayera had never believed in destiny or fate and she wasn't about to now.

Yet her thoughts on her first day on Earth also made her recall what she had done that night to acquire food. Back then it had been a mere misunderstanding on her part. She didn't know what a convenience store was back then. She didn't know what she had done was breaking and entering as well as robbery. Was this her only option now? Was she going to stoop so low as to burglarize a store for food like a common criminal?

Shayera let out a heavy sigh as she knew she had no other choice. She would have to wait until nightfall before she could make her move.