That night in Fevruary, after receiving Toren's goodbye text, Wyatt had immediately started plans to liquidate all assets, buy a car, and leave Destiny City. He had no destination, and just planned to road trip across the country. He needed to get away - as far away from the source of all the problems that had plagued his life all these years since high school.

It was arrid, dry, and Wyatt had currently stopped his car along a rest stop with an outlook. Currently he was somewhere out in the mid-west, sitting on the hood of his car and twisting the plastic cap of a water bottle back on. Below was the sparse woods, thickening at the base of the mountain, then the small dots of light as wilderness turned in to suburbs, until finally the dimming light of the sunset ate the city silhouette beyond.

It made him feel alone, but thinking about it, hadn't he always been alone? Even when he was in Destiny City fighting side-by-side with...him, wasn't he still alone? But...he hadn't felt that way, even when he was giving everything to make a better life for them, even when he was putting aside his own wants and desires to try and provide a happy life. It wasn't until he was cheated on him, a one-time accident as it was told, that it hit him, as if all his best efforts had just been thrown in his face like someone smacking him upside the head with a baseball bat. So he had detached. It hurt, but he became like a ghost and unconsciously prepared his heart for the physical loneliness to match the emotional. It had still hurt, though. At least this loneliness was by his own choosing.

A cool evening breeze blew past, fluttering Wyatt's almost shoulder-length silver hair and he closed his eyes as the wind kissed his caramel skin. He had given so much of himself that finding that person who he was at the heart of all the effort and pain of the past seemed like his greatest challenge yet. So when did the healing begin? It had been months now, and many miles. He was still trying to put himself back together, but didn't know who that person was... It was like trying to put together a puzzle with no picture to go by. He felt like he was slowly piecing things together though.

One things was for sure however - He didn't miss Destiny City. He didn't miss being a soldier. He didn't miss fighting for a world full of people he didn't know or care about in the grand scheme of things. If anything, most of the time he was just ready for whatever grand phenomenal cosmic powers that be to hit the reset button. He wasn't wishing for an end, but a completely new start in a new life in a new world wiped clean. Some might even call that feeling hope.

There were still times where he became Hawara, and traveled to his wonder - the great bismuth labrynth that ultimately served as a tomb. He'd look at the perfectly preserved corpse of his past self, get those flickers of memory from millennia past, and bask in the second-hand peace and happiness that could be found there. However, he found himself doing so less and less, as the memories became bitter-sweet. You couldn't move on by living in the past, he'd remind himself when the temptation would arise. There were plenty of wonders here. On this world. With no memories attached.

The sun was now no longer sitting on the horizon, and the light of day was dead and gone. Wyatt slid off the hood of his vehicle, opened the door and got in. The vehicle itself was an older model, but sturdy. It wasn't new, but new to him when he'd bought it. He looked at the rear-view mirror, and the ring and wedding band that dangled from a chain hanging from it. He just stared for a moment, before finally snatching it. Getting back out of the vehicle, Wyatt stepped to the edge of the overlook, and chucked it as hard as he could. There was no outwards anger or malice in the action. Just another memory that he needed to finally let go of.

He got back in the vehicle and let out a deep, deep sigh, running his hands through his hair before setting the next destination on his GPS.

"40 miles to the next town. Okay," he said, putting on his cowboy-style hat, and turned the key in the ignition. The vehicle rumbled to life, and Wyatt pulled out of the rest stop as the radio filled the silence.

/Time spent like a spendthrift clown
So many chances wasted
So many hopes let down
You didn't see how your pain
Became your refrain
You always thought there was tomorrow
Wish you could get back what you let go
But it's alright if you fall
You just get up, just go on
Never mind the hurt, even if you burn
Cos it's all, gonna be so much better
The moment your true self's shining through-/

Wyatt turned the volume up as the terrain blurred by the windows and the glare of the occasional on-coming vehicle eclipsed his sight, making him squint rose-colored eyes and his voice joined the radio.

/First step after the fall
So many more to take till I'm done with 'em all
With my hopes and my dreams, my anxieties
But there is peace in no expectations
Marveling at the hallucination

Yeah, it's alright if you fall
You just get up, just go on
Never mind the hurt, even if you burn
Cos it's all, gonna be so much better
The moment your true self's shining through--

Through all these dawns
Oh, winter blues
Still wondering why
And what's the use
Oh, the first hello
To the late goodbye
When I'm made new, yeah~/

As the chorus began again he let himself drum on the steering wheel and bob his head a bit as he got in to his solo-concert. The miles were spent like this, until finally they ran out and Wyatt was parked in front of yet another hotel - such was the lifestyle he'd adopted. If nothing else, at least he was making the most of it by making some money with hotel and motel reviews. Shoot, this was even the odd weekend where he had a free two-night stay with perks. The life of a Vagabond suited him, and despite the past looming over him like a soggy old dishrag on his mood from time to time....he was finding contentment in it.

Grabbing his one bag out of the backseat, he locked up and headed to the check-in.

"Single room for Estel. Wyatt, Estel. Pre-booked online," Wyatt said to the attendant who was paying more mind to their computer than to his approach at this hour.

The attendant looked at him for a moment - this sun-kissed skin, silver-haired, slightly scruffy looking individual. Surely he was looking for a cheap motel and not this place. Usually they got families or couples on vacation - not single men nearing their thirties in cowboy hats.

"Uh, right, just one moment," she said before finally typing the information in to the computer. Sure enough, there the information was, and she felt a bit bad for her judgement.

Wyatt waited, taking a look around the cozy lobby while he leaned against the check-in counter. Ah. Sundries station targeted.

"Here you go," the lady said after sliding the little door card through the activation machine and placing it in the little envelop with the room number.

"Thanks," Wyatt replied, taking his keycard and heading over the the sundries station.

The goods, always over-priced but more convenient then trying to find the local Walmart, was the usual stuff. He grabbed what he needed for a small meal, planning to hit the free breakfast bar in the morning, and headed up to his room.

After placing his cold stuff in the mini fridge, Wyatt tossed everything else on the bed, including that damned hat. He headed to the bathroom to prepare for a shower. Catching a look at himself in the large mirror, he ran a hand through his hair. It was a habit, and perhaps a sign that he should cut it, he just..never got around to it. Even his face was scruffy, but maintained. All in all he just looked tired. Who knew driving could take such a toll. Of course, he knew it was more than the driving.

Hopping in the shower, warm water smelling a little too strongly of chlorine and filtration was soon running over his lightly toned body - steamy rivulets tracing his scars and easing the tension in his body. He stood there under the stream of steaming water just letting it kiss his skin. It was comforting. It was times like these that his Psychology-major brain reminded him that there is a wonderfully descriptive term for touch deprivation, called 'skin hunger' - your skin literally hungers for the touch of another human being, to feel connected, accepted and whole. Touch, or the lack of it, affects us all. Healthy touch slows our heart rates and reduces anxiety. It makes us feel safe and nurtured. A lack of touch, though, can make us feel very lonely, depressed, ill and even aggressive and angry at the world. It was definitely one of those things he was susceptible to. He had no interest, and never did have any interest, in soliciting anyone so it was just another thing on the long list of things he had to contend with.

Done with his shower and clad in his towel for whatever small sense of modesty he had, Wyatt warmed up his dinner, cleared off his bed - why had he thrown everything on there any way? - and turned on the TV, settling on a station as the microwave signaled that his food was done. Pizza Rolls in one hand and alcoholic beverage from the fridge in the other, Wyatt crawled in to bed and flipped through social media on his phone.

He still followed some of his old contacts from Destiny City on there. There was simply a part of him that couldn't fight the desire to know what was happening back there. People posting news articles, and others posting vague statuses that one on their side of order or chaos could decipher, it made him glad he left. There was nothing left for him there now. Perhaps he kept tabs on it to remind him why he left, and to keep him from going back.

He closed the app, set an alarm, then tossed his phone on charge, before taking a swig of his drink and watching the mindless bullshit playing on the TV. Damn, even the alcohol couldn't make this show any good. Drink done, he switched off the TV and sunk in to bed. A bed that was far too big, and way too empty.