I have a stupid headcanon that yasuo and syndra grew up together in a schooling institution for gifted kids in relative isolation and when yasuo leaves ionia during the noxian invasion, syndra eventually deduces that he abandoned her and that loss is what drives her into becoming a tyrannical, unstable asshat. its really childish but that's okay. i wrote the first fifth of this like 5 years ago and finished it a few months ago. wanted to explore a softer, vulnerable side of two otherwise stoic characters.
it ends kind of abruptly, sorry. enjoy.
Syndra couldn't help but feel the slightest pang of guilt after more or less touring her own abode and showing Yasuo around, knowing that the wanderer was hardly accustomed to her undeniably lavish home in the sky. She also couldn't deny that walking while doing so was equally as strange, the sovereign used to the feel of air and nothingness beneath her feet instead of floorboards or carpet or stone. Her infamous spheres of dark matter were also absent, rendering her eyes a less intense lavender, the glow gentler if not gone.
She waited patiently, poised on the edge of her bed with tenseness evident in her limbs. Naturally, she had allowed Yasuo some time to shower and acquaint himself with some of the more pleasurable yet simpler things in life that he had otherwise been lacking. For the first time this gave Syndra some time to think since their reunion several hours prior.
Yasuo and herself had been best friends when they were younger, along with Yasuo's brother, Yone. However the latter had always been the stark loner by choice of the three, granting Yasuo and Syndra many hours spent together. In their hours not training, seeking out one would always result in finding both.
Some of the sovereign's fondest memories came from their free time when they would use their very different talents to help the other hone their own. Syndra helped Yasuo's mastery of the wind prosper while he returned the favor by helping the young sovereign hone her physical abilities, balance, fluidity and flexibility in tandem with her powerful supernatural gift.
Other memories manifested of the many Ionian festivals they would attend together throughout the years, getting lost while young to deliberately sneaking away across the river against the will of their mentors as adolescents.
Syndra smiled happily at the good memories, a smile that was quickly stolen away by the sour. Years of lies, her own loss of control and blindness of power. The Noxian raids were the most depressing to behold. Perhaps toward the beginning of her tyranny, Noxian forces had laid siege to Ionia. The scent of chemicals and air thick with smoke, blood and bodies, soldiers and families, sorrow and fear, Yasuo's departure, her strings of humanity waning with him.
She'd seen him leave, but she was unsure if he looked back. Hardly the man he was now, Yasuo fled as a young exile falsely accused. She remembered Yone disappearing too, be it days or weeks after, even hours, she didn't recall. That would be the last time she saw him, them both, a realization that now dampened her conscience.
The sovereign slumped backwards onto the mess of blankets, her bed still unmade and stared directly at the ceiling. She sighed, hands covering her face, nails pressing into her skin. Perhaps she'd been too selfish.
In the distance, down the hall, she heard the sound of water coming to a halt.
Silence ensued yet again. A piercing silence.
"I'm so sorry, Yas… I'm so fucking sorry." she muttered under her breath at nothing.
"What was that?"
Syndra's eyes darted to the door, where Yasuo stood with a towel wrapped around his waist, hair still dripping tediously onto the floor.
"Nothing…" she breathed, removing her hands from her face, hoping her nails hadn't left marks. "Y-You aren't dressed?"
Yasuo simply nodded at the chair where his clothes sat. Syndra swallowed, thinking she could have left them outside the bathroom, or at least folded them for him. Anything could've salvaged this awkward encounter.
"Oh."
The wanderer cocked an eyebrow with a hint of a smile, picking up the garments with a hand, the other pulling his hair to one side, flicking water across carelessly across the room. Syndra simply watched him in yet more silence, thin brows furrowing.
She continued to watch as he left the room again, the light of the setting sun hitting the few droplets of water that littered his shoulders, bringing her attention to the many scars that laced his dark skin. New scars.
"Are… Are you okay?" Yasuo asked as he stuck his head back in the door.
Syndra lifted her head, blinking.
"Yes." She replied in a robotic stupor. Yasuo let the word hang in the air, and simply left the room.
Casting her eyes downward, it dawned on her just how unfamiliar she was with simple interactions. Being detached and having her humanity dwindle for so long, being the centre of her own universe for so long really had taken its toll.
More guilt flooded her psyche. Unreasonably so? She hadn't wronged him in any way.
Perhaps she'd just wronged his memory with how she reacted? However the more she thought, the more unreasonable her actions seemed.
Swinging her legs to one side of the bed, Syndra stood up again and made her way over to the balcony that overlooked almost the entirety of Ionia in the distance. The sun was practically blinding at such a time, despite half of it dipping beneath the mountains in the distance. The sky was painted with the gorgeous hues of orange and pink.
Leaning against the carved stone ledge, arms extended to hold her weight, Syndra sighed yet again, the wind outside snatching her breath before it left her lips.
One thought continued to stick in her mind.
I don't know how to do this.
In truth, the sovereign was elated to be in his presence again, though something hindered her expression. The answer as to why was as glaringly obvious as the sight of her palace in the sky.
She'd nullified herself for far too long.
Closing her eyes, she contented herself to just listening to the birds of prey that soared overhead, the whisper of wind around her.
The wind settled slightly, and a warm pair of hands settled on her shoulders with a soft, strangely familiar touch.
Syndra jumped, the hands remaining steady until she hummed quietly, frame relaxing after a moment.
The hands were joined by a body against her back. She opened her eyes, which were glassy.
"I'm happy to see you again." Yasuo started, resting his head on her shoulder, "Though… You seem… Well I'm not saying you aren't happy, but, you seem a little… something?" he murmured, waiting patiently for an answer.
"I am happy. More so than you could fathom." She replied slowly, "Just-"
"It's been too long?" he finished for her.
After a pause, Syndra turned her head, eyes meeting the gentle brown of Yasuo's. A small frown once again marred her features. Yasuo raised an eyebrow slightly, awaiting an answer.
The sovereign let a small sound leave her throat, Yasuo knowing it meant yes.
"I don't know how to feel that anymore."
He offered her a warm smile before pressing his lips to her shoulder, hands smoothing down her arms, coming to rest on her wrists. In response, Syndra hazarded a small step back into his arms, welcoming the affection.
Yasuo felt a subtle sadness crawl into his psyche, realizing how dearly she did in fact crave affection. For years now.
As for Syndra, she frowned slightly, feeling a sort of anger bubble up amongst the nostalgia. Why? She had no idea. It wasn't so much anger at him, perhaps herself?
Pulling away from his arms, she made her way back inside, keeping her eyes firmly on the ground, and then the bed as she neared it. Resting a hand on the bedpost, a harsh sound ripped free from her throat, matching a feeling she was accustomed to, bleeding into the energy of the room.
Anger.
Yasuo's pleasant voice came from the doorway.
"Syndra. Talk to me." he urged gently.
Syndra only bit at her lip, a part of her wanting to tear the room apart in frustration, another part wanted to ask him to leave before she ruined him too.
She felt selfish for being unable to do it.
"I have nothing to say." she muttered, not bothering to turn. She simply continued to study the creases in the fabric on the bed.
Thankfully, Yasuo had grown into a patient man.
Walking over to the sovereign, he placed his warm hands on her shoulders again, and turned her to face him. Syndra still refused to look at him, keeping her head bowed until a hand found her jaw, carefully guiding her head up, her lavender eyes finally meeting the cozy brown of his once more.
He studied her for a few moments.
"You have plenty to say… and no way to speak it."
A small light returned to Syndra's eyes when his thumb stroked gently against her skin, learnt in its way, her own hand snaking up to cover his.
Carefully, he pressed his lips to her forehead for a few seconds. He shut his eyes.
"Show me." he mumbled, parting. Her hair moving gently with every breath he exhaled.
Syndra's eyes widened a fraction, surprised he could even remember, a part of herself just as surprised, an ability she had learned from the sister of Yasuo's master, Llona. Tactile thought projection. Something she saw and learned to do on lazy afternoons after her classes. Llona thought it would help the girl cease her troublesome behavior and dreams of leaving the island.
Taking a step back, Syndra looked far into the wanderers eyes, brow furrowing for the thousandth time that evening, her lips pressing into a hard line. She studied his warm brown irises, a sense of comfort washing through her being. This comfort felt warm, like the sun's rays on a benign day, not like the feelings of power, like sleet in a storm invigorating against her skin that she'd come to call comfort.
Yasuo raised his eyebrows, perhaps he sensed the shift in energy. Maybe he still knew her so well after all these years.
Syndra removed his hand from her cheek, raising her own to his marred face. Hesitating, she almost felt afraid to touch his skin, where blood flowed so shortly beneath his skin.
As fingertips brushed along a singular scar on the apple of his cheek, she closed her eyes, focusing her energy down into her crown. She focused on a memory and willed it forward, down through her heart where it slowed, where it stung, it slowed. Her breath shuddered, but she pushed it onwards through her arm and into her fingertips, where they glowed a soft gold.
Yasuo, watching, closed his eyes, feeling the gentle humming sensation beneath his skin, the feeling spreading through his body before his psyche went black, his breath being snatched by the thoughtless void just before milky colors appeared, a thought, her memory, fizzled into being.
"Come on Syn! We need to be over that bluff before the first star appears!" Yasuo shouted, a disgruntled teenage Syndra in toe, arms wrapped around her chest.
"Yasuo its too cold to be out tonight, I'm tired." she replied, blowing warm air about her nose and watching it disappear as she hurried after the young swordsman. She cast her eyes up to the disappearing winter Ionian sun, setting for another 16 slow hours, realizing they had less time to the bluff than they thought.
"You're always tired." he quipped back over his shoulder, not turning his head all the way to look. Syndra pouted at his words, wondering if her lips were blue.
The pair neared the bluff, Syndra 15 or so feet behind her friend. She cast a look behind herself, back toward the towering school grounds they called home. They'd really pulled it off, and on the night of the Winter Equinox. Up on the hill above, bluebloom buds were glowing, waiting just as eagerly as the duo for the moon to rise above the horizon. Syndra's eyes followed the landscape beside her as she ran, absorbing the different flora the grounds had to offer. So many colors and shapes and smells mingled together.
Lost in her own space, she barely heard Yasuo ahead of her count down from three, before disappearing with a jump over the steep edge.
"Yasuo!" she cried, raising her arms as she propelled herself through the air, thudding onto the ground, chest dangling over the bluff. She reached out with one arm and closed her hand into a fist when she saw her friend plummeting toward sudden death, a mass of purple energy appearing beneath his frame, stopping his fall midair.
Syndra panted, eyes wide, wondering if it was enough, her purple eyes widening, as Yasuo flipped over onto his side in midair and smiled up at her. She felt tears prickle in her eyes as she allowed herself to exhale fully.
"Yas you…. Idiot!" she shouted, one fist still clamped shut. The swordsman laughed, peering down at the earth he hung 8 or so feet above. Syndra stood up, using her free hand for support, and summoned several balls of dark energy, creating a sort of staircase down to where Yasuo waited for her. As she descended, she blinked the hot tears from her eyes, watching her friend draw closer as she descended. When she reached him, she did not stop, instead gluing her eyes on the ground below.
Hopping off of the last sphere, her feet touching solid ground, she sighed in relief, hands trembling. She heard a whistle from above, and looked up to see a smug Yasuo now peering down at her instead. Syndra shot a glare back at him and turned her back, unclenching her fist, sending him tumbling to the ground with a solid thud and a yell. She recoiled her hands close to her mouth, breathing warm air into them.
"Hey now, ouch! Didn't have to do that." Yasuo started as he stood up, brushing dirt and grass from himself.
"And YOU didn't have to do that. Why must you always be so chaotic?" She asked desperately, cutting him off, a part of her smiling at his stupid antics.
A pause, a cold gust of wind and she felt his arms around her shoulders. Syndra couldn't contain the smile on her lips at his action, her hands immediately coming to rest on his forearms. He rested his chin on her shoulder.
"I just wanted to wake you up a little." he said, grinning, giving her shoulders a squeeze.
Syndra didnt reply, and instead gave him the side eye. Yasuo watched her purple irises bore into his very soul with just that one look, and he felt a wave of sheepishness pass over him.
"I mean, I guess I just do stupid things sometimes," he admitted sheepishly. "I won't do it again."
Syndra nodded her head once in solidarity, feeling his chest against her back rise and fall. Comforting.
"Hey, Syn, look up." Yasuo said, digging his chin into her shoulder.
Syndra opened her eyes and did as he said, looking up at where the sun had been. A sliver of silver threatened the encroaching navy blue inkiness of the night sky, a single blue star pockmarked the heavens above, lying close to the moon.
"Oh," She breathed, reaching up toward the sky with one finger, tracing a line between the star and the moon, "your birthday is soon."
"Three weeks." Yasuo reiterated.
"How about that, old man Yasuo?"
"Do you constitute twenty as old?" he replied, Syndra laughing.
"Mmm. No. I can't be friends with old people or I'd never have any fun." She replied.
"Ah so you see my use for at least something." Yasuo quipped playfully, releasing his embrace on the girl, walking toward a small glade in the distance.
Syndra rolled her eyes, smiling to herself internally, following in his wake.
This glade they tried to frequent as often as they could, but could only do so during certain times of the year, when the moon's light was low as to hide their escapades. The glade reminded Yasuo of the stories his mother used to tell him and his brother stories of Ionia's beauty and how it'd enchant outsiders with its glowing flora, sweet flora, ample fauna and delicious smells. How the woods would hide secrets and dreamcatchers, stories of a stray vastayan vixen who would prey upon wanderers. The poison boarfruits and their pretty foliage leading strangers to their doom.
Just like the swordsman and the sorceress, Ionia had its dark and light, its secrets to hide.
The pair walked silently the rest of the way, the nocturnal wildlife slowly arising in time for the long night. In the far distance, a festival could be heard, faint cheers and street food, firecrackers and lanterns being let loose to celebrate the solstice. In the more immediate area, soft clicks and sounds arose from the foliage, hums and things that sounded like the softest sing song. More blueblooms appeared, opening their petals in a slow dance in the wind to the moon, a gentle blue mist seeping from their centres.
Syndra stopped walking, letting herself savor the beautiful environment in front of her.
An even more beautiful sight strayed into her vision; Yasuo, he held out his hand, a honeyfruit in his palm.
Syndra felt herself stare at his face probably a bit too long before she took his offering in her own hand, lowering her eyes to the fruit and its shiny green bulbs.
"Thank you." She murmured, picking out a section of the fruit and placing it in her mouth. It tasted of popblossom honey, sweet but not sickly.
They continued onwards again, Yasuo leading the way. Syndra watched along in his wake as she slowly ate the honeyfruit. She studied his back and the way his muscles rippled as he walked his gait, the scars he'd obtained from training. In the institute, she couldn't afford to let her eyes wander for even a moment, lest the masters and monks see and besmirch their names.
The masters trained Yasuo hard, and the monks trained Syndra harder. Some days she felt like wheat to a scythe, over and over and over again. It was nice to know she shared solace with this person, this special person. And sometimes, they had the chance to indulge.
Reaching the centre of the small glade, night had truly fallen and the blue star in the sky was joined by many hundreds more, blue still by its lonesome. The moon shimmered like light reflecting on a busy pond, the dust from the flora swirling around their ankles as they walked, soon settling in their usual spot, the grass beneath showing wayward signs of wear.
The pair sat down, Syndra letting herself fall backwards onto her back with a soft thud in the soft grass.
Listless eyes stared up into the inky sky.
Yasuo lowered himself down next to her, resting on his side, facing the sorceress, one hand propping his head up.
"Today was hard." Syndra said, closing her eyes, turning her head blindly to face her friend, eyes unopened.
"Why's that?" Yasuo asked, cocking his head.
"I've been training for eight days straight."
"You deserve to be tired."
Syndra hummed quietly.
Having her feelings validated felt good. Some of her mentors had a semblance of understanding, some not so much. Some treated her like some dangerous time bomb, and lectured her about controlling her powers as fast as possible no matter the consequences. They talked of prophecy and stellar conjunctions, how she was simply destined for great destiny. Syndra was powerful, yes, but she was still a human. Only magical folk were allowed at their institute, and she wondered if it had rendered their brains too hardy, too indignant of basic human needs like rest. Companionship.
Her mind continued to wander, when she felt a finger trace the corner of her lip. Her eyes fluttered open and came to rest gently on Yasuo's face, his features soft and focused on her own. Her eyes found his and held him there.
"You had honeyfruit…" he started, using the same hand to brush some of her ashy hair to the side, "Are, you still cold?" he asked quietly.
Syndra gave a quiet smile, nodding her head, internally glad he'd asked.
The swordsman shuffled closer, closing the gap between their bodies, lending his warmth to her. The hand he'd used to move her hair now coming to a rest on her shoulder, a finger gently touching the curve of her neck.
His touch was comforting.
"Thank you." She breathed.
"For what?"
Syndra shook her head, reaching up and pulling his head down toward hers, capturing his lips between her own in a careful embrace.
The kiss was short, and sweet, enough.
The swordsman parted, a humbled look painted on his features. Syndra looked sheepish, lowering her eyes, taking his hand in her own.
Yasuo smiled at the gesture, brown eyes soft again.
"Yas, can you promise me something stupid?"
"Only because I do stupid things?"
Syndra laughed silently, shoving her weight into his, letting the moment linger before she found his eyes again, face somber.
"Promise you won't desert me?"
"I promise."
Yasuo was pulled back to reality almost as cruelly as his realization struck his psyche, what she'd shown him, what had haunted her for 6 long years.
Back in real time, a single tear forged a path down Syndra's porcelain skin as she removed her hand from his cheek, turning in a flurry, hands crossing her chest.
"That's what." she whispered softly.