It was even worse than Yi had imagined, especially at night. That day went so slowly, no matter how 'busy' he was as he returned to the fights. Walking the same path than Yasuo when he left their temporary rest place, except at some point he ran to the battlefield instead of going away from it.

So painful. That ache lingered in his chest, settling for good. It had been so hard just to watch his soulmate go away, out of his view, and do nothing. At the smallest possibility Yi would have ran after him, catching him for a last kiss, a last embrace or to keep him by his side forever.

Was love supposed to grow that fast ? It felt like skipping months, years, many steps on the way to full understanding. They didn't know each other that well, it would still take more time together to make this love bloom. These weeks had been enough to make him believe yet it gave him a reason to worry too.

Take care, please. He was aware Yasuo was the less likely to die, far too skilled and stubborn for that. Furthermore, he wasn't directly fighting in the war. In theory, the risk was a lot less compared to what Yi had going. But worry never stopped. No one would have expected a foreign invasion and here they were now. No one would have expected Ionia gathering its strenghts and spilling blood for blood, in lands supposed to stay in harmony. The rules had changed, it was on them to comply or not.

Maybe one of the few good things was the new reason given. Yi had more motivation to fight this war because the quickest it would end, the sooner he would return to Yasuo. He was aware a single man couldn't change the turn of the war through the battlefield – unless to truly be blessed by the gods – but he would do his part.

Many corpses joined the already dead on the ground. No sepulture, no prayers, no words. At the end of the day Yi still had a bitter thought for all these nameless souls, fighting for evil purposes. Now they would join their comrades in death. It was heavy on his mind to kill that much. He was good at it and it scared him. No one knew Wuju, its speed, strenght and skill. Too easy sometimes. Please make it stop. There was no pleasure to take in slaying other persons, no matter what lies they were fed, what glory they seeked, what thirst for blood guided them. Despise the cause, not the pawn.

Between this inner turmoil and his gone love, Yi was a bit lost. His heart longed for Yasuo, his mind knew there was nothing good to find in this pit of sadness and his hands were restless. Too used to kill, already. He couldn't let go of his blade, never. It could be a matter of life and death. All it took during war was a lucky strike, one second of inattention.

Sometimes he still looked for the latter, by reflex. He was too used to pause for a split second, looking in Yasuo's direction. But he was gone, he wasn't fighting this war directly. Despite this, he was still facing his direction, wherever he was. It warmed his heart and made him a bit more sad.

Awful tyranny of distance, making them helpless. Before he was almost able to hear from his soulmate but now the link was so thin, a thread likely to break if he made another step in the wrong direction.

And it increased more and more. As if Yasuo would never find his home and walk away forever. Yi hated that thought, pushing it away to keep his sanity. No use in imagining bad things, reality was already harsh enough.

Until it stopped, as night fell. This could be quite logical, Yasuo wouldn't walk during the night all exhausted as he was. No doubt he would rest. There was even the possibility that he was back to his village and sword school. Though Yi wasn't so sure about that possibility, the link gave away nothing of potential emotions felt at his return. It could be very diverse but quite strong.

So probably this was a night in the wild, after finding a small corner to sleep. Himself would have to get to that soon, already taking his distance with the loud noise of steel and screams.

The first night. Everything brought him back to their separation. The night before was so sweet, thinking about it would just making him too emotional and neither needed it right now. Holding Yasuo in his arms, gentle words whispered to each other until they would fall asleep despite pushing it as far as possible because next step was going on separate paths.

I miss him…

From what he could feel – no matter how correct this expression was for a soulmate bond – Yasuo wasn't doing better than him. Sadness was so clear, seeping in their connection like dark drops of ink. It made Yi equally sad and by such, probably it filtered in their link and made the longing too strong.

Tears. He heard it. At least, that was how it felt like. So difficult to describe. But he was sure he heard a sob, very quiet in his mind. There was no one able to tell him if that was normal for soulmate or if he was hearing things completely made up. I'm not crazy. Not yet.

Next instant his eyes filled with tears and a few escaped. It was like always since they knew they would be separated, tears that didn't belong to him but to them. His state of mind was far from the despair of distance but tears still ran down his cheeks. Yi settled in a quiet place for the night and focused a bit on what he could sense from the other side. Indeed it was Yasuo, sorrow echoing back to him. At that point, it was just a 'game' of take and return because both were sad about it.

On reflex he unfasted the protection over his left arm, looking for that piece of scarf hidden there. Fingertips rubbed the old fabric, thoughts focused on the person he got that from. Yasuo. Oh he wished his soulmate would be alright. They had to stay strong, it had to end at some point then they would be able to find each other.

Courage, my love. If only it was possible to give back some affection through their link. This would be greatly helpful.

Two souls, yearning to be reunited after the first times of joy. Maybe with enough luck they would find each other sooner than expected.

Next day was similar, same bloodbath and same hollowness for missing his soulmate. Yi wondered if it would go on like this forever. It hurt.

Even more because at some point distance increased again, for obvious reasons. Yasuo was resuming his travel to his homeland. The only good point was that now Yi knew he was right, the latter stopped somewhere to sleep.

The same thing happened, distance no longer changing. Except this was far too early to night time, more like the afternoon. Yi wondered why. Maybe the latter at last made it home.

The only thing he didn't expect was such rush of anger, flooding their link. It was powerful, so much compared to whatever light echoes they got every other time.

Anger, with many nuances. Injustice. Resentment. Pain.