Title: A Pearl for Love

Summary: In his possession Kirjonen has a pearl necklace that is said to bring him his soulmate…Yeah, right. But when it goes missing, Kirjonen is frantic to find it. Imagine his surprise when Logre finds it and brings it back to him.

Pairings: Logre/Kirjonen

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Don't own

AN: …Don't look at me like that. I told you I ship Logre with a shit-load of people. I couldn't help myself. This has absolutely no connection to "A Learning Experience" other than the mentioning of the Phaedron Guild. It's just a rather pointless oneshot that had been bugging me for days. Hope you'll enjoy reading!

Kirjonen had always had a fascination with myths and legends. He would never admit it out loud, but he favoured the stories that were to predict doom or destruction on some catastrophic event if a curse or seal was ever disrupted. One could imagine his surprise when the Heavenbringer came into existence and nearly wiped two different races, along with just about everything else. Reading about such events was one thing. Actually experiencing it was another.

Thank the Spirits that the Phaedron guild had the power and the resourcefulness to defeat the Yggdrasil Titan.

The stories he found hard to swallow, however, were legends predicting love and romance on a soulmate level. As a Holy Rune Knight, he had little time for the whole nonsense of love and romance. So one could imagine his internal disappointment when he learnt that his mother's side of the family had a supposedly powerful and mystical heirloom that was said to bring them their one true love.

A few years ago, months before she lost her battle with a mysterious illness that had plagued her for years, his kindly old grandmother took him aside one day when he briefly returned home to visit her and gave him an old fashion necklace that had a simple pearl as a pendant, held in place by a gold locket. It was quite beautiful and certainly well taken care of.

She took his two hands in her two soft yet wrinkly ones and held them tightly and warmly, placing the pearl in his palms and curling his fingers around it. She looked into his eyes, a warm smile on her lips as she said; "This will bring to you the one who is your soul mate."

She sounded so certain in her words.

At the time, Kirjonen simply nodded his head in understanding and gave her a gentle smile as he promised to look after the necklace for her.

The news of her passing made him more determined to keep his promise.

Despite not believing in soul-mates and the like, he kept the necklace with him always, ensuring to take care of it to the best of his abilities. He wore it around his neck, concealing it beneath his armoury to ensure no monster or the like ever touched it. The beautiful pearl meant so much to his grandmother and he missed her terribly. She truly was a kind, gentle soul.

Idly flipping through a book that had been borrowed from the Echoing Library, Kirjonen absentmindedly reached up with his hand to toy with his grandmother's necklace. But as he trailed his fingertips over his collarbone, he was startled to realise that his necklace wasn't there.

He immediately dropped his book and began to feel around at his neck and chest. He had grown so used to the chain tied around his neck that he never noticed it. At first, his hands were searching, baffled as to why he couldn't feel the necklace. He soon became frantic when it finally registered that it wasn't there.

Jumping to his feet, Kirjonen patted down his clothes, his frown deepening. He couldn't feel it within his clothes either. He wasn't wearing his armour at the moment. Maybe it had become entangled? No, it wasn't there either…

Kirjonen then checked the bed. Nope, not there. Under it? Not there. On the floor somewhere? The bathroom? It wasn't anywhere!

Uncharacteristically, tears began to pool in the corners of his eyes and he covered his mouth with his hands to stop himself from cursing aloud. He couldn't believe he lost the pearl necklace his grandmother gave to him to take care of. It was a simple task and yet he couldn't do it.

Where could it be? He had it on yesterday before he went to bed. He always checked to see if he was wearing his necklace. Always.

I-it had to be in the room somewhere. There was nowhere else it could be.

N-no, there was no way he could have lost it in the Windy Plains, right?

…What had he done?

The sound of the door slamming open caused Kirjonen to jump and spin around. His eyes widen in shock when he recognised the man standing in the threshold, having let himself in.

"Ah, Kirjonen," came a familiar drawl. "Old man Isiah wants to speak to you about something."

Logre had never been able to stop his habit of simply strolling through any door without a care. The only room he won't venture in without first announcing his presence would be Isiah's office. While Kirjonen hadn't been there to witness it, Nitish told him simply that Logre was a fast learner. No surprise, really. With a teacher like Isiah, one caught on pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, while Kirjonen had no problem with the other man, he wasn't in the right state at the present time. The last person he wanted to see him in a weaken state (again…) was Logre.

Immediately, concern filled Logre's eyes and he crossed the room, hovering by his side with a mild sense of uncertainly and helplessness. "What's wrong?" he asked with a frown.

Swallowing thickly, Kirjonen turned his back towards Logre in an attempt to stop the imperial soldier/wanderer as he hastily rubbed at his eyes. But the damage had been done. Logre was a keen observer, after all. He could hardly believe that he was essentially crying. He had faced so many near-death battles, had seen the results of fatal battles and had seen the struggle on the faces of those who had seen too much – and he never cried then. But he was now?

It was just…the thought of disappointing his grandmother was something he never wanted to do.

"I've lost something important," Kirjonen finally muttered, sadness heavy in his voice. "It was a family heirloom."

A sense of understanding appeared in Logre's eyes and he boldly lifts his hand on Kirjonen's back to comfort him, making him feel grateful for his understanding. "What does it look like?" Logre asked gently, with the underlying offer to help him look for it.

Drawing a deep breath, Kirjonen reluctantly turned around, hoping that he managed to remove the light sheen of tears from his cheeks to regard Logre. A heating sensation suddenly appears on his cheeks when he notices that the moment he turned around, Logre's eyes widen in surprise. It seems that he wasn't able to remove all the tears.

"I'm sorry," Kirjonen blurted out as he lowered his head and began to wipe at his eyes again. "I'm acting like an idiot."

"It's ok," Logre replied in a very reassuring, not at all patronizing way, immediately making Kirjonen feel better about himself. He then placed his hands on Kirjonen's shoulders, rubbing one hand soothingly up and down his arm. "That heirloom must be very important to you."

"It was a gift my grandmother gave me before she lost her battle to an unknown illness," Kirjonen explained to him as he folded his arms around himself, feeling somewhat surprised when he realized that he has never told anyone about his grandmother before. "She asked that I take good care of it, but now I've lost it. It feels like I'm letting her down."

"I'm sure you've just misplaced it somewhere," Logre quickly interjected, not wanting to give the Holy Rune Knight a chance to dwell in his sense of self-disappointment. "What does it look like? I might be able to help you find it."

"It's rather old," Kirjonen said as Logre continued to hold him by the shoulders. "It's gold with a simple pearl encase in a locket."

Logre seemed to perk his head up after hearing his brief description.

"Well, no wonder you couldn't find the necklace here," Logre said as a smile appeared on his lips as he plunged his hand into his pocket, digging around for a moment, then removing a long gold chain, the pendant hidden in his hand. He then presented his hand to Kirjonen who held a look of utter confusion on his face, but that soon disappeared, relief and joy taking its place when Logre unfurled his fingers, revealing a certain pearl for Kirjonen to see.

Immediately, Kirjonen snatched up the pearl necklace and held it tightly within his two hands, clutching it to his chest. He released a shuddering sigh of relief. It was his grandmother's necklace. It wasn't lost. It wasn't gone forever. It was ok.

After a few moments to reassure himself, Kirjonen lifted his head to look into Logre's eyes, confusion making a quick return. "Where did you find this?"

"It's strange," Logre replied, his smile not once wavering as he shoved his hands into his pockets and slouched his posture. "I found it sitting on the edge of my bed in my room."

"Your room?" Kirjonen muttered in disbelief, his brow furrowing slightly. "How did it get there?"

Logre simply shrugged. "You've got me."

Kirjonen glanced off to the side, his brow furrowing even more as he fell deep in thought. How in the world could his necklace appear in a room he had never been to before?

Wait…

No. No way! There was no way that the legend of this pearl necklace bringing him his soul-mate was true! If it was, that meant that Logre was his…soul-mate?

"Hm?" Logre suddenly murmured, inexplicably moving his face closer to Kirjonen's, mirth seen in his eyes. "You must be very attached to that necklace. You're blushing."

Kirjonen uttered a cutely noise of surprise, but made no attempt to verbally respond. He couldn't get his grandmother's words out of his head. She specifically said that the necklace would bring to him his soul-mate. Suddenly disappearing and somehow finding its way into the hands of another…? Was that hold the necklace worked?

It was worth a shot, yeah? B-besides, he needed to thank Logre in some way.

Not giving himself any time to reflect or try to bring some sort of clarity to his thoughts, Kirjonen placed his hands on Logre's shoulders, pushed himself up onto his toes, closed his eyes and pressed his lips against Logre's gently. The touch was soft and light, yet it caused a shiver to race down his spine. And yet he could feel Logre stiffen beneath his hands, which made him realise that he potentially made a huge mistake.

But before Kirjonen could pull away and apologise for his rashness, Logre held him in place by wrapping his arms around his waist and abruptly pulling him tightly against his body. Kirjonen snapped his eyes open and gasped softly in surprise, but it was quickly muffled when Logre tilted his head ever so slightly and deepened the kiss. Slowly, Kirjonen melted against Logre and closed his eyes again, scarcely believing what was happening.

He was kissing Logre. And Logre was kissing him back.

…Maybe there was something to the pearl necklace after all?

"That was rather bold of you," Logre said after they pull back from one another, that cheeky half-smile of his returning to his lips as his hands stayed pressed against his sides.

Kirjonen felt himself blush, but was unable to refute that. Even he was surprised at his actions. "T-there's supposedly a legend to go with this necklace," he stuttered, his hands lingering on Logre's shoulders.

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Logre!" a voice that sounded suspiciously like that of the brown-haired landsknecht, Bryce, from the Phaedron guild suddenly boomed from the street outside. "Would you get Kirjonen and get your ass down here already?! Isiah's starting to get pissed from waiting!"

Kirjonen winced while Logre subtly paled.

"I'll…tell you about it later," Kirjonen promised before the two of them bolted for the door.

AN: I totally want to write a Logre/Ciaran fic… :I