Vikings and more.

athelstan wearing the arm-bracelet that ragnar gifted him and ragnar wearing athelstan's cross necklace to honor him. like some kind of marriage vow exchange...

I found my people in Yahoo groups. My OGs Stargate Atlantis and McShep and Angel fans. I'm old. 😝

He gave his body and soul.

No, you don't understand. He said, "What am I to do now, hmm? I hate you for leaving me… I ache from your loss… There is nothing that can console me now. I am changed.” This expression of grief will always resonate so deeply with me because it really isn't the fact that he's dead. Well, it is, of course, the fact that he's dead, but it's also the permanence of their separation. Ragnar has lost a lot at this point in the story, but the weight of this one changes him because he is sure he will never see Athelstan again. That certainty comes from faith, which is central to the very core of their characters. Whether it's their faith in their religions or their faith in each other, they are aware that where one goes, the other follows. They are in agreement that while they are allowed the gift of existing in the same world, their futures should be entwined, and they should be together in some capacity. It's the way that the great tragedy of their separation is one of the few ways that faith, a thing they hold onto so dearly, fails them.

them sitting by the fire in the great hall and Ragnar resting his head on Athelstan's shoulder and snuggling and Athelstan putting an arm around him and,

....Ragnar's knows he's home. In the arms of his Athelstan. Home, at last.