Re: Boat dreams: Athelstan/Ragnar
Ragnar frowned slightly. "No. It wasn't about you. It was about everyone else. I could never have anyone else to love me forever. But I have him now. He will not leave me. I didn't think of him as a replacement for you. Just that I missed you-" he paused. "And I didn't think I would see you again." Athelstan's love for him had surprised him in its integrity. His acceptance of Ragnar's gods- the bracelet he had so willingly taken-
"I swim every day," Ragnar replied. "Even in the cold. I go and swim. I-" he broke off, an ache in his chest and a lump in his throat, that prickle returning to his eyes. "I- Nothing in the whole world would make me happier than to see you again. If I had known you were out there to be found-" he wouldn't have stopped looking.
"I was told. I displeased one of them, and they cursed me with this immortality. I have tried so hard to die. I have wanted to die. But I cannot-" Ragnar looked away, wiped his eye and tried to calm himself through shaky little breaths. "But I will no longer try. I will wait for you." Pointless though that might be. He couldn't quite fathom that this was something he could have. Athelstan. Again.