There's no more barriers, only the phantom feeling of something that's been there for so very long. He wasn't even aware of them for most of his existence, and when he was able to see them, he didn't question their presence. But they're gone now, have been gone, and he's free to walk through. They both are.

He doesn't quite meet their eye just then, for it might be too overwhelming, but he brings one of his hands over the back of theirs, tilting his head slightly towards the touch. The words are right there, on the tip of his tongue. He could just say them. He should just say them.

But he won't just say them. "This time, after...after everything that's happened," Armageddon, trials, islands, train, and everything before that, for good measure. "It's difficult to put into words just how everything's--well, changed, in recent times." He looks up at them, and there's less of a drunken haze in his eyes, but something a bit more focused, if nervous. "Barely had time to breathe. But...I'm very glad to have you by my side."