Half poem, half story. Also weird as hell. Sorry. It makes more sense (kind of?) if you read it out loud.
79. Barriers
They are not honest people.
Envy knows this, Edward knows this.
They're liars, deceivers, disbelievers and tainted dreamers.
They are not honest people (he says again). They talk, yes, but only of things that don't matter.
Ed says he'll find a way, Envy says he'll leave someday. (Lies.)
(All lies.)
But even in the tangled web that's their affair, there are things, places, areas marked 'Do Not Cross'. Otherwise all they've gained is lost.
(But rules are meant to broken barriers are meant to be crossed and)
Ed opens his mouth and asks who he was.
"Who?"
"The one before me."
"There was no one before you -"
"It was one of the others, wasn't it?"
The truth is laid bare for all to see.
Envy tears himself from his arms and stands by the window, ready to leap away and pretend the line has not been stepped over.
Ed sits up, silent and waiting.
Envy wonders why he hasn't just lashed out, crashed out, smashed this boy to pieces -
(Because he's blown the dust off the trapdoor, found the broken heart beneath it.)
"He left me -" he whispers, voice an eddy in the wind, a victim of chance. "He left me -"
"I won't," comes a promise, and it's a drop of truth in their dizzying dance. "Not if I can help it."
And two arms (silver and flesh) wrap around him so he won't forget.
And those aren't tears. He doesn't cry.
(And in the end, he never does say goodbye.)