Work Text:
Chase had told Viola that Annie was an old friend.
That was true, but not entirely.
Chase had told Annie that they would never work. It was a thing she knew for sure, it couldn't have worked. That was what she told herself every single day, every night on the rare occasion that she was in need of sleep. Otherwise, sleep would never come as she thought of Annie, as she thought of her.
They had been friends, then more. It had been several years since the two of them were more, though, that day she found Wilmur and Viola on that tiny island. It had been so many years, but why did it still hurt so much?
She would never forget the day that the sea turned to salt, and she lost Annie forever.
When she closed her eyes at night, she could almost remember the times they spent together. The hours and hours they would talk. How time seemed to pass by in an instant when they were together.
That was the problem. She could easily return to the past, just by closing her eyes. The memories made it almost bearable, but sometimes she wasn't sure if they really existed. If Annie every existed or if it was all just a trick of her mind. She knew logically that those times had happened, but the further and further she got away from them, the fuzzier and fuzzier they became.
Because when she opened her eyes, Annie would still be lost to the Gray. Gone, forever. Gone without a trace left in the world.
Annie would still be gone, and her own heart would still be solid, hard like a diamond.
Annie would still be gone, and the sea would still be salt.