Chapter 10

POV: Rachel

When I came to I was lying in a ruble pile that had once been an air ship. There were plumes of smoke everywhere but none of that concerned me now.

'Annabeth!'

That was the only thing I could think of. Whether or not she was ok. The last thing I could remember was looking up into her eyes to see they were glowing a bright blue, as if they were made of light, and then I passed out.

"Annabeth!" I screamed. "Annabeth!" I looked around in a circle but didn't get a response. "Annabeth!"

Still nothing.

'No!' I thought. 'Not her! Please don't let her be dead!'

I was panicking.

I scrambled to the top of the largest pile of rubble, hoping to get a better view, and froze in surprise.

On the other side of the rubble was a small valley of debris and a dazed looking Annabeth sitting in the center.

"Annabeth!" I called to her excitedly as I ran down the pile to her.

She, on the other hand, didn't move. She only sat there, holding the left side of her head.

"Annabeth?" I asked her as I approached her, not liking the shell shocked look on her face. "Are you ok?"

She slowly turned to me with a puzzled look in her eyes.

"W-What...um…Wh…" She stammered, seemingly unable to finish the sentence.

"Do you know where you are?" I asked her as I knelt down next to her, now paying a lot more attention to the way she held her head.

She shook her head.

I sighed.

"It's ok." I told her, pulling her into a hug. "We just survived an airship crash so it's probably just shock."

She pulled away, eyeing me with a suspicious look now.

"Who are you?" She asked me in a scared tone.

My mind froze.

She didn't remember me. After all we went through she didn't remember me!

"Annabeth," I began. "It's me, Rachel."

She looked puzzled.

"Annabeth?" She asked. "I'm Annabeth?"

It was starting to overwhelm me. She didn't even know her own name!

I couldn't think of anything to say so I just nodded.

"Do you remember anything?" I asked her after a moment. "Anything at all?"

She just shook her head.

She stared at the ground beneath her feet.

"Why were we on an airship, exactly?" She asked after a moment.

I sucked in a deep breath, knowing this could take a while, and told her about the raid on the air field and how she had stood face to face with the dark Avatar. I told her how we got onto the ship and crashed it so it wouldn't bomb the city.

She looked around in surprise.

"We attacked a hangar full of solders?" She asked. "Are we cops or something?"

I paused before answering.

"Well, no." I said rubbing the back of my neck. "You're, kind of, the Avatar."

She seemed to freeze in shock.

"I'm the…" She began. "I'm the…"

"Yah," I cut in, in a gentle tone. "You're the Avatar."

It was at this time that police cars started to show up.

"Over here!" I called out to them. "We need a doctor!"

There was thundering footsteps.

"Don't worry." I told Annabeth as they approached. "We'll get you fixed up."

Time Break!

"Please say you're kidding!" I practically pleaded with the doctor. "It's been two weeks!"

I looked around in distress. The doctors had said that there was no sign of any brain damage or any wounds so the memory loss was just her brain trying to cope with the crash. The doctor promised her memories would start to return in a few days.

I had asked him if seeing a healer would help but he just shook his head.

"There is nothing to heal." He had told me. "So there is no point."

Now it's been two weeks and there is still no sign of her getting any better. She still has muscle memory so she relearnt all her bending in a few hours, but who she is and everything she's done is still a mystery to her.

"I'm sorry." The doctor said. "In some extreme cases the memory loss is permanent."

I just shook my head, not sure what to do, as I turned to look at Annabeth.

She had this look on her face, as if someone just dropped a load of bricks on her shoulders.

Her storm grey eyes met mine and I could see a look of sadness in them. But it was different then you would expect, it was more of pity then despair.

As her eyes stared into mine I felt a wave of despair crash over me the same way it has every time I wake up to find she slept alone because I never told her about us. I mean she already was feeling stressed just trying to regain her memories, how could I pile on even more reasons to remember. It would only stress her out even more.

Despite how I felt at the moment, I knew it would do no good to sit around the doctor's office so we went back to my house.

Time Break!

It was later that night when I figured it was time. Even if she never got her memories back she at least deserved to know that I would always be there for her. So I walked up to her room to tell her about us but was surprised to find her room empty and the window thrown wide open.

"Annabeth?" I asked as I walked into the room.

There was no answer.

I looked around the room until my eyes landed on a letter sitting on her desk.

I picked it up and read it.

Rachel,

You and the others have been so kind to me. I really do appreciate everything you've done but I have to discover who I am, not be told. I know you were only trying to help, so please don't think I'm trying to insult you or blame you, but I can't discover who I am if I am constantly being followed by the press who want to know the Avatar's condition or looking into the eyes of my old friends, knowing they're waiting for their friend back. The hardest part of my day now is when I meet you at breakfast and I see the hurt in your eyes. Like seeing me like this is the worst thing that can happen.

Perhaps one day I will return but unless I can remember who I am I don't think I will.

Good by,

Annabeth

I just stared at the paper in shock. She was gone. She wasn't coming back.

I didn't even get to tell her about us. She might have stayed if I did. Why didn't I tell her sooner?!

I knew right away what I had to do. I had to get the others! We had to find Annabeth!