Disclaimer: I do not own Class of the Titans. I'd have no university woes if I did.

Thanks to Lost Experiment. She'll know why by the end.

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Absent Hearts

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Herry's head was pounding. He groaned weakly and rolled to the side, uncomfortably reminded of the way he felt when dealing with Sybaris. Fortunately, there was no strange, cold sensation as there had been after he'd been bitten. No distant sound of Jay's voice pulling him back to the land of the living, either. When the glow on the back of his eyelids subsided, Herry opened his eyes. The gym was almost pitch black. The only light was dim, filtered in from headlights and lamp posts out on the street. It was also completely empty.

"Guys?" he called. His voice echoed around the room and bounced back at him like a ghostly whisper. Silence pressed in around him as he waited for a response. "Jay? Atlanta?" Herry steeled himself and grudgingly called for the Titan. Even Chronus was absent.

The descendent of Hercules carefully got his feet under him, pausing for a moment to let a wave of vertigo pass. His footfalls sounded loud and heavy as he made his way back into school proper. Herry suppressed a shiver. Bravery was one thing when he had friends to protect or monsters to fight. Alone, well, he found the abandoned hall plain creepy.

Okay, think Herry, he coached himself. What happened before you found yourself on the ground and what can you do about it now? He considered and had to steer his mind away from speculation as to what had happened. He needed to stick to facts It was better to deal with absolutes instead of possibilities, or that was what an old junior high teacher had said. Herry focused on what he could remember.

He had brought the gym door down with one powerful shove and spilled into the dark gymnasium with the others. Neil had been occupied, and Jay had tried to help although it didn't end well. And then? The room was suddenly bright, painfully so, and he could barely see a foot in front of himself let alone his friends, which had been lost to the glare instantly. There had been something else to it, something that made it hard to stand. He had heard a sound – bells? – and then abrupt, total darkness. The descendent of Hercules had woken up in the empty gym.

Herry shook his head. "That doesn't help much," he said aloud. If only Odie or Jay were here with him. They always seemed to have an idea of what was going on and how to solve the problem. "But they aren't here, so you have to figure it out." His voice seemed to be swallowed up by the banks of silent lockers he was passing. Frustrated, Herry turned and slammed his fist into one, heedless of the large dent he created. The bang echoed in his ears, and so did another sound.

The hero froze, listening. He was sure he had heard a loud gasp or a squeak of someone surprised by the sudden noise. Herry resumed walking, slowly, now mindful of his steps. He tried to walk as lightly as possible. As he rounded the corner, he heard the quiet scuffle of someone else wandering the halls. Pulling a page from Atlanta's book, Herry pressed himself up against the wall behind some lockers, like a hunter stalking prey.

When the footsteps had nearly reached him, Herry sprung from his hiding place and reached a hand out to grab his stalker. She screamed and turned to run but stopped short as Herry caught hold of the back of her shirt.

"Let me go," Pam said, tugging uselessly against his grip. "I just want to go home." She seemed almost on the verge of tears.

"What happened? Where did Chronus run off to?" He pulled her closer. "Don't make me ask twice."

The dam burst and Pam buried her face in her hands. Instantly Herry felt terrible and he quickly let go to pat her awkwardly on the shoulder. "I don't know," she sniffled. "All Chronus told me was that I had to keep you busy while he did something else. The rest of his plan, he wouldn't tell me." The wiped her eyes, which had quickly gone red, with the back of her hand. "I didn't ask, either."

"Okay," Herry said, only slightly mollified. "But what about my friends?"

Pam looked at him blankly. "Friends? What friends?"

He fought to keep level-headed. Sweet talking was not his usual department but he had no one else to fall back on. "Jay, Archie, Neil," he listed, "and the others. My friends. Do you know where they are?"

She shrugged. "Never heard of them."

"What!" he shouted. "That's impossible. You helped capture Neil, you made a bunch of copies of him, you loved one of them! You can't not remember who he is!" But her look of confusion remained and even as Herry prepared to list off all the other things that had happened in the past few hours he found himself realizing that she really didn't know. He deflated slightly and dug his hands into his pockets.

"I'm sorry I don't know what you're talking about," Pam offered. "Can I go home now?"

Herry nodded. "Yeah, sure." I guess it somehow makes sense considering the fake Neil's body wasn't in the gym, either. Not that I really wanted it to be, he thought. Waking up to find that his only company was a somewhat messy corpse was not high on his list of desires. He watched the sculptor scurry off, probably just as eager to leave the empty halls as he was. But first, he had to figure out the problem of his missing friends. But how do I do that? he asked himself. And then, with a snap of his fingers, he had it: the gods.

The hero put Archie and Atlanta to shame as he practically flew through the school to the janitor's closet. He pulled out his pendent key and fairly jammed it into the lock. The veil between mortal grounds and divine apartments seemed to appear painfully slowly as he tapped his foot in impatience. When it formed, he yanked out his pendent and launched himself through, barely missing Hermes, who flitted quickly to the side to avoid being slammed by Herry.

"Hera!" he yelled, not stopping. "Where is she?"

The messenger god, slightly tongue-tied, could only point toward her atrium. Herry called a hasty thanks over his shoulder and trotted toward the sanctuary. Sure enough, the elder goddess was busy tending to her iconic bird, the peacock, but she looked up with a smile as he entered. The smile turned into a frown as she caught his expression.

"Herry, what's wrong?" The peacock shuffled away with a small squawk as Hera stood to greet her student. "Is Chronus up to something I'm not aware of?" she asked. Around her, the various birds that kept their home in the atrium fell silent. Even they seemed to sense that something was wrong.

The descendent of Hercules nodded grimly. "He's done something, that's for sure. At least, I think he has." Herry paused to take a breath and tried to sound a little less frantic. "He attacked us with statues of Neil, and then there was this horrible bright light and when I woke up the others were gone."

Hera placed a motherly hand on his shoulder. "Herry, dear, sit down." She guided him to a bench and took a seat along with him. "Now, who is Neil and what others are you talking about?"

The hero paled. "You don't remember either?" he asked. "The other heroes, descendents of Jason, Theseus, Achilles." Hera's expression changed slightly but she still seemed not to register any of what he was saying. "Odysseus? Atalanta? Narcissus?" He was practically begging her to remember. She was a god. Weren't they supposed to be immune to whatever happened?

"I thought you understood this already, but I see I need to explain it again." Hera rested her hands neatly in her lap as she began her story. She didn't meet his eyes. "The prophecy which foretold of seven heroes uniting to vanquish Chronus has been voided, Herry. When we gods went searching for you, for the modern versions of the heroes you have just mentioned, we could only find the one descended from Hercules. You.

I fear Chronus, once he too learned of the prophecy, sought out those who would oppose him and ensure that they were no longer able to fulfill their roles." The goddess turned back to him with sad eyes. "You are the only hero we have and you have served us well, protecting the city, and us, as well as you can. So far we have been lucky and Chronus has not succeeded."

"But, luck is Neil's talent, not mine. There's no way I could have done everything by myself." He thought back to the various encounters he and his friends had had with Chronus. "Like Cerberus. It was Theresa who played the lyre and put him to sleep, not me."

She smiled a touch sympathetically. "You give too little credit to yourself, Herry. It was you who fended off the beast and returned him to Hades, just as your ancestor did before you. Hercules was quite proud of you that day."

"Yeah, but –"

Hera's expression became stony. "Perhaps the stress of heroism has finally become too much for you. It's not like you to invent people and talk about them as if they were real." She sighed. "I wish the other heroes were with us as much as I'm sure you do, but they aren't. You have to accept that."

No, I don't, Herry thought but kept silent. It was apparent to him that arguing the case wouldn't get him anywhere and might make the gods suspicious of his sanity, as Hera had just hinted. If there was one thing he didn't want at this point, it was to be on the bad side of the only beings that might be able to get to the bottom of his problem. He would have to do some thinking and poking around privately himself before bringing up the subject of his missing friends again. Herry didn't relish the idea of doing nothing active, but conceded silently that it would be the best course of action. For the moment.

There was a hesitant knock at the atrium's entrance and Hermes popped his head in. "Sorry to interrupt but my techno-Greeks have picked up the signs of mass panic in the city." He chuckled quietly to himself but quickly pulled together at Hera's glance. "Um, yes. Perhaps Chronus is up to his usual tricks?"

"I guess that's my cue," Herry said, standing.

Hera stopped him with a cool hand on his arm. "Are you sure you're up to it?" she asked with a touch of concern.

"Yeah. I'm the only thing standing between Chronus and his dreams of ruling the world." He squared his shoulders and tried to look heroic. "I can't let you or the city down."

"Very noble of you, Herry," Hermes said, nodding. "And remember, you can always get in touch with us for some help through your PMR. Channel two." The messenger god flicked him a quick salute and then zipped off, most likely to monitor the chaos. Herry stared after him with a touch of envy. If only he could flit off so easily.

The hero found his truck parked where he had left it at the beginning of the school day, although the dark parking lot was a far cry from the bright morning he'd originally driven in. As the engine purred to life, he took a glance at the clock glowing above the radio dials. Ten o'clock. Between being sprawled out on the gym floor, talking to Pam and consulting with the gods, just under an hour had passed since the crazy light show. Herry clicked into reverse and slid out onto the road.

It might help if I knew where I was going. He fumbled in his pocket for his communicator. Channel two. How was he supposed to turn it to channel two? Cursing under his breath, Herry coasted to a stop in front of a red light and bent to examine the PMR a little closer. As far as he was concerned, there were far too many buttons to be useful.

A shriek jerked his attention away from the device. "Oh my God!" a woman was screaming, frozen in place on the sidewalk not far from where Herry was idled. "It's Godzilla!" Around her, other late night pedestrians were beginning to take notice of whatever classified itself as a movie monster. They pointed and shouted, turning to flee frantically down the street in any direction that wasn't toward it. The call of 'Godzilla' was taken up by a few more throats until finally words were lost altogether in a panic.

Herry had to admit, as the thing stomped into view at the next intersection, it did look a lot like the towering reptile. It roared and paused to carefully crush a car under one scaly foot, its head on serpentine neck darting down to view the wreckage with an inhuman sense of pleasure. A familiar black-clad figure strolled along beside it.

The truck's horn blasted sharply as Herry crammed his fist down on the steering wheel. Even as the Titan turned to see what the noise was all about, the descendent of Hercules was scrambling out of his truck and charging down the street. "Chronus," the hero shouted. "What did you do with my friends?"

"Herry?" For a moment, Chronus looked startled. He was quick to swallow his surprise as he turned to face this small threat. "So you still remain, do you? And you hope to stop me all by yourself. How heroic," he said bitterly.

"Forget that. You obviously remember them, too, so what did you do? Kidnap them and erase everyone's memories? Is that it?" Herry tried to ignore the large dragon-like creature as it idly stomped on another vehicle with an amused growl. He had to find out what had happened.

Chronus made a show of thinking. "Something like that, I guess." He snapped his fingers and his beastly minion instantly eyed Herry with hungry interest. "But that's hardly important now. You have bigger things to worry about." The Titan laughed as the creature lunged forward, stomping its way toward the lone hero. "Much bigger, indeed."

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A/N shall be at the end of chapters this time around, I think. Just so I can talk about stuff without giving anything away before hand.

It was quite interesting to write a chapter entirely devoted to Herry. Ah, poor Herry. You have to save the world all by yourself, now. You're all grown up. Excuse me as I wipe away a tear…

Updates for this will be a bit more spread out than Skin Deep. There should be something at least once a week, but that may change as my situation where I work changes (I'm becoming the senior person, woo).

Votes for character next chapter?