Xavier grinned at the students staring at him. Maybe the others wanted to go through with Toon's modified plan, but he liked the original better, and would behave accordingly until such time as they banned him from controlling their body for a time.
The others thought he wasn't good at thinking. Well, he could do it as well as any of them, he'd show them. His plan would work, and then where would they be?
Xavier was smug. For a few moments.
And when there was no response to his borderline-treasonous thoughts, not even an attempt to wrest control from him, he decided to worry.
What was going on?
Xavier reviewed the last minute or so, and what he saw shocked him.
Jake was gone, and Hashim had gone to get him. How had he slipped into the Deep Consciousness? Could that happen to any of them?
Maybe Hashim could get out if he slipped, but what about Xavier? The Deep Consciousness was terrifying. It was a lot worse than just not being able to control the body. Even communicating was hard.
He had been there before. When Bunny had first sprouted, against Hashim's will, he had banished Xavier to the Deep Consciousness. Xavier had supported his rise to a full personality, and he had only noticed how twisted and half-made Bunny was after his naming. Unfortunately, now that he had a name, it was much harder to get rid of him.
Xavier should have seen it when they had first named him, if not before. Even aside from every cue, obvious as they were upon looking back, why in the world would he want his name to be Bunny?
If nothing else had warned him, what kind of psychopath named themselves for a small forest creature? Really, he could have chosen anything, and Bunny?
Even now, Xavier could hear the low droning of Bunny's complaints about being insulted. Luckily, he was vain, so it was easy to distract him, but since he had a name he might even be able to pull himself from the Deep Consciousness, given time and concentration.
It was really a toss-up, based on circumstances, emotions of the one controlling the body, and situation. Unfortunately, Xavier controlling the body was quite conducive to Bunny's emergence, so he couldn't do much on his own without support from the others.
He was also partially a block to Bunny, so it was a balancing act. When he had slipped into a lower form to hide his movements from the others to register for this class, Bunny had almost emerged, and Xavier had risked discovery by the others with the force he had exerted to push Bunny back. It was only possible to hide his actions and thoughts by slipping his consciousness into a lower form and hiding among the crowd of smaller personalities clamoring to get either control or maybe even a name, both of which were tantamount to becoming a full personality.
It was a fine line, but Xavier maintained it, barely. He doubted he could pull another stunt like registering for this class without letting Bunny loose, and he worried that he might have to.
He had only done it because he had noticed a discongruity between Miss Rose's official schedule and when she said she was available. Miss Rose was the one who taught Seduction Basics, which included quite extensive demonstrations and tactic tips. Or so he'd heard, anyway. Luckily he had obtained a copy of the schedule from another student who had already memorized it.
Her name was Lauren, and he remembered it just in case. It was likely she would turn up later with some new tricks. Though her flirting had been mediocre at best, and it only did anything because he needed something from her, she had the determination and attitude to do well.
Either way, it was an interesting game. Hashim didn't like his appreciation for the opposite gender, but it was a chess game as surely as Toon's mental acrobatics. People were like puzzles. Alike, but more malleable in many ways.
Anyway, chances were that she was going to teach a few classes of Miscellaneous Experiences.
Xavier had to be careful. If he thought about it when Hashim wasn't focused on something else, then he would find out, and probably get them out of the class.
And there was another reason. Hashim thought they were all under control, all balanced. But Bunny was a prime example of what could happen if they didn't figure out how their brain worked.
And that thing that Corpse had said.
Void.
What did it mean?
Unlike the others, Xavier wasn't naive enough to ignore Corpse. He knew something, and it wasn't good. Xavier wanted to bring it to light, to tell them all.
Corpse refused. He broadcasted denial and derision, and Xavier sighed internally.
But there were still problems with them, whether or not Hashim and the others acknowledged them. And Professor Inteugo also had an inconsistent schedule. Conveniently, he was the owner and one of the chief psychologists at an asylum for people whose powers had driven them insane.
He might be able to help them.
Just as this thought faded, Hashim returned.
He dragged Jake up out of the Deep Consciousness, and Toon assisted them by being an anchor.
Xavier wondered again what would happen if they all got lost. What if there was no anchor? What if they were all forced into the Deep Consciousness? Who would be left? Was that what Corpse had meant by Void?
It wasn't easy to get rid of a named personality. There were many other attempts to create personalities, but they were all effectively buried in the Deep Consciousness, all but invisible to the senses of the main named personalities. But oh, they were there. Always. Buzzing, laughing, crying, pleading.
Would all of them eventually become that? Thrown aside, tossed down when they were no longer useful, when there was someone better?
Hashim was quick to reassure him.
And that was enough to scare Xavier. A lot.
For Hashim to reassure Xavier... Out of all people, Xavier himself...
Things were bad. Very, very bad.
Xavier half-heartedly wondered if they could create a female persona if they really tried, and that set Hashim off. Xavier smiled amusedly, and then Hashim took over again. His concerns were hidden now.
And all was well. Or, as well as it could be, with the dark whispers promising trouble lurking on the edge of their brain.
Hashim returned to power with slight annoyance, and let the smile slide off of their face. He gave no reaction to the stares. Jake was still shaken, so Hashim didn't know what to do. Xavier had let control go too easily, but he didn't have the time to be suspicious right now.
Toon assigned Jake to watch the other students' expressions without a second thought, and then he got back to whatever it was that Toon did. Hashim almost stopped him, but it did seem to help calm Jake somewhat to have something to focus on.
Hashim was still. He didn't smile, didn't respond to their suspicious, judgemental, or derisive stares with anything other than calm silence. Jake was broken, so he didn't know what to do, and he certainly didn't trust Xavier.
"Well, that's certainly correct," Professor Scotch said, her voice empty of surprise. She had seen Toon interacting with Professor Rengala, the female teacher of Energistics Analysis, after all, so she had come to expect such things from Hashim.
Professor Scotch moved on, but the attention did not. The other students were now half-focused on Hashim.
He didn't move. He remained standing right where he was as Professor Scotch continued to teach about Ralkamesters. Hashim zoned out when she began to speak about their mating habits, and Jake took over before Xavier could.
He had developed a safe and semi-effective way to make people forget them. When asked a question, Toon would tell him the answer, and Jake would repeat it quietly. It marked them as just another "quiet nerdy kid". The only problem with it was Xavier. Xavier was often the problem with a lot of plans.
When Hashim protested Jake's control, Jake affirmed that he needed something to do to feel whole again. And it was true, more than he wanted to admit. Sometimes he longed for the old days, when they could...
STOP.
Jake broadcasted acknowledgement, and he silenced his own thoughts.
There were still some lines Hashim wasn't willing to cross. On that, Jake and Xavier agreed. There were things that needed to be solved, and fast. If they weren't, well...
Things were changing for them. They were getting closer to a precipice, he could feel it. And they could all see it, even if Hashim refused to.
When he had been in the Deep Consciousness, he had felt a sense of impermanence. If he didn't work, didn't do something, didn't help them, he felt that he might relapse. Something bad was happening to them. Hashim couldn't fix it by himself. None of them could.
They, Hashim Kamal, needed help.