AN: in next chapter all the danger starts!

Woohoo! Please REVIEW!

Chapter Seven

John burst into his dorm, gasping. His stomach flipped painfully and his head pounded. "Gotta stop them," he muttered.

Frantic, he stumbled across the floor and dove into his drawer. Where was it? His movements felt muted and soon he knew he wouldn't feel anything at all. "What did I do with it!" he cried out.

Someone snickered. Probably 11. Hid it, 11 whispered. Last night.

Crap. That was bad, very, very not good. Although, it explained why John didn't remember getting into his Pyjamas the night before. It seemed 11 managed to briefly get ahold of John. The fact that 11 had managed to control his mind was terrifying enough to John, but NOW he'd hid his medication! "Tell me where!" John shouted at his alter.

No answer.

Typical.

Rolling his eyes, John quickly began looking.

In the bed?

No.

Closet?

No.

John couldn't see straight. " Show me where you put it!"

Like heck, 11 muttered.

"Why are you DOING this!" John cried, slumping down on the floor. He didn't want to be here, at this school anymore. It was a bad idea. "Call Sara Jane," he muttered, feeling his pockets for a cell phone. The world jerked for a second and then came into focus. Any second now John felt he would lose himself.

The cell slid from his pocket into his lap and he opened it with shaking fingers. Dead.

Water damage from the fountain.

He totally forgot.

"Doggonit!" John shouted and threw it across the room. It smacked the wall and exploded into tiny pieces.

John froze. Blinked at it. How the heck did he do that? He'd expected a nice thump when it hit the wall, not blooming demolition.

Suddenly 11 grabbed at him, making him stand. You idiot! He shouted in his head, I'm trying to help you!

"I do not want any sort of help that you think you can -"

"Just shut up and let me talk!"

Now that was disturbing.

John slapped his hand over his mouth, but it did little good. They didn't often use his mouth, but when they did it resulted in a chaotic babbling of words as his alters argued and jerked him back and forth.

"You've been suffocating me for- " 11 started.

"This is my life! Go away!"

"It's my life just as well as yours!"

Back and forth and back and forth and -

"JOHN!"

Who was that?

It wasn't either of them. 11 swung John around and they faced the door, panting.

Standing in the doorway, equally winded, was Rory Williams. He ran all the way from his class to find him. John groaned. "What are you doing here?!"

"Don't be rude, John," 11 said.

Rory just blinked. "Vastra told me to find you..."

John rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air. "That lizard doesn't give up!"

"Brilliant woman!" 11 proclaimed.

"No, shut up!" John locked eyes with Rory for an instant.

"Am I... interrupting something?" Rory asked, eyes wide and annoyingly fascinated.

"Yes-"

"Naw!" 11 countered.

"Rory, you should leave," John said, finally getting a word in.

But Rory was frozen. "That is really, really weird."

"I agree," John cried falling backwards onto his bed and covering his eyes. "We will analyze it later, I'm sure. Now please go away before I do something stupid."

Suddenly 11 jumped to his feet. "Excuse me, I'm not the stupid one!"

"Really?" John answered, "You're gonna argue that. Right now."

"You bet."

He was so absorbed in his argument that he didn't notice Rory stepping further and further into the room. Finally, John whipped around and stumbled into him.

"Ah! Rory!" 11 said with a grin, wrapping his arm suddenly around Rory. "Perfect! Distract him for a tic, will you?"

Rory steadied him and John jerked away.

"Distract who?" Rory asked.

"He means me!" John answered, "Don't let him do it! Please Rory "

"Oh, that's rubbish!" 11 interrupted, "He's so oblivious! We're trying to help! Why doesn't he understand how it works?!"

John interjected, eyes wide. "How WHAT works?!"

Rory wasn't sure what to do. His new friend raced around the room like he was mad, two totally separate sounding voices coming out of his mouth. The first was John's, who sounded frantic, maybe even a bit afraid, and the second was absolutely giddy with excitement.

"I cannot BELIEVE him!" 11 shouted, "What does it take to get it through your head!" Rory frowned. This had to be the most confusing conversation he'd ever witnessed.

"Who's... head?"

"His head!" 11 answered and he pointed at John's forehead. "Oh, forget it. He'll figure it out eventually."

Suddenly John stilled. He closed his eyes for a long moment and exhaled slowly. When he opened his eyes they burned gold for just an instant before fading back to normal brown. His body defeated in relief. It was over. 11 relented.

"That," John spoke slowly, "is gonna give me a heck of a headache..."

The room was completely silent for several seconds. Then John's gaze climbed up Rory and he gave him a sheepish half-smile. Rory just stood there, mouth open. "Yeah, uh " John started, scratching his neck awkwardly, "I didn't tell you about that part of my... weirdness, did I?"

Rory blinked. "Dude." He stepped up to him and looked his new friend up and down. "That was..."

"Was what?"

"... Awesome! I mean, it was really weird and kinda confusing, but still- AWESOME."

Surprise flowed inside John and he cocked his head at Rory. Did he just hear him right? The Roman stood still, a crooked smile lodged in his mouth.

John coughed, slightly embarrassed. Now that the ordeal was over, he was exhausted. Holding his alters back took considerable mental effort. "That's not what people usually say."

"What do people usually say?"

"... Get a shrink."

Snorting, Rory shook his head slowly. "What just happened?"

"Yeah..." John sat down slowly on the metallic floor and scrubbed his face with his hands. Rory followed suit and sat down across from him. How to explain... "I'm twelve." John started.

"What? Really?" Rory replied, "I'd say you were at least fifteen "

"No," John interrupted. "Blimey, no. I mean, I'm twelve. Like, I'm twelve people. All at once. Crammed up in one head."

Rory was confused. John saw the grey soup puddle around him. "How... how does that work?"

"If I knew I'd tell you."

"Right." He sniffed. "So when you were arguing with yourself...?"

"That was 11. He's a pest, believe me."

"Wait, 11?"

"They don't have names. Just a number. He's number 11"

Rory wrinkled his nose. "That must be depressing. Not having a name..."

Wait a sec. Was Rory really sympathizing with THEM? "It's not like they're real people," John spoke quickly, "I'm just... messed up."

"Right." Rory frowned and his eyebrows drew together. "You, uh, he asked me to distract you... why?"

John shivered. "He wanted me to drop my barriers so he could take full control."

"You have mental barriers."

"... Yeah."

"Cool." Rory nodded, "So what happens if he has full control."

"I don't know."

"You don't know." Rory blinked. "How do you NOT know?"

Right. So he was giving Rory everything then. "I don't remember anything." John's headache started to kick in at this point and he cringed. "I don't know what happens. I just wake up some time later with a killer headache. A bit like this one, actually, but worse..."

Their conversation probably would have continued for quite a while longer, but suddenly there was a crash from outside John's window and both boys started in surprize.

"What was that?"

"I dunno."

John leapt to his feet and raced to the window. "That sounded like -"

" Some sort of explosion," Rory finished, peering over John's shoulder. "Maybe it was one of the kids?"

"Maybe..." Hopefully. But John couldn't stop the steady drips of dread from quivering his fingers. Something bad was about to happen. He could feel it. The explosion sounded like it came from the other side of the school, which was why everything looked normal outside his window. He need to get closer. "Come on." John waved Rory forward, dashing away from the window and out the door.

Slowly, Rory followed John. He stopped at the doorway into the hall. "Um, John?"

"What?"

"Shouldn't we be heading AWAY from the scary exploding sound thing?"

John blinked. Shrugged. "Probably." Continued down the hall. Toward the explosion. He glanced back at Rory and gave him half a smile. John's head pounded and he was exhausted, but he couldn't sleep so near after an episode like that. He hadn't gotten that close to changing since he was twelve! 11 was too close and he might take over in John's sleep.

Besides, a little distraction always did John good.

"You coming, Rory?"

For a mom

ent Rory hesitated. Logic told him that he'd seen enough weirdness for one day, and THAT'S coming from a Roman; However, after a moment Rory's eyes flew to the ceiling and he exhaled breathily. "Course I'm coming."

And off they went.

AN: PLEASE REVIEW:))) ...