The Institute 4

When Sonic woke up the following morning, he was slightly confused. He stared at the bunk above him for a few moments, not fully comprehending where he was, but then, the memories of the previous day flooded back to him and his heart sank. He had hoped it was all a dream and he'd wake up in his own bed at home, but it was real. Sonic gently touched his cheeks. The tears he had shed had long since dried, leaving behind only the memory. He must have cried himself to sleep in Silver's lap last night; he could vaguely remember Silver's voice speaking to him, and a warm hand gently rubbing his quills. Color flooded his cheeks as he realized how weak he must have appeared to Silver and Manic. So much for a first impression.

Sonic lay in bed for a few moments longer and then reluctantly crawled out of bed. He temporarily forgot where he was and smacked his head hard on the upper bunk while crawling out. He suppressed the urge to curse and rubbed his aching head. The others were already awake and were in various states of undress. Sonic watched them for a few moments to figure out what he was supposed to be doing.

He opened the trunk on the right, which was labeled with his name, and found that it was filled with various items—everything from pajamas to toothpaste. Sonic pulled out a fresh pair of clothes and pulled his old ones off. He felt a bit self-conscious about changing in front of the others, but none of them were paying attention to him. Next to his trunk was a hamper that was also labeled with his name. He threw his dirty clothes into the hamper. Then, he heard a familiar voice float across the room.

"Manic, get up you lazy bum," it said.

Sonic crossed the dormitory and found Silver bending over one of the lower bunks, shaking its occupant.

"All right, all right already," Manic's voice huffed from the shadows. I'm up. I'm up."

A few moments later, Manic appeared looking disheveled. He yawned widely.

"Get moving, you idiot or you're going to miss breakfast," Silver hissed, "Again."

"I know," Manic muttered. "You remind me every friggin' day."

"I wouldn't have to remind you every day if you actually got up on time," Silver said scathingly.

"I'm not a morning person. So what?" Manic said.

"Just get up," Silver sighed in annoyance. He turned around and started when he saw Sonic there. "Oh, Sonic, you're up!"

"Sonic's up?" Manic asked as he quickly rose and smacked his head hard on the upper bunk. Cursing fluently, he sank back onto his bunk, rubbing his head.

"Serves you right, you idiot," Silver said with a smirk.

"Screw you," Manic muttered.

"Ha, you wish," Silver said under his breath. He turned to Sonic. "I'm glad to see you're up and about. And you managed to get dressed on your own. That's good. Breakfast starts in ten minutes and then classes start. The first class is shared with the Semes. Just so you're aware and don't freak out or anything, some of the Semes who have some self-control are allowed to interact with us."

"I'm glad you warned me," Sonic said softly. "I probably would have been too shocked to move or something."

"Yeah," Silver smiled. "I was pretty surprised the first time I found out."

"All right now, it's time for breakfast!" A guard called.

"Come on," Silver told Sonic quietly.

"What about Manic?" Sonic asked.

"Oh, he'll catch up," Silver said with a smile. "This isn't the first time this has happened; it happens on a daily basis. It serves him right for being so lazy anyways."

Sonic and Silver followed the rest of the Carriers to the cafeteria. The two of them were quiet as they waited in line. After they had their bowls of oatmeal, they headed for the same table they had sat at the previous night. Manic soon joined them, looking peeved.

"Thank you ever so much for waiting for me," Manic said sarcastically.

"It's your fault for getting up so late," Silver said calmly. He glanced over at Sonic, who was only picking at his oatmeal. "Sonic, sweetie, are you feeling okay? You aren't eating very much."

"I'm not really hungry," Sonic mumbled.

At the end of breakfast, Sonic rose with Silver and Manic and brought his untouched food to the garbage can. He walked with Silver and Manic to their first class.

The room looked like a general classroom with a blackboard at the front and a teacher's desk off to the side. The rest of the room consisted of rows and rows of desks. It seemed to be split in two with a large aisle down the middle. The Semes were already present on the other side of the room, and under heavy guard. The Carriers sat on the other side closest to the door just in case of an emergency.

"Come on," Silver said quietly.

He led Sonic further into the classroom. They sat in a cluster of desks at the back of the classroom. A shadow fell on them. An emerald green hedgehog stood before them. His light blue eyes were soft and gentle surprisingly. Sonic recognized him as one of Shadow's Seme friends.

"Morning. Then name's Scourge," he said in a kind voice.

"I…I'm Sonic," Sonic responded, still shocked somewhat that there was actually a nice Seme in this whole building!!

"Yeah, I know." There was an awkward silent. "Look, I feel like I should apologize on Shadow's behalf. He'd never do it himself because that's the way he is. He…" Scourge sighed softly. "You just don't need to take Shadow's behavior personally, all right? You haven't done anything wrong. It's just how he is and always has been. None of us understand him, really."

"I understand," Sonic said.

"Hey." Manic gently tapped the azure on the shoulder. Sonic turned his attention away from Scourge. "I heard Silver start to explain the whole class thing earlier, but he never finished, so I might as well finish for him.

"As you can obviously see, we share this class with the Semes. We also share our other morning class with them. We have two classes in the morning and two in the afternoon. After this class, we have an hour break, and then we have our other class."

"What's this class?" Sonic asked curiously.

"It depends on the day," Manic answered. "Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, it's History, and Tuesday and Thursday, it's English. Today happens to be History."

"I see," Sonic murmured.

Silver and Scourge had in turn carried on their own private conversation.

"He looks like he's been crying a lot," Scourge said softly.

Silver nodded. "He cried for several hours last night. Manic and I did the best we could to comfort him."

"Poor guy," Scourge whispered.

"They always cry at the beginning," Silver said. "I know I did. They're just so young. They're scared and hardly understand what's happening. It'll take a while, but Sonic will eventually get settled in. Manic and I will see to that."

"Good." Scourge smirked.

The teacher entered and stood at the front of the class. He was a wolf in his mid-thirties with jet black fur and sharp grey eyes which made him seem all the more intimidating.

"Class, we have a new addition today. I'd like you all to welcome Sonic, who will be joining the Carriers," he said with a slight drawl. He pointed Sonic out, who flushed with embarrassment at being the center of attention. "Undoubtedly, some of you have already met him. Make sure you make him feel welcome here. Remember that all of you were new here once."

The teacher went into the closet behind his desk and brought out a thick book. He walked to the back of the classroom where Sonic sat, and handed the book to him.

"Here is the history book for the class. We are presently discussing chapter 2 so if you could read the first chapter."

"Yes, sir," Sonic nodded quietly.

The teacher returned to the front of the classroom.

"Now, let us begin…"

Scourge passed Silver a note as the lecture went on:

'I'm not all that worried about all this; it's not like Shadow has any choice in the matter. In the end, his instincts will kick in and he won't be able to stay away from Sonic.'

Silver responded:

'Yeah, I know. It would be nice if Shadow would actually acknowledge Sonic as his mate because it would make Sonic feel a lot better, but that's like asking for a miracle, huh?'

'You have no idea.'

………………………………………………………………….

During the hour break following their first class, the Semes were transferred from the classroom to the gymnasium. Manic and Silver brought Sonic there early so they could talk to the gym teacher.

There were actually two gym teachers at The Institute, one male, for the Semes, the other female, for the Carriers. The woman was a red fox in her late twenties, tall and with brown hair, with cream colored fur on her chest and tail, along with ice blue eyes.

"Ah, you must be Sonic," she said with a smile.

"Yes ma'am," Sonic mumbled shyly.

The vixen threw her head back at the title and started laughing, which sounded more like a deep, throaty cackle.

"Please, call me Fiona," she said once her laughter had died down. "Okay, cutie?"

"Okay," Sonic responded with a slight blush.

"Now let's see if we can find you a uniform that actually fits," Fiona said.

Sonic nodded and silently followed Fiona into her office, while Silver and Manic waited outside. Sonic blinked dazedly for a few moments, blinded by the fluorescent lights that lit the room. When his eyes adjusted, he saw that there was a large wooden desk in the middle of the room and gym equipment everywhere. Fiona went to a large closet at the back of the office and started rifling through it, muttering to herself, leaving Sonic to stand at the door, feeling incredibly foolish.

"Here you go," Fiona said, suddenly straightening up with a bundle of clothing in her arms. "These should fit you."

"Thank you," Sonic said.

"Gym uniforms are washed every week along with the rest of your clothes," Fiona explained. "On Fridays after gym, you take the uniform back to your dormitory and put them in your hamper with the rest of your clothes. They're washed over the weekend and returned to you on Sunday. Got it?"

Sonic nodded.

Fiona handed him the bundle of clothing and he went outside to where Silver and Manic were waiting for him.

"This way," Silver said softly.

He led Sonic through a door and they ended up in a locker room. The other Carriers were already there, changing their clothes. Silver led Sonic over to a cluster of lockers away from all the others.

"Our lockers are here," he said. "This one is empty, so you can use it." He pointed to the locker next to the one Manic was pulling clothes from.

Sonic nodded and moved to the locker on Manic's other side. He felt a little embarrassed to be changing in front of the others, but none of the other Carriers were paying attention to him. Sonic stripped off his uniform and put on the clothes Fiona had given him. It was another uniform, similar to the one of The Institute except there were shorts instead of pants and regular sneakers instead of boots. There was also a pair of navy blue swim trunks. When he had finished and stored his clothes and the swim trunks in his locker, Silver and Manic studied him.

"Not bad," Manic said. "It's a little big on your but I'm sure you'll grow into it soon enough."

Sonic flushed, but did not say anything as he followed Silver and Manic out into the gym where the rest of the Semes and Carriers were gathered. Fiona beckoned Sonic over to her. Sonic nervously approached her.

"Okay, so here's how it goes. All of you guys run a couple laps to warm up and then we separate you from the Semes and do some sort of an activity, except for on Fridays, when all of you are together for the swimming lesson. Okay?" she said.

"I understand," Sonic replied.

"Good." Fiona smiled.

Sonic returned to where Silver and Manic were standing.

"All right, let's have some order in here," the male gym teacher, a big beefy tiger guy said, blowing his whistle. The talking died down. "Okay. Today, the Semes will be playing football and the Carriers will be playing soccer. Now go run some laps."

Grumbling, the Semes went off, the Carriers not far behind. They started jogging around the perimeter of the gym. By the time they were finished, Sonic was quite out of breath (le gasp?). The Carriers went with Fiona to one side of the gym, which had been set up for a soccer match. Fiona split them into two teams. Somehow, Sonic ended up on the same team as Silver and Manic.

"You know how to play, right?" Manic asked.

"Yeah," Sonic simply answered.

He quickly proved that he was good at playing soccer. He worked well with the others on his team and helped score several goals. He was drenched in sweat by the end, but he felt good. With Silver and Manic, he went to take a shower.

Lunch was at noon and then the Carriers and Semes separated for their afternoon classes. Manic and Silver brought Sonic to the front of the room and took their seats near the middle. The teacher entered, a tall, slim stallion in his late fifties with large brown eyes.

"Ah, the new student," the teacher said with a smile. "Welcome to The Institute. My name is Mr. Jacobs. And you are…?"

"Sonic," Sonic answered. "My name is Sonic."

"Sonic," Mr. Jacobs repeated softly. "Well, let me tell you a bit about what's going on here. I'm sure one of your new friends has told you about the format of the classes here at The Institute, yes?"

"Yes," Sonic answered.

"I am the teacher for both afternoon classes. This first class I like to use as a study period and then after a break, I lecture on various topics. Today, for instance, I'm going to give a lecture on the proper nutrition during heat. You…understand what heat is, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Sonic nodded.

"Good," Mr. Jacobs said. "Things will seem hectic around here for a while, but I promise, it will be better. Since you are new here, I'll take the time to explain a few things.

"You and your mate won't officially be joined together for a couple weeks. They, and by 'they' I mean the High Council, want to make sure that you're properly settled in first. The joining ceremony is pretty much a formality. It's a wedding ceremony, if you will, verbally binding you and your mate together. You won't physically be bound together until you experience your heat when you're fourteen. After that, you'll mate whenever you go into heat every month in the hopes that you will produce children. If you become pregnant, you will not have another heat until after you give birth. It will be so much easier to understand once you experience it for yourself."

"Okay," Sonic said hesitantly.

"Do you have any questions?" Mr. Jacobs asked.

Sonic shook his head. He took an empty seat beside Silver and opened his textbook to the first page.