Can't guarantee this'll jive with you all-it's sort of a strange experiment...Still! I felt like I should still share it with you all. Let me know how it goes. :D

-Laz

It was meant to connect them even closer. Shadow didn't quite understand it still, even while easing himself into his subconscious.

"Goya Meditation," Black Doom had repeated, "is a form of exploring the deepest part of your mind. Two people participate, hence the 'goya' in the name; one person sees and tells, and another listens and feels. With practice, it's possible for both the people to be implemented into one's subconscious. It's a very interesting process."

Shadow agreed to try; his curiosity was certainly piqued, especially with the idea of bringing both he and Black Doom, his father, closer together; that and the idea of two beings participating in a meditation of sorts was intriguing at the very least. He mulled it over for a few days and promptly told his lord and master he was ready and willing to try it. If there was anyone in the universe that Shadow would entrust anyone with his life to, it was Black Doom.

It began with slow, even, and deep breaths and a relaxed posture, and soon, Shadow the Hedgehog found himself in complete and total darkness. He began to plummet down, travelling to his subconscious, yet strangely still aware of any contact that was made to his physical being in reality.

"Now, then," a velvety voice said after a long pause. It echoed in the blank space, warming the air around Shadow. The hedgehog relaxed further by it. "What do you see? Tell me everything."

There was nothing to see, nothing to tell. The ebony hedgehog blinked a few times before answering, assuring himself of his surroundings.

"Black," Shadow said, "nothing but black."

"Do you see me?" the voice asked with a touch of curiosity. It was rare to pick up on any sort of feeling in this particular voice; Shadow couldn't tell if he was pleased to hear it or not. The way the question was phrased, it sounded as if he were supposed to see the speaker, Black Doom.

"No." Shadow swallowed. His heart pounded in his ears, his cheeks feeling warm thanks to an unidentifiable emotion. He didn't know what to expect; he had never done this before. "Should I?"

His father gently hushed him and the hedgehog felt his ears being lightly rubbed. "Just let things happen. You're still in the unstable phase; thinking too much might wake you up."

"What should I do?" Shadow asked, unwilling to simply wait and twiddle his thumbs. There was a light touch across his forehead, guiding Shadow's eyelids down.

"You need to relax. Always relax; it will guide you to your next stage."

Shadow followed his advice and his subconscious self proceeded to close his eyes. After a few deep-breathing sessions, the hedgehog felt himself submerge deeper into his mind, where he became aware of a shift in scenery. As the hedgehog opened his eyes, he beheld the figure of a hedgehog that was nearly identical to Shadow himself. It stopped his heart for a mere moment, yet he recognized the new being to be his father.

"I see you."

The three eyes were staring right at Shadow with an intensity that could have cut him in two. The gaze frightened Shadow, but the presence of another person comforted him. This hedgehog spoke, however; his mouth formed the words, yet the voice still remained omniscient and echoed in the blank space.

"What do I look like?"

"Hedgehog." Shadow said bluntly, disturbed to the point that he could not form a coherent sentence. Strange, he thought, that in such a deep part of his mind, Black Doom existed in a familiar form; he would have guessed it to be the exact opposite. He did, in fact, meet Black Doom first when he was an alien…

Black Doom's image distorted for a split second. Shadow furrowed his brow, confused at first, but suddenly he realized how long his thought process was becoming. He was thinking too much, just as Black Doom had warned him not to. Before Shadow could notify the outside world of the mistake he made, Black Doom stood. He stepped away and folded his hands behind his back, chest held high and back straight, just as he always did.

"Is there anything significantly different about me?" he asked. Shadow gazed up at him, analyzing every detail.

"Your clothes are different. You're wearing a burgundy robe with gold on the edges…I've never seen it before."

"Don't mind that; what am I doing?"

"Standing. Watching."

"Watching what?"

"…Me."

After his voice reached the cold air around the two, the blackness vanished. An entirely new environment painted itself with bleak hues; dark grays clouded the sky, pale silvers coated the ground, but the entire space was filled with emptiness. Shadow blinked three times to assure himself of the new place. It was flat, featureless, and depressing. Was this his true subconscious? Or was it all just a dream?

The new scenery hissed like a television that lacked reception. Shadow jumped, startled at the black lines that briefly and suddenly cut through the sky.

"Don't question things, Shadow," Black Doom reminded sternly, "just tell me what you see."

"This place is…bleak." Shadow swallowed, looking above and below him. "It's colorless…depressing. I don't know how else to describe it."

"Do you hear anything?"

He paused. There was truly nothing that could be heard. No creatures lived or stirred; no leaves rustled or flew.

"No." Shadow replied, suppressing his curious mind from ruining this place.

"You may be restricted to one place, but you can observe from where you are." Black Doom said. Shadow's eyes roamed about in response. "You can still feel and see. This is where your senses come in; nothing is concrete here. You can distort things as you wish to discover."

He reached out, setting his hand on the ground before him. It was certainly solid, but felt different from the ground on Earth or the Black Comet; he wasn't sure how, but it seemed more thick, as if it were artificial. As he lifted his hand away, Shadow noticed a pale gray powder coating his fingers. He brought his fingertips closer to his face, inspecting it.

"The ground is covered in powder," Shadow described carefully, staring intently at the substance. "It's gray, light in weight, and...fine."

"Ash." Black Doom said quietly. The hybrid looked up at him, frowning as he let his curiosity slip out.

"Ash? What is it from?" Shadow asked. The place did not distort, surprisingly, but before Black Doom could answer, a breeze swept through the area, taking a thin layer of the dust along with it. Shadow snapped his eyes shut, covering his face with his arm.

"Gah!" Shadow grunted, struggling to fight the urge to close his mouth to prevent any ash from filling it. "There's wind, and it's blowing…!"

"Can you feel it, or is it just blowing the ash?" Black Doom asked, standing as if nothing was happening. None of his eyes squinted or closed, nor did his stance shift; it was as if his feet were anchored to the ground itself. Both his robes and both of their quills, however, whipped in the breeze. The wind was, or at least seemed, real.

"I…I can feel it…" Shadow coughed, zipping his mouth shut, hoping to prevent the dust from lodging itself into his throat. It was not long before the sudden gust died down, to which Shadow brought his arm back down to his side. "It stopped…but the ash…"

It still remained, for the most part. The hedgehog frowned and furrowed his brow, trying to comprehend what it meant. "It's like nothing I've ever seen before…the color is too light to have been the result of a fire…" the black hedgehog trailed, slowly dropping his arm to see his elder still standing in the same spot. Black Doom did not appear to be disturbed by the cascade of ash; his silken attire remained untouched, vibrant as ever.

"That is for you to figure out."

Shadow brought his eyes down to examine the gray dust once more, but he found flecks of green poking through this time. He gasped, hands sweeping more ash off of a small patch in hopes to see what hid beneath.

"Grass?" he asked, placing his fingertips on the ground in awe. The wind must have uncovered some of it, he thought, but was it truly like the grass on Earth? The ground already seemed strange. As he ran his fingers through the green strands, they curled gently, appearing to grow and extend towards him, even as his hands were far past the blades.

"Wh-what…?" he gasped, drawing his hands to his chest. The blades of grass grew into long, thin tendrils that crawled towards the black hedgehog. He gasped, crawling backwards as the strange things followed him. "B-Black Doom! The grass…whatever it is…! It's growing and it's—!"

One snatched at Shadow's right ankle, wrapping itself around him tightly. It yanked him back towards the opposite direction, to which Shadow reached out and dug his fingers into the tough ground. It proved to be a terrible gesture, though, as the surrounding grass emerged and took his wrists up tightly.

"What the hell are these?" Shadow cried, tugging at his restraints. "Where is it taking me?"

He wanted answers, but he knew he would never get them – not here, at least. Once Shadow had forcefully resumed his original position before the alien leader, his left ankle went completely numb. He craned his neck, thrashing his body this way and that, simply trying to see what had happened to his ankle. Eventually, he caught a glimpse of his left calf disappear beneath the surface of the ground.

"What the hell? It's pulling me down…?" Shadow exclaimed. He snapped his eyes shut, struggling as hard as he could to break the restraints. Even with his great power, however, the tendrils would not break or give. He began to panic, feeling all of his Chaos energy drain with every thrash and pull he made. All of this, and Black Doom remained in his same position. "D-don't just stand there, father! Help me!"

Amidst his grunting and struggling, the alien hedgehog stood, callous and unmoved. "I cannot do anything, Shadow," Black Doom said, a twinge of guilt in his voice. "This is your mind and your mind alone. I'm merely here as a guide – an interpreter. It is you who needs to decide what to do here."

"But you said—! You said I can distort things here! Can't I change these things? Can't I change you?"

"You are too far into your subconscious to be able to change your surroundings. Unfortunately, all you can do now is let your mind work away." Black Doom replied with dark simplicity. "As for me, you can never change my presence or appearance. I can offer you choices, though; do you wish to see what awaits you below, or do you want out?"

The ebony hedgehog, with his lungs weighed down with a twisted sort of fear, cried out, "please, father! Get me the hell out of here; I want out!"

The side of his face stung, and everything melted away, vanishing into deep fuchsias and purples. He eased at the colors, recognizing where he was—his reality. Black Doom knelt before him, his gloved hand limp in the air close to Shadow's face.

"Welcome back." He smiled softly, lowering his hand.