(Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun. The character Cho, as well as some side characters, are copyrighted to me, Crimson-Juno. The character Angel is copyrighted to BlueCheshire, and the character Shinigami is copyrigted to Odango.

Please bear in mind that this is only the first chapter, so don't panic if there isn't anything directly pertaining to Trigun. There will be known characters in the future, I promise . )

Project Twin Suns: Prologue

'My heart... why can't it just stop beating? I just... I just want it all to end. Please stop... please stop beating. Then all of this will be... over. Why does it have to hurt so much... just... stop.'

She tried to move, but something was holding her in place. She slowly opened her eyes, only to be looking down at the same dirty floor. She was suspended a couple of feet above the ground, with both of her wrists shackled tightly to the wall above her, and her ankles shackled similarly below. She again tried to struggle against the cold metal that held her, but this time sharp pain shot through her limbs, and she felt something warm begin to trickle down her arms and feet. A startled cry escaped her lips, but her mind was so dazed and numb from the pain that she barely noticed that it had come from her.

A rusty door creaked open at the other end of the room. The all to familiar sound seemed to echo inside her brain, making her unsure if she had really heard it. But the sound of human voices erased all doubt, and she lifted her head. Her vision was dull and blurry, but she could make out the shapes of two men standing before her. Her neck was already growing tired, and seconds later, she was staring back at the floor with exhausted eyes. She strained to listen to what the two men were saying. They spoke in hushed, excited tones.

"She seems to be doing quite well for the stage we have her at. You think we should proceed?"

"She's a bit young isn't she? Will her body survive the transition?"

"Well, if she doesn't survive, we still have three others...." The man paused for a moment, and stepped closer to her. He placed a cold hand under her chin and jerked her head upward. He roughly moved her head from side to side, as if unaware that it was attahed to anything. His other hand came up to her face, and with fingers as equally dirty as the floor, pried her right eye the rest of the way open. He shone a bright light into her eye, and she tried to blink in vain. When that eye began to water, he moved his hand and did the same to the left eye. When he moved the light away, he took his fingers from her eye and let go of her chin. He turned back to his companion and spoke some more.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she tried to blink away the bright spots that burned in her vision. She didn't notice when the two men left, then returned again with a tray of operating insruments. The man who had shone the light in her eyes was now unlocking the shackles on her ankles. The sudden freeness of her ankles put an extra strain on her wrists, and she cried out again as the solid metal bit deeper into her flesh. A sharp pain on the side of her head disoriented her for a second, and she dully realized that the man had hit her.

"Shut up." He said in an irritated voice. He sounded as if he were a million miles away. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist to hold her up as he unlocked the remaining shackles on her wrists. She fell limply across his shoulder, and was carried to a table in the center of the room. He dropped her down onto it roughly, and walked away.

She opened her eyes, only to close them again almost immediately. A bright light blared directly above her. She clamped her eyes shut, a few tears flowing down her already tear-stained face. She turned her head to the side and opened her eyes again. Her limited vision could make out one of the men standing next to her, moving something towards the inside of her arm. She felt a sharp sting in her arm, followed a moment later by a burning sensation that traveled up her arm and into her shoulder. They had injected her with something.

She tried moving, only to find herself again shackled down. She realized she was getting tired, and her struggling became weaker, and weaker, until she was unable to move at all. Her vision dulled, and what sounds she could hear faded with it. Her last thoughts were of her mother. Of the last time she had heard her voice.

'It's going to be alright Cho. Everything is going to be alright.'

Finally, she succumbed to the darkness of sleep.