A/N: Alright, going to try something new here. This is a cross I was supposed to do 2 years ago, demanded by Grumpywinter. Obviously I didn't do it and only started…hehe…lets see what I can do with it, shall we?

Summary: In this land, I hoped to start anew. In this land, I hoped to have a better life, but in the end, it seemed like I ended up getting caught in the spiders web once more...

Pairings: Naruto x Lucy

Writer: DeExil

Path of Damnation – Chapter 1: Escape

"…and then I just killed him…I don't really know what passed through my mind…hatred? Sorrow? Fear?" from a stranger's perspective one would think that the soldier was talking with no one in the dark chamber. However, those working in the "institution" knew exactly what was in the chamber, they knew to steer clear from there. He however, seemed to be the only one that can come and go as he pleased. The occupant didn't mind him, or so it seemed.

It was a strange phenomenon, not even the director could explain it. The soldier kept to himself, only talking to the prisoner of the chamber. Despite the lack of reply from the occupant, the soldier seemed to know that he was being listened, that someone was listening.

The soldier was dressed in his "response" gear, the black army pants, the Kevlar armor on his body, the dark helmet that covered his face entirely. And his gun, strapped to his back, the gun that he himself had build from components scattered throughout the armory. Impressive for a "trigger-happy fiend" as some might say, especially the scientists, they were the ones that didn't quite like them.

"…it's strange you know…" he said looking towards the figure chained to a metallic bed. "...you're the only person I can talk to about this." He said with a smile as he stood up and turned around. "I'll see you tomorrow…Lucy." He said as he walked out of the chamber, the massive blast doors closing behind him.

"Orders are to terminate! You understand?" Bando shouted towards his subordinate who raised an eyebrow.

"I understood sir, however, I still have no idea what I am fighting." His superior scoffed as he lit a cigar and turned away from him.

"Like I know, damn scientists keeping stuff to themselves…" he grumbled "…I'd kill them all if I didn't have to face the consequences after that…" his subordinate rolled his eyes at the man, he never really liked Bando, such a stuck up bastard and full of himself. It reminded him why he "ran away from home" to begin with.

He looked up and saw Bando arguing with his other subordinate; he shook his head, that man really pissed him off, so full of himself, not caring about anyone else but himself. The blond leaned back in the seat and blocked out the man's yells. He thought about his current life, it wasn't all glory but it was better then his previous life.

"Oy, Bando! What are you doing?" he heard someone shout and he turned his eyes towards the man, his so called squad leader. His eyes narrowed as he saw the insane man pointing his side-arm at another SAT member.

"Calm down you idiot." The grumbled drawing Bando's attention and making his grit his teeth. "Last thing we need is a bloodshed, and I can guarantee you that it will be your blood that's shed." He said with a maniacal grin as his leader gulped and lowered his side-arm, he knew better then to mess with the blond man when he went in that mood. The last idiot to mess with him met a gory death; it made the diclonius look like babies.

The death of the one SAT trooper had everyone on the edge when talking with the killer. The director had no plans of locking the murderer and didn't even show concern to the fact that a human brutally murdered a "comrade".

Scientists begged for the blond man to be locked away, for their own safety, so they said. A few people knew that the scientists wanted to run some tests on the SAT soldier, no one knew the details but they knew to keep their mouth shut, the next thing they wanted was to mysteriously vanish.

"He's right Bando, at least on the part that we need no bloodshed amongst us." The active commander grunted as he stepped in the scene. He looked at the blond man warily before turning his gaze towards the insane squad leader. "Sit." He ordered as the man grumbled but complied.

"Now, as you all know there was a breach in security and a subject escaped the facility. We are to bring it back…alive or dead…" the commander ordered as the blond raised an eyebrow wondering who escaped the facility.

He heard the alarms raging throughout the entire facility but he didn't bother to get up and go check what was going on. It didn't concern him who died or who lived. He came here to find a new beginning, sort of. While he was hiding from the past he had to live somehow, Kurama not only did he provide with a warm bed, food, money but he also provided the protecting he needed…not that Kurama knew that.

The man smirked, sometimes Kurama was a fool. Part of him hated the man, the way he treated the diclonius as mere test subjects, but part of him didn't judge the man at all. He didn't know the entire story nor did he want to learn it, it was too troublesome to think about it and then make his decision if his actions were valid or not.

He looked up at the sneering Bando, he missed out on something important it seemed as his squad leader opened the transports door. "Bando, what the hell you think your doing?" shouted the commander as the man in question just smirked and told them he would deal with it by himself instead of waiting for the police to contact them and tell them where their target was.

Before everyone's eyes the man jumped out of the helicopter, into the sea. The bond sighed as he stood up and walked towards the open door. "And where do you think you're going? I've had enough insubordinations from Bando!" the commander yelled, it seemed like he was on the verge of ripping his hair from his head. The man chuckled as he turned towards the commander.

"Someone needs to look after his sorry ass…" he replied as he let his body fall backwards, out of the helicopter making the commander grit his teeth in annoyance.

"It's always those two, always them giving me these headaches!" he yelled towards the heaven's making the rest of the SAT trooper's sympathies with the man.

He stared out towards the sea, watching as the rain drops touched the sea. He listened to the rain, it was long since he was outside and listened to the rain, he felt safer inside the facility and rarely came out, he was afraid that someone who he didn't want to find him would see him and then report back…or attack him and drag his sorry ass back.

How he hated thinking about that. "Bando! Do you hear me?" he asked through his comm., yet there was no reply from the other side. His sighed in annoyance, the man was probably playing his little game of 'I am a predator and I will hunt you down'.

Sighing, the blond man turned around and walked towards the street. It was midnight, there were almost no people on the streets, more specifically there were none on the beach, so there would be no one to spot him at this late hour. He walked down the street with his head down thinking, from time to time he would look around to see if he could spot the mad-man. He still had no idea who he had to search for, but if he would find the squad leader he would find out.

He never really bothered to listen to mission details, especially went Bando was around. He always tuned them all out until they were dropped off and then he would follow the leader's orders or just ask again what they were supposed to do. It annoyed the one in charge, especially if it was Bando, but that wasn't his problem, if Bando wasn't so annoying maybe he would actually start paying attention.

He was drawn out of his train of thoughts as he heard two people arguing, he grinned as he spotted Bando and the rookie on the beach arguing, or more like the rookie trying to calm Bando down and the man pointing his side-arm at the rookies face once more.

"Oy, calm down will ya?" the blond asked drawing their attention as he jumped down on the beach. "Like I said, last thing we need is a bloodshed amongst us." He told them with an eye smile making his squad leader grumble and lower his gun while the rookie sighed in relief.

"So you finally decided to show up." The man grumbled under his breath venomously making the blond smile under his mask.

"We wouldn't have had to find each other if you weren't so keen on starting the mission." He said sweetly making Bando grit his teeth and raise his gun at the blond's face.

"Yare, yare…" the blond said lifting his hands up in defeat and looking up at his squad leader with a bored expression. "If you wanted me to keep quiet and follow orders like a little lost puppy you should have said something." He mocked as Bando lowered his gun and glared at him.

"Shut up." He ordered as the blond nodded with an eye smile and made a motion with his hand over his lips, like he would close a zipper.

Bando then took out a pack of cigars and pulled one out, he took his lighter out and tried to light the cigar while grumbling that maybe he shouldn't have been so rash in the first place. While the rookie couldn't hear that, the blond did and grinned. Sometimes even retards know that they make mistakes.

They listened carefully to the comm. chatter hoping to find more information; the commander of the operation was relaying instructions to the ground teams telling them to hold their position until the cops found a lead. Bando grumbled as he spit his cigar in the sand and pocketed his lighter.

As he looked up his eyes narrowed, he thought he could see a figure in the distance and something was familiar about it. He rummaged through his pockets to find the sheet of paper on which he noted what he needed to remember; upon finding it he studied it carefully. He looked down at the paper and then up at the figure in the distance, repeating the motion several times before grinning like a mad-man.

"Target spotted." He said maniacally as he moved forward, pushing the rookie and the blond to the side, both of them looking quizzically at the man wondering what target he had found.

It was only then that they realized where Bando was going; they could see the figure of a girl not far from their location, laying on the sand on her knees and scavenging for something in the sand. The blond's eyes widened for a second as he gazed on the girls long pink hair, he then shook his head, there was no way it could be her, she was still locked in the facility for all he knew.

Shrugging, the blond followed his leader catching up with him. As they got closer he was more then sure it wasn't the same person. While he had never seen her face before or saw how long her hair was, he knew that this wasn't the same person. The aura around her was also different; it was too calm for a diclonius. The only thing they had in common was the hair color and those two horns.

As they got closer they noticed a boy walking over to the girl with an umbrella in his hands. They stood watching for a moment as the two interacted, the boy taking the girl in his arms while she cried on his shoulder. The blond grit his teeth as he looked away, remembering things from the past, he shook his head as he noticed Bando going in.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Bando asked as the girl and the boy looked up at the man. Before they could react Bando hit the boy with the flat end of the rifle making him crash on the ground.

"Nyu!" she shouted in fright as she rushed to the boy's side taking him in her arms, continuing to shout the same word.

"Who…are you?" the boy asked as he tried to stand up only to have Bando kick him in the ribs, making him fly in the nearby wall. He gasped in pain as he fell unconscious.

"I think that went a bit too overboard." The blond said with a smile as Bando scoffed and grabbed the girl by the hair making her yelp in pain.

"Sir, I don't think this is the target." The rookies said as Bando turned to glare at him.

"How many girls are there in the world with pink hair and horns?" he asked as the rookie inspected the girl once more and took a step back in fright.

"Sir…we're too close!" he shouted as Bando scoffed.

"Pfah…I want to do this up close and personal." He said with a maniacal grin as he threw the girl on the sand and proceeded to kick her. "So where is that scary murderer that everyone talks about?" he asked kicking her again, trying to incite her and make her attack him. It was no fun if he couldn't fight his opponent seriously, if they didn't struggle to survive.

He bent down and grabbed her by the collar and demanded that they fight, yet the girl continued to cry. He scoffed and threw her on the ground and hitting her with the flat end of his rifle. Bando grabbed her by the arm and lifted her up and started walking away with her, despite her cries.

The blond watched with a stoic face as the events played before him, he didn't want to get mixed into this. Bando was like a demon when he got pissed and even he didn't want to face that demon, last time he had faced him they ravaged the entire training area by trying to shoot each other, or more importantly, to kill each other.

Still, he felt a pang of guiltiness washing over him as he looked at the girl getting beaten and then getting dragged away. "I'm not going to take part of this madness." He said to himself as he let the rookie and his captain move away from his line of sight. When he could barely see them through the darkness and the rain he started following.

It wasn't long until he reached the nearby dockyard, crates and boxes were littered everywhere. It seemed like no one really tended to this place. He looked around trying to spot the lunatic and the rookie.

The blond sighed in annoyance as he realized he lost their trace, he sat down on a nearby crate and looked up at the sky. A weak smile appeared on his face as he took a trip down memory lane. He shook his head snapping out of his daze and stood back up, he had no time to go down that lane, not yet. He had a job to do.

He scoured the entire area trying to figure out where the two were, until he heard someone yell and what sounded like gunfire. The blond took his rifle in his hands and ran in the direction he heard the scream.

It didn't take long for him to reach the place and what he saw shocked him. Bando was laying on the ground glaring at the same woman he had abused several minutes ago, the woman was above him, glaring down at him.

"You bitch." Bando said as he tried to lift his gun only to have his arm ripped off by an unknown force. He shouted in pure agony as he started cursing the woman above him, he then spotted the blond behind her and grinned.

The girl turned her head slightly and looked behind her at the newcomer. "Shoot her!" shouted Bando angrily as the blond studied the girl before him, they looked at each other in the eyes for several seconds before the blond lowered his gun startling Bando.

"No…" he said lowering his hands to the side.

"What?" shouted Bando "What the fuck do you think you are doing?" he shouted as the blond grinned under his mask.

"Its simple…she knows me and I know her…I cannot kill one like me." He replied as the girl's eyes widened for a second realizing who the soldier was, her vector unwrapped from around his neck and receded back to her.

"I'll kill you…" Bando growled "You and this bitch!" he shouted as the girl turned towards Bando and lowered her vectors down at his face. Moments later she crushed his eyes making him shout in pain and roll on the sand.

"Man…he really does scream like a girl." The blond stated off-handedly as he walked forward next to the diclonius. Her vectors instinctively shot towards him, she was surprised when she felt something grab them, turning towards the blond her eyes widened seeing the blond holding her vectors with his hand.

He turned slightly towards her, his eyes forming a "U" signifying that he was smiling. "Don't worry, I said I won't hurt you." He stated as he let go of her vectors which receded into Lucy.

"Who are you?" she asked with a glare, if the man before her could stop her attacks like this it was obvious she would stand no chance if he decided to attack her. Yet, deep down she knew that he wouldn't do that, she was certain that he was the same person that always stood in her "cell", the one guard that loved to talk to her.

"Me?" he asked innocently tilting his head to the side. "Why I'm just a wanderer…" he replied as he looked down at the ground smiling sadly under his mask, not that she could see that.

Just as Lucy was about to ask something else a wave a pain rushed through her head, she screamed in agony as she grabbed her head and fell on her kneed. The blond looked with interest wondering what was happening. Seconds later her aura changed, making the blond raise a curious eyebrow. She looked up at the bloodied Bando and took several steps back in shock, then she looked up at the blond.

"Nyu?" she asked with fear and confusion in her eyes.

"Nyu?" the blond asked not understanding, then it hit him, the girl from before, they were one and the same person. He crouched down to her level and looked in her eyes, the girl flinched as she backed away. "Whoa there, I won't hurt you." He said as the girl suddenly stood up and started running away, most likely she remembered who attacked her in the first place and thought he would do the same.

The blond sighed as he turned towards Bando. "What's going on?" demanded the blind man who had strangely calmed down and was no longer struggling on the ground.

"Oh look, you're still alive…" the blond said with an emotionless voice as his former squad leader suddenly fell silent. The blond was debating what to do with Bando. "…well then, I'll see you later Bando." He said as he turned around and started leaving.

"Hey! HEY!" the downed man shouted "Where do you think you are going?" he shouted as the blond did not reply "NARUTO!" he shouted struggling on the sand, the blond in question only smirked as he walked further away, disappearing in the night.

Naruto sighed as he walked through town; he had discarded his armor and gun and stashed them in a safe place. He only kept his side-arm, hidden away. The blond took out his wallet and counted his money, he had enough to rent a room for at least a week or so, not the most expensive one thought, damn Kurama lowering their budget. But then again, he had no right to complain.

He thought over his decision, to leave the SAT and leave his squad leader to die of blood loss. He didn't really care, it was about time he moved on and truth be told, he didn't really feel welcome in that institute. He needed to find something else to do, maybe get some kind of job, something that didn't involve him taking up a weapon, pointing it at someone and killing them. He had enough of those.

Shrugging, the blond thought about his encounter with Lucy, he never thought that he would meet her face to face. All the time he stood and talked with her in that chamber, he never once thought that he could talk to her like normal people. Not that they were normal to begin with, she was a diclonius that murdered people when she was young and murdered even more today with her escape and he…he was a ex-ninja on the run.

He grimaced, even Itachi had it better then him, at least they cut him some slack. Still, he had been here for about two years and nothing bad happened, at least not yet. He was thankful for that, he only wished that he could some day settle down without fear that they would find him. But the again, passing the Veil was no child's play…

The blond shook his head and stopped walking, he spotted a motel not far away. He smiled as he continued walking, it will have to do until he found some other place to stay that is.