What came first, the chicken or the egg? Was ketchup better than mustard? Was God real? Zeref didn't know. It's amazing how the mind tends to wander when stared in the face by death.

Unfortunately, death decided to come slowly as Natsu slowly scraped the claw on the index finger of his left hand across Zeref's chest. The Dark Mage moaned as a crimson lake formed itself on his chest.

The groan from the Black Mage shook the onlookers above from their shock. If they hadn't seen it for themselves none of them would have beloved it. But now, here, before them in the flesh. It was undeniable that Natsu was E.N.D.

"Kami! It's true!"

"Natsu is E.N.D!"

"He was destructive enough before, now we're really screwed!"

Ignoring the shouts from above. E.N.D. continued to torture his brother. Initially, he ripped through only the skin layer. Gradually he sent his claws deeper into Zeref's skin. Moving his claws faster and faster he added another two fingers to the torture. The black mage began to scream when Natsu moved from his torso to his thighs, ripping through muscle-like tissue paper.

Ezra could watch no longer. Yes, she wanted him to suffer. She wouldn't even mind if he died. But it became a whole different ball game if Natsu was the one yo land the killing blow. Once you killed someone there's was no going back.

Ready to inflict more pain, E.N.D. brought down his right clawed hand, aiming for Zeref's stomach. Before contact could be made, Zeref hard a soft woosh accompanied by the sound of metal meeting bone a second later. He looked up to see flaming red hair and Heart Kruz armour. The daughter of Irene had protected him.

Surprised and annoyed, the demon glared down at the redhead in front of him. She returned it with equal intensity.

"Natsu! You nee-"

With one swore the Etherious removed the annoyance from his line of sight, sending it across the crater towards its fellow guildmates. Returning to his playtime, E.N.D. once again attempted to show the dark mage eternal darkness, only for a blade embed itself in his hand. Returning his gaze to the bystanders once more, E.N.D saw the same annoyance once again, still standing, wearing her Heaven's Wheel Armour. A myriad of swords circled behind her. With an outstretched arm, she recalled her blade to her.

The removal of the sword caused E.N.D. to grimace slightly. He was more annoyed by the fact that the distraction would take more effort to deal with. Within 20 seconds, the wound had almost already closed up, his high-speed regeneration coming into play.

"Natsu! Listen to me! You mu-"

The human's voice had gotten annoying the second her mouth opened. Quickly fixed with an unexpected uppercut, the demon once again made for the Black Mage, who had managed to sit up despite his severe injuries. For what he hoped was the last time, the demon once again raised his left hand, right about to strike.

And this time no sword stopped him.

The power of the strike made the very ground shake, causing a dust cloud to rise up around him. Sight became useless, so instead, he listened for a heartbeat. Silence. Serenity. Peace. The black mage wad finally dead. All he wanted to do now was collect the body ad a trophy. And then sleep. Yes. 'Sleep is good' he thought. But first, his prize. Exhaling deeply, E.N.D. inhaled all of the dust, returning visibility to the vicinity. There in front of him, lay the remains of the Dark Mage

...'s cloak.

A few metres behind him, what should have been a corpse lay sweating profusely at the feet of his red-headed saviour. He had come so close, only for her to deny him of his first kill. It seemed that the woman would have to be terminated. Permanently.

"Natsu! I told y-"

Suddenly, Ezra was flung to the side, as if she were a fly. Before she had time to comprehend what was happening, her head was roughly grabbed in mid-air and slammed into the ground, the rest of her body following like a rag doll.

It was then, that the massacre started. No part of the body was paid special attention. Whatever his hands met is what was burned, broken or beaten. The only part left out was the head. The demon wanted her fully conscious as he thrashed her within inches of her life. He didn't hear the cries from the onlookers for him to stop. Nor did he see Zeref try and crawl away. He didn't hear her screams for him to stop. All he saw was the fresh crimson blood outing from her voluptuous as he broke her.

Yet all good things must come to an end. He still had to kill Zeref. Picking the barely conscious woman up, he levelled her head with his hand, preparing the final strike.

"Natsu, please…"

The faint whisper caused the Etherious to look her in the eye, hoping to enjoy the look of despair in her eyes as she took her final breaths. It was then that he noticed it; the two salty waterfalls cascading down her cheeks. The woman was crying.

Erza was crying.

The very same Erza who he had promised would never cry again. But here she was, sobbing her heart out, begging him not to kill her. Nevertheless, what really shook Natsu, was that he was the source of those tears. He had made Erza cry.

The shock caused him to lose all feeling in his limbs, dropping Erza in the process as he fell to his knees. He couldn't fathom what she had been going through, the very thing she trusted to prevent something actually causing it to happen. The fires in the crater suddenly snuffed out and the fire on E.N.D.'s back slowly dwindled as turmoil took over his mind.

He was the reason for her tears. Hewas a failure. Worse, he was a promise breaker. He couldn't be trusted. How could he trust himself to keep any promise if he could' t even keep the simplest ones?

A failure. A god-damn good for nothing-

"It's okay,"

Two slender arms made their way around his torso, their soft pals gently stroking his backside. A mop of velvet red hair rested on his shoulder. The scent of strawberries and cinnamon invaded his nose. It smelt fresh.

"I forgive you,"

Forgiveness…forgiveness?! He didn't deserve forgiveness. He had made her wasn't meant to cry. He wasn't meant to make her cry. Yet he had done so anyway. Forgiveness was not what he deserved. Seeing as the Dragonslayer was still tense and not calm, the redhead pulled him closer, nestling his head in her bosom.

"I promise we'll get through this, "Slowly, Natsu began to relax in the swordswoman's embrace.

And this made the Black mage livid.

He was just about to die. He was about to finally get what he always wanted. His wish was going to be fulfilled. However, just like E.N.D. the daughter of Irene had denied him of his wish. His own brother had been bewitched by her. Most likely seduction. He had lost everything. They were going to pay dearly for this.

"If I cannot have him…" The voice sounded nothing like his usual cocky tone. Now it was rasping, gathering all the energy he had for one last attack. At the sound of his voice, all attention was taken away from the pinkette and the redhead and given to him.

"Nobody can!"

Mirajane Strauss had been watching the action quietly from the sidelines, and because of her initial shock, she had moved forward to the front of the group. This was what decided her fate.

The very second Zeref had finished speaking she heard the distinct sound of bones breaking. Her dress was suddenly very wet. Looking down, she saw it had been drenched in blood. Her airpipe soon became clogged. She found it difficult to breathe. The fluid had reached her mouth now. She bent over and was forced to spew it out onto the ground beside her.

Yet it wasn't blood, it was her lunch, and it was only when her senses had returned to normal did she notice that the blood was not her own.

In front of her, the two brothers stood face to face for what would be the last time. Connected by their right hand,s that were in the other's torso. One had made it through the ribcage. One had made it through the heart. It was Natsu's blood that stained Mirajane's dress. Zeref had a look of shock on his face.

Then slowly it morphed into a smile. A real happy smile. Strangely, Natsu thought he had seen it before, but it seemed like such long ago. Yet it was a smile he would never see again.

"Natsu, may I ask you one thing?"

Blood began to pour from the Black Mage's mouth as Natsu tasted iron in his own. He didn't know why, but he nodded. Black smoke rose from Zeref's body, the spell he had cast on himself in the situation that he did die coming into play.

"Take-take care of her okay? Make sure Mavis lives, happily."

Natsu then remembered Lucy telling him about something 'going on' between the First Master of Fairy Tail and Zeref. He nodded slowly. Half of Zeref's body had already gone.

The smile on the black mage's face became sad.

Then it was gone, forever.

Im tired, ill explain tomoz, blardy blardy blah. Ill update this chapter tomorrow so look out. Sorry for long wait

On a different note, the poll is currently at a draw

Edit: honestly I don't like this chapter, someone already pointed out what I hated most about it. Its just unrealistic. Like who in their right mind would watch their friend getting beat up. Its stupid. but this is anime. :-).

Sorry for the long waits with stupidly shot chapters. next one will be at least 2k. I also need a pairing by next Chapter. There had also been a very large rise in the vote for NaMiZa (altough technically not on the 'poll'). I don't mind that. If it keeps everyone happy and keeps em reading then its cool. If yall ok with this then im ok with it.

Apart from that its 1 up in favour of NaZa

RR

Striker