Disclaimer: The characters and concepts of "Slayers" are Copyright Hajime Kanzaka, Tommy Ohtsuka, and Rui Araizumi. This work is a parody and not to be used for any commercial purposes.

Forward: The French expression "l'envoi" usually means a last note at the end of a book. But it can also mean "that which is sent"; a message or a messenger.

L'Envoi

(Shortly after the War of the Monsters' Fall)

The inn was situated in an out of the way cove, nearly two miles from the nearest village, and the way there was more a trail than a road. This had actually helped business, for a number of customers found they liked the quiet and solitude. But finally the isolation had proved fatal to the couple who owned the inn and the three who worked had worked there.

The tall red-haired figure turned from the last of his victims, and began a quick but thorough search behind the bar and then into the storage room. Satisfied that he was for the moment the only living thing in the inn, he returned to the large oak-paneled common room, and began cleaning the blade of his impressively long sword.

His time of being alone was short, however. The front door swung open to reveal a silver-haired woman with a decidedly displeased expression on her face. "Was this really necessary, brother Gaav?" the newcomer demanded.

Gaav raised his eyebrows. "Greetings, Lady Zelas." His tone was more formal than the woman's had been. "Yes, it was. We cannot have mortals listening to a council of the Mazoku Lords."

"Then we should have met elsewhere." Zelas replied. "Wolf Pack Island has perfectly comfortable facilities, brother. I have seen to that."

"I daresay you have." Gaav gave a wintry smile. "But this council needs to be on neutral ground, as I'm sure you understand. In fact, I would have preferred we wear more neutral forms."

"Thanks to recent events, these human forms are as even as we can get." Zelas said.

Gaav frowned. "No need to remind me." Being sealed in a physical body, and in one of the weaker species at that, was an inconvenience he had not yet adjusted to.

The inn door opened again, and what looked like a man and a boy stepped inside. The boy had black hair in a pageboy cut, and looked to be about nine in human terms. The other had equally dark hair, and seemed to be in his mid-twenties.

"Welcome, Lord Phibrizzo, Lord Dynast." Gaav's tone had turned formal again. "Have you news of Lady Dolphin?"

"She will be here soon." Phibrizzo replied.

"She has her own sense of time, after all." Dynast added.

"I know, I know." Zelas sighed. "Just as long as I can return in time to feed my latest creations. Unlike your subjects, brother Phibrizzo, mine get hungry."

"Many of your subjects, Greater Beast, become mine eventually." Hellmaster smirked.

"And yet they do not serve you as effectively as they served me." Zelas glanced at one of the corpses that were Gaav's handiwork. "Which is why I object to brother Gaav's transferring them to your domain prematurely."

"What is done is done." Dynast spoke. "Let us not be distracted from the purpose of our meeting here. Much as you might like us to be."

Zelas looked as if she wanted to make a reply. But at that moment the door opened to admit another female, this one with long, flowing dark hair.

"Welcome, Lady Dolphin." Phibrizzo said.

"Thank you . . . is that you, brother Phibrizzo?" said Dolphin. "That's such a deceptive form."

"That's what I was trying for." Phibrizzo looked pleased.

"But you really should clean up after yourself." Dolphin continued, looking around at the corpses. "Boys are so messy."

"Not my work," Phibrizzo said. "For once."

"Now that we are all here," Gaav remarked, "shall we get to business?"

"Certainly," Dolphin replied. "Are we here to discuss the problem of Darkstar, or to launch the Koma War?"

"Darkstar?" Dynast looked startled. "Who is that?"

"Oh dear, it's that time sense of mine, isn't it?" Dolphin said. "I get so confused between time's flow and the ocean's flow. And they're both so poetic to contemplate."

"If you say so." Phibrizzo shrugged. "Time means so little in my domain."

"Actually, sister, neither subject you've named is the one this time." Zelas spoke. "We're here about the fact that all of you are somewhat piqued at me."

"Piqued?" Dolphin's face looked blank for a moment, and then comprehension dawned. "Oh, it's that little hooligan of yours, Xellos."

"Yes, but don't you think he's earned the right to be considered at least a rapscallion by now?" Zelas replied.

"I'll grant him that, at least." Gaav said. "But it's beside the point. There was a gentlemen's agreement that we would each create one priest and one general. Instead, you have created one exceptionally powerful servant."

"First of all," Zelas spoke, "There are no gentlemen here."

Dynast frowned, but Phibrizzo and Gaav looked amused.

"Second," Zelas continued, "I said 'I understand' to the proposal. I never said I would carry it out. Third, even if I had agreed and broken my word, isn't that what we Mazoku do?"

"When we can get away with it." Dynast pointed out. "But we Mazoku also enforce our will when we have the power to do so. And we, Lady Zelas, have the power at the moment."

"And isn't that why you made just the one lieutenant?" Gaav demanded. "To conserve your own power, so that you could become the greatest among the five of us?"

"Don't pretend you don't have that ambition as well, brother." Zelas' voice was cool. "Let us be honest -- unfamiliar as that may be. Each and every one of us fully intends to rise above the others."

"Rise? Actually, I like the depths." Dolphin almost grinned.

"You know what I mean." Zelas retorted. "Brother Dynast, I am aware of that fragment of father Shabranigdo that you're keeping on ice. And can any of the rest of you truly tell me that you're not holding back anything?" A flicker of emotion registered on the other Mazoku lords' faces, and Zelas knew she had made her point.

"Whether we are or aren't," Phibrizzo countered, "we haven't broken the agreement. You may create a proper priest and general, or do without, as you please. But you are going to have to destroy Xellos."

"Are you sure this isn't about how much he annoys you?" Zelas queried.

"No." Dolphin's voice was firm for once. "This is about the threat he represents."

"Destroying someone who annoys us is merely a bonus." Gaav added.

"You spoke of what we Mazoku do, and how we have ambitions." Dynast said. "With that much power, I doubt Xellos will be content to be a subordinate forever. Truthfully, I think you will be doing yourself a favor by eliminating him."

"Oh, no." Zelas shook her head. "Do you think the possibility of betrayal hadn't occurred to me? I have put loyalty to me at the very core of his being. He will serve me faithfully so long as he lives."

"Have you lost your mind?" Phibrizzo said what the other Mazoku lords clearly felt. "How could you have forgotten that loyalty is a -- a --" he finally managed to get the word out, "virtue??"

"If he can manage that," Dynast chimed in, "what else might he be capable of? Perhaps even -- " he hesitated, "--that other emotion that begins with 'L'?"

"Do you know," Zelas looked intrigued, "that might be rather amusing. Don't you think so, sister Dolphin?"

"Now that you mention it, yes." Dolphin smiled for a moment, then looked unsettled. "As long as he doesn't develop affections for a dragon," she said with an air of distaste.

"After his annihilation of that tribe of Golden Dragons?" Zelas waved her hand dismissively. "And that brings me to the most important point. Sister and brothers, we have sustained heavy losses in the war. Who is to blame for that is no longer important." However, her gaze went to Phibrizzo for the briefest of moments. "Although the humans are accepting the Great Barrier as a permanent feature, we who are ageless must not be fooled. The barrier will come down in time. We can hope that the humans and dragons outside it will turn on each other in the meantime, but it would be folly to take that for granted. Now is the time build our strength, not diminish it."

"There you make a strong argument." Dynast nodded.

"What will the dragons say if we destroy our most potent servant, without any cost to them?" Zelas continued. "Imagine how we would laugh, if they executed their greatest warrior without our having to do anything?"

"Our most potent servant?" Gaav looked skeptical, but Zelas noted that he was the only one. "Don't over-rate him simply because he was lucky enough to survive."

"I do no such thing." It took a great deal of willpower for Zelas to keep the triumph from her face. "I am reliably informed that the dragons already fear him as they fear no other Mazoku besides ourselves. Possibly even more than one or two here." Gaav frowned again at this hint to his sealed human form. "And we would not be discussing this if Xellos' power did not . . . impress you. But if there are any lingering doubts, why not see for yourselves? I will make Xellos available for assignments to you. Learn what an asset he is before we do anything irreversible."

"Beware!" Dolphin held up her hand. "I sense a great danger here! I feel that Xellos will be the key to the destruction of this entire world. All will be returned to Chaos!"

"Really?" Zelas beamed.

"Well, why didn't you say so earlier?" Dynast was smiling also.

"Oh, right!" Dolphin smacked her forehead. (She would only be wearing the form for a little longer anyway.) "Returning this world to Chaos is a good -- "

"Please do not use the 'g-word' in mixed company." Dynast interrupted.

"My apologies." Dolphin said. "A desirable thing."

"Xellos stays, then." Phibrizzo said. "But, Lady Zelas, I will hold you to your offer ."

(A very, very long time later)

Nothing felt right without him. Lina stood up from the grave she had deposited the flowers on, with the same despondent expression she had worn when she entered the graveyard. Thrashing bandits, scooping up treasure – it just wasn't the same any more. Even wolfing down food wasn't that appealing when you were alone.

Her face changed to a more determined look. It was time to go out in one last spectacular battle. Dynast or Zelas? She would be doing the world a greater service by attacking Dynast, but there was a certain trickster priest she needed to see one more time.

Abruptly the world seemed to flicker red for an instant, then she was surrounded by green. The graveyard had vanished entirely. There was nothing but a featureless green surface all around her. Nothing? No -- she was not alone.

"Hello, Lina." Xellos' voice was instantly recognizable. "I'm happy to see you again. You can't imagine how long I've waited."

"Don't bother me today, Xellos." Lina began to turn around. "You cannot understand what I'm feeling."

As she caught sight of Xellos' face, for just a moment she thought she saw a remarkably somber expression. Then he was back to the closed eyes and the smile of old. "Actually, I can. And it's not today, Lina," he said.

(And just what in the nine Hells is that supposed to mean?) is what she thought, and what she ordinarily would have said. But instead she simply said "Explain."

"We're in a time bubble." Xellos replied. "You can think of it as the rest of the world being frozen while we have our enjoyable conversation. Actually, we've simply moved out of the time-stream, and I'll return us to it at the same point I left. Lady Dolphin developed the spell; she handled time a bit differently than the rest of us."

"Then get us back into the time-stream – wait." Lina's eyes came open. "Did you say handled? As in past tense?"

"Indeed I did." Xellos said. "The spell can also be used to stop time within the bubble while the rest of the world proceeds. You may have noticed a flash of red?"

"I have a very bad feeling about what you're about to say." Lina began to think of ways to kill Xellos.

"You left the time-stream considerably before I did. Quite a lot has happened since I first cast the spell around you." Xellos went on. "We'll be returning to what you consider as the distant future. You'll recall I said that you can't imagine how long I've waited?"

"Just how long?" Lina grated.

"Numbers are tiresome, don't you think? But long enough so that everyone you ever knew is dead and gone. Anyway, in the interval, Lady Dolphin attempted to gain control of a Shabranigdo fragment that Lord Dynast was keeping. The results were fatal to both of them." Xellos shook his head. "You always were better at handling those things."

"So now Zelas is the only Mazoku lord?" Lina asked. At least it confirmed her decision about which one to go after when she had gotten Xellos out of the way. In the meantime, she considered an amplified Dragon Slave. No, that would more likely kill her than him in the confined space of the time bubble. It would need to be a Ragna Blade.

"Indeed she is. I confess I was so relieved for her." Xellos' smile was almost as cheerful as Lina remembered, but not quite. "It was the one thing that she was truly worried about."

"That the other lords would band together against her?" Lina cupped her chin as if thinking, with her fingers going up to cover her mouth. "Sword of cold and darkness, free yourself . . ." she began to whisper.

"Well, they probably would once they'd guessed how long she wanted to preserve this world. Did you notice, during your second encounter with Rezo, that I made no attempt to find out whether the Shabranigdo fragment was insane or not? The other lords were concerned about the danger if he had been unstable. But Lady Zelas wanted the fragment destroyed in any event."

The fact that Xellos was telling her, without any subterfuge, was even more astonishing to Lina than the secret itself. Her hand dropped, and she stared open-mouthed, almost but not quite interrupting the spell.

"Oh my, that's not the easiest incantation," Xellos waved his finger. "And I'm not sure how it will work without the normal time stream. Allow me." He gestured, and the all-surrounding green disappeared. They were standing amid the wreckage of some kind of large building.

Lina paid no attention to the details except to note that it was nothing familiar. "--that can smash even the souls of the gods! RAGNA BLADE!" The strands of elemental chaos erupted forth from her half-clenched fists, and in a moment, guided by her will, they wove together to form the irresistible weapon. But that moment was all Xellos needed. He stepped to the left, forcing her to use a side-to-side cut instead of a vertical stroke, and then disappeared. The black strands of the Ragna Blade swept across where he had been, but Lina felt no contact.

"Dammit . . ." she said aloud. The Ragna Blade could even cut through this plane of existence to the Astral Plane. That meant Xellos must have--

"Over here!" he called out, popping up from behind a slab of some kind of rock.

--teleported. Lina brought the Ragna Blade around, slashing the rock to pieces, but Xellos had ducked back down before it arrived.

"Try again!" His voice was as cheery as ever as his head appeared from a large gap in the flooring. Lina's overhead strike was, if anything, even more late than her first two attempts. The strain of the spell was affecting her.

"Maybe this time!" Xellos' head and shoulders popped out sideways from some kind of ventilation hole in a ruined wall. Lina opened up a considerably larger hole, but that was all she had to show for her attack.

"My, Lina," Xellos' voice came from behind her, "you may be a genius sorceress, but you're very bad at whack-a-mole!"

"What the hell is 'whack-a-mole'?!" Lina yelled as she brought the Ragna Blade around to the pile of rubble that Xellos disappeared behind. But the shout finally broke her control of the spell. The black strands dissipated, and she fell to her hands and knees from the reaction.

"Sorry." Xellos didn't sound sorry at all as he appeared right next to her. "That was a game after your time." He reached into a pouch and brought out some kind of plastic cylinder with a steel needle protruding from it. "You look simply exhausted after bit of exercise. Allow me to help." He jabbed the needle into Lina's posterior and injected some kind of liquid.

"YEEOWW!!" Lina yelled. "So help me Ceipheid and Shabranigdo both, I'll get you for this if it's the last thing I do!"

"It's a deal!" Xellos' smile grew even larger.

"Huh?" The pain faded quickly, and energy began to flow back into her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you've just seen that a Ragna Blade isn't going to work. And if a Dragon Slave didn't take care of Seygram or Valgaav, it certainly won't be enough to do for me. That just leaves . . ." Xellos looked expectantly.

"No! I won't!" Lina came to her feet.

"Awww ..." Xellos waved his finger. "But you promised!"

"You WANT me to Giga Slave you?!" Lina almost shrieked. "Don't you know what might happen??"

"Oh, I don't think there's any 'might' about it."

"But--but--" Lina struggled to make sense of the situation, "You said Zelas wanted to preserve the world!"

"Until she had enjoyed it to the full. But that time has now come to an end." Xellos opened his eyes. They regarded her without either mockery or menace, but with the somber expression she had caught a glimpse of before -- and it scared her as nothing else Xellos had ever done. "Do you remember that weapon Jilias tried to kill you with before the tank? The rocket that didn't yield as powerful an explosion as he'd intended?"

Lina nodded.

"Well, the humans managed to solve that problem, and then some. Eventually they built rockets more potent than the strongest Dragon Slave. And there is now a tiresome disagreement between the continents . . ."

"And they're about to fire their rockets?" Lina demanded.

"I brought us back into the time-stream just as the first one went up."

"Oh no . . ." Lina shook her head, then realized the futility of it. "But still . . . I don't want to be the one who . . ."

"I know a death wish when I feed on it, Lina." Xellos said quietly. "You were planning on making an end in any case. Nothing is the same without him, is it?"

"Don't you dare--" Lina began.

"You told me I could not understand, and I told you that I can, and do." Xellos' voice was still quiet and calm, and yet Lina listened. "The things you received so much enjoyment from now seem hollow. They all merely remind you of how much better it was with him. And yet, for all the emptiness you feel now, and more, for all the grief you felt when you lost him -- still you would go through it all again."

"How can you know?" Lina's voice was now just as quiet as his, and just as impossible to ignore.

"It's ironic, you know. I found a blonde as well. And she too had a magnificent heart."

"Filia."

"Yes."

"What happened?" Now Lina found she had no trouble meeting Xellos' eyes.

"Dragons live a long time, but they are not ageless. I am." He smiled, but it was completely without mirth. "It has its downside."

Lina thought for a moment. "Did Zelas know you weren't planning to come back from this mission?"

"She did. It was a gift for excellent service." Xellos changed to a persuasive tone. "Come, Lina. We can't bring them back, but we can go to join them. Didn't you have a feeling ever since you found out I'm a Mazoku that it would end something like this? And shouldn't you be the one who strikes the final blow? Isn't that what Lina Inverse would do?"

There was a moment of silence. Then Lina's face changed to the determined expression he had seen many times before. "You're right. I'll teach them to try to devastate the world while I'm not looking. Okay, how much time do we have?"

"Three minutes until the first impact."

"Enough time to do this properly." She looked around, and found the highest point of the building's remains. "You should take your position over there."

Xellos disappeared with the faint crackle of teleportation, and re-appeared at the point Lina had indicated.

"Vu Vraimer!" Lina gestured at the ground beneath her. The rocks gathered together, lifting her into the air. In moments she stood atop a three-story-high golem, which looked much like herself with a larger bust size.

"My compliments on your golem skill, Lina." Xellos said.

"I learned from – never mind." Lina brought her hands together, and flexed her knuckles. "All set?"

Xellos twirled his staff around once, then planted it on the rough stone at his feet. "You may fire when you are ready." The gem on the staff glowed, and streamers of black began to flow towards Xellos.

He's summoning Black Magic to unbalance the Giga Slave, Lina realized. Nice touch. She raised her arms above her head. "Darkness beyond blackest pitch, deeper than the deepest night. . ."

- Fin -

Author's note: True, there is nothing in the Slayers canon about Deep Sea Dolphin having the ability to see through time. But since the Golden Dragons can receive prophecies, it seems only fair for me to give at least one Mazoku a similar ability.