Chapter Text
He was ready.
It had been a magnificent life. His beloved wife was there holding his hand, his daughters there too. It had been a good life and he was ready. By then, his body was growing cold, but he was there, detached and hovering. Mo would be ok; she had the girls and the girls had her. Kissing her head, John smiled, “I’ll be seeing you, beautiful. I’ll be waiting.”
As he stood from kissing her, the room shifted. He had been laid in the sunniest room of his home, where he could watch the birds at the feeders, the trees, and the flowers. It was ideal and beautiful, and he looked forward to the moment Mo was beside him again. As he stood watching his girls, the sun lit windows began to glow to a painful degree. Soon, bright white light filled the room and he had to close his eyes. This was it, he mused curiously. This was…
“Jonesy?”
No.
“Hey Jonesy!”
No, no, no. It couldn’t be. Opening his eyes, John Paul Jones found himself in a circular room filled with bluish white light that was slowly fading away to reveal three other figures facing him.
“No!” he whispered.
“Hey Jonesy! We’ve been waitin’ for you.” Robert smiled coming to him.
Any sense of Zen left John as he looked at the three men who smiled at him. “Oh no, not you.” He groaned.
“This wasn’t what any of us were expecting.” Jimmy said with a small smile at Jonesy who had began to pace about.
“Yeah, Jimmy was expecting spell bound groupies.” Bonzo laughed. By Jimmy’s slight blush, Jonesy knew it wasn’t a joke. Again, he groaned.
“It’s not that bad,” Robert said “We’re all young again! Look, Jimmy has hair again!”
“Bugger off.” The guitarist hissed.
“And there’s other stuff too.” Robert continued ignoring Jimmy, “Think of something, anything!”
Jonesy thought of how he wished he could just sit and think and suddenly, a chair materialized in front of him. He looked at Robert who nodded. Jonesy held his arms out and there was his favorite bass guitar which disappeared as he closed his eyes and stilled himself for a moment. When he opened his eyes, a translucent, shimmering image of his wife flickered before him. She smiled sweetly and faded away. There was a stillness in the room after she had gone only broken by Bonzos hand clamping onto Jonesy’s shoulder. They said nothing but there was a look of common sadness between the two.
“Some endings are beginnings and some beginnings are endings.” Spoke a quiet voice behind Robert. The four whirled around to find an trio of women. One young and beautiful, one older middle aged and the last a old crone. All three smiled at them kindly. “Don’t be dishearten John,” it was the middle-aged woman who had spoken, “you will be with her again, in time.”
“But your adventure is not over.” Spoke the young one.
“It is merely the beginning of a new one.” Added the crone.
“What do you require of us?” Jimmy asked softly.
“That which only Led Zeppelin can accomplish.” The Mother replied, her smile still radiating like sunlight.
Jimmy opened his mouth to ask more questions, but the room began to shift again. The soft light which had filled it was growing into a unbearable glare. He closed his eyes, yet the light burned through them. Alarmingly, he felt as if his body was being pulled apart but there was no pain, just quiet peace. The same quiet peace he had felt when he had arrived at the room to find the others there. Taking a deep breath, he gave into it.
Robert woke with a start. He felt like he was falling and grabbed onto the edge of where he laid. The edge was sharp and cold against his hands. Smooth and hard, much like marble. He opened his eyes, sitting up. The room was shadowy and still, the only light coming from the floor. He swung his legs over the side, finding the light was glowing runes he had never seen before. Among them were their symbols, his own, the feather and circle, being at his feet. A more in depth look around found the other marble beds with the other members of the band seemingly sleeping. They were arranged in a diamond shape; his head had been nearer Jonesy’s and his feet nearer to Bonzos. He peered around for the trio of women but besides the four of them the chamber was empty.
Robert went to Jonesy and carefully shook him, “Jonesy, hey.” The bassists’ eyes fluttered open wide with panic. He gripped onto Robert’s arm.
“It’s ok.” Robert said softly.
“Where are we now?” Jonesy asked sitting up and letting go of the singer.
“No idea.” As Robert spoke there was a great clanging noise followed by what seemed to be shouts. The two looked at each other and Jonesy hopped from his slab, going to Jimmy. Robert went to Bonzo and shook him. The noise grew louder as the other two woke.
“We don’t know what’s happening, but it doesn’t sound good.” Robert explained to Bonzo. The clattering and shouts grew louder as the four of them clustered in the middle of the diamond.
The noise seemed to be right there in the room but there was no movement in the shadows. Suddenly, a thin line of light appeared in the distance accompanied by the sound of scraping, all while the noise of shouts and movement persisted. The crack of light became a beam of low yellowish outlining a door beyond the darkness.
“Master has abandoned us! Master has…” the voice ended in a croak. The next second, the chamber was lit up like a sudden burst of sun in a storm. Bonzo closed his eyes to the glare. When they opened again, they were in the mist of a battle. Nearer the door stood a short thick man in armor running at a fleeing lizard person. Lizard person? He shook his head to clear it, but yes, it was a human sized lizard wearing yellow robes running from the stout man. But the lizard person wasn’t fast enough as a great axe cleaved him from shoulder to spine. Around them, several yellow clad creatures were fleeing from a group of armored clad stout men. Among them appeared a few humans and a cat. Tall and muscular, the cat was striped grey and white wearing red vestments, the feline leapt at one lizard person foolish enough to try and fight. The cat hit them in the chest with a kick, spun around and kicked the lizard again in the chest, then whack whack, two strikes upside the head and the lizard person fell. The cat took a ready stance and looked around the room. Bonzo became rigid as the cats’ yellow eyes fell on them. The cat bound to them, leaping over one of the marble slabs to get to them.
“Who are you?” they asked.
Stunned, none of the four answered. The cat readied to attack when Bonzo spoke up, “We’re Led Zeppelin. Who the bloody hell are you and what is all this?”