Act VII - Destiny

"Are you ready?" The unusual girl named Kali asked the woman sitting motionlessly in front of her. Of course, Terry Ives could not reply to that sincere query because the ability to respond to external stimuli had been taken away from her a lifetime ago by a man who walked the shadows in guise of serving the light.

Becky responded in place of her sister in a shaky voice, "We are ready."

Kali smiled and held the hands of both the sisters in her own. Then she closed her eyes as the world flickered a couple of times and Becky found herself sitting on the pavement at the corner of some obscure street in some distant city somewhere in the USA. She breathed sharply as her eyes fell upon the young girl standing at the bus stop in front of them. It was Jane, but she looked so different now. He hair was plastered to her head with some gel, and dark eyeliners masked her beautiful eyes in a deep shadow. She wore the same outlandish clothes as Kali and her gang. But truth to be told, Becky kind of liked this look on her niece. It was the signature teenage rebel outfit, and Jane carried it with a certain elegance.

Kali chuckled softly, "Sorry for that. Thought she could use a makeover."

Becky laughed, "She looks… tough."

Kali grinned back, "Bitchin."

Before Becky could ask what it meant, a white van raced through the corner and pulled up in front of the bus stop. Jane backed up a few feet as the doors of the vans opened, and Kali jumped out and landed on the sidewalk. Then she walked to Jane slowly and spoke in a cold voice, "You think you can run away?"

The murderous intent was evident in her voice. Becky felt uncomfortable at the sight in front of her. But the Kali holding her hand assured her with a nod.

The ethereal Kali continued berating Jane in a harsh tone, "You've betrayed your family Jane. We took you in, gave you a chance to redeem your past. And you've decided to leave us in our greatest hour of need. We've lost everything. EVERYTHING. YOU HEAR ME?"

Jane suddenly moved forward as Kali tensed up and placed a hand near her hip. But before she could pull out the gun, Jane hugged her tightly in an embrace and left the enraged girl bewildered.

"I am sorry. But I have to go back to my friends."

Kali spoke a second later, "Your friends? Who are your friends Jane? The humans who cast you out?"

Jane replied softly, "No. Those who took me in. I have to go back to Mike."

Kali placed a hand on her sisters' shoulder and asked her, "Why Mike?"

Jane replied quietly as if she had forgotten where she was standing, "Because he gave me his word, Kali. He promised me that he would take me to Snowball. I have to go back to Mike Wheeler, so he can keep his promise."

Becky suddenly remembered a strange looking flower vase that her sister had carried home thirteen years ago. Could that Promise still hold meaning after so many years? It was an impossible notion, but then she was sitting inside the dreams of a Psychic girl, the boundaries of possibilities were no longer defined in human terms.

The ethereal Kali was curious, she asked, "What's so important about a promise?"

"Promises are the only things human have. If Mike loses that, he will lose everything. AND THAT'S WORSE THAN DEATH."

Jane's scream shocked Becky to her core as tears came to her eyes. She wondered if that was the reason for which Terry was crying now. Did Mike Wheeler break his promise? No. Did the Wheelers break their promise to Terry Ives? The images kept moving in front of her eyes.

Kali was clearly taken aback by that response. She waited for a few seconds and then ran her hand inside the pocket and took out some dollar bills. She smiled at her sister, "Here's your share of the loot."

"Kali…"

Kali shook her head and affirmed her sister, "It's okay Jane. It's time for you to return to your home."

Jane hugged her sister tightly and asked, "Why don't you come with me? Hopper will take the care of you all."

"No, Jane. There's something I need to do. I can't go with you right now."

She stopped to swallow her tears and continued, "Will you remember me, Jane? Will you remember your lost sister who tried to steal your innocence?"

Jane shook her head and replied, "I will never forget you, Kali. I promise that I'll come back for you along with Mike. And together, we'll save you all."

"This Mike must be helluva strong kid. I wish I could have met him," Kali gave a short laugh.

A bus slowly rolled into the stop, and the doors opened. Jane said goodbye to all her friends in tears and climbed aboard. They were feeling sad at her departure too. Funshine was almost crying like a big baby.

After the bus left, the gang huddled together near their van. Kali gave a precise set of instructions to her teammates, "It's time to ride. We need to find Terry Ives and protect her."

Axle was apparently not thrilled about the idea. He objected vehemently, "The fuck? We're on guard duty now? Who's this Terry Ives? Where do we find her?"

Kali responded as she climbed on the car, "She's Jane's mother, and I know where to find her."

"So?"

"So does Martin Brenner."

The four figures quickly climbed in the van, and it raced away into the night.

The visions faded from the background as the spectators returned to the mortal realm. Kali bent over with a groan and fell down on the floor. Becky moved over to the stressed girl and helped her to sit up. Then she wiped the droplet of blood above Kali's lips and smiled at her, "You showed me everything I needed to see. And her too."

Becky pointed at her sister as Kali looked up and gasped when her eyes fell on the face of the woman bound to the chair in front of them by her Fate. Terry was no longer crying, but her eyes burned with a strange fury that only a few people in the world could have comprehended. Kali started laughing as Becky joined her. But then the lights inside the house started flickering in a slow but steady rhythm and left the occupants alarmed.

Becky was about to rise up, but Kali stopped her and spoke with resolution, "Believe!"

"What?"

Kali whispered, "Mike Wheeler's promise is yet to be broken."


In a battlefield where Destiny dueled with Fate, Mike kept trying desperately to find a weapon before Fate destroyed his only ally, and then vanquished his only friend forever. He felt the strange sensation as the fragments of his soul slowly started assimilating together after being shattered into infinite pieces a moment ago. Mike needed to understand why Eleven came back to him and showed him her memories. Did he have the answer? His mind was foggy because he had just lived Eleven's entire lifetime in a fraction of a nanosecond and the information was too much to handle at once. But then a spark went off inside his mind and opened a locked door, one amongst the countless of them.

"Hopper, did you ever break a promise?" Eleven put the last piece of Eggo in her mouth and spoke with a mouthful.

"Huh? What?" Hopper stopped the spoon inches away from his lips. He was apparently not equipped to handle philosophical questions at the dinner table.

"Did you ever promise something to someone and then not keep it?" Eleven was looking at Hopper with a curious gaze.

"Uh... Yes. I had broken my promise to someone very close to me," Hopper replied in a sad voice as he dropped the spoon on the table.

"Then what happened?"

Hopper sighed, "I nearly lost my mind. I kept trying to find that person to beg her for forgiveness. But she was long gone. One day I came home from the station and decided to go meet that person."

"How? She was gone." Eleven felt stupid, but she had to ask.

"I know where she had gone." Hopper's voice could have sliced through metal.

"Where did she go?"

"To a better place." Hopper's eyes reflected the light coming from the table lamp as he removed the lock from a memory long buried inside his heart.

"Did you see her?"

"I was going to meet her. I had everything I needed to make the journey," he finished the sentence and turned his head towards the gun that was lying on the couch.

"Did you go?"

Hopper smiled, "No. Someone found me and hauled me back from that path."

"Who?"

"The most courageous woman I have ever met."

"Who?"

Hopper sighed, "I'll tell you the story someday."

"So, breaking promises is bad?"

Hopper smiled, "Never break a promise that you have made to a person you love."

He finally realized where the conversation came from and where it was heading. Mike Wheeler was the boy who had taught Eleven the value of a promise, and for that very reason, Hopper really felt gratified to him. But Mike didn't show her the other side of the coin, and it wasn't his fault because the kid lacked experience.

Hopper leaned forward and projected the words to his daughter, "But Eleven, If someone makes a promise to you, someone who loves you, then do not allow him to break that promise. Do whatever you must to ensure that the person gets a chance to keep his promise to you."

Hopper knew about the Snowball. He also knew that Eleven would always need to protect Mike, so he could protect her from her past. Some wars could not be fought even with supernatural powers. He ran his hands through his daughter's hair and spoke firmly, "Promises are all we humans have El. In our darkest nights, they shine like the north star to guide us to our salvation. A broken promise is worse than death to both the parties."

Eleven beamed at her father, "So I can go to the Snowball with Mike?"

Hopper dipped the spoon in the bowl and conversed in a light tone, "I was thinking we can hang some disco lights in here and…"


The memory dissolved into Mike's subconscious and he muffled a short cry. He had unlocked the secret at last. He had discovered Eleven's purpose; 'The Promise.' Eleven realized that she was going to die tonight. But deep inside her soul, she knew that Mike would forever wander in the void to find the answer to the question, 'Would Eleven have gone to the Snowball with me?'

And then he would have gone insane and perished because he would never get his answer, he would not be able to keep his promise to the girl whom he loved with all his tiny heart. Of course, Eleven did not want such a tragic fate for her soulmate, so she somehow used her powers to let him know the answer; 'A thousand times Yes.'

Mike could have asked her to come to the moon with him, and she would have agreed without even thinking. He no longer needed to keep his promise because Mike Wheeler had taken Jane Eleven Ives to the Snowball with him, in an alternate universe where Eleven's Fate had lost track of its prey.

She had served her purpose. She had saved Mike from purgatory of broken promises, and now she could finally die in peace.

'Holy fuck.'

Mike gritted his teeth in frustration. He had always known that girls were crazy. Well, Eleven was cute and fluffy, but she was basically a nincompoop because she never realized what the promise was for.

Mike wanted to be the reason for which Eleven could forget her past and live in the future. However, she needed to exist because she deserved to, even if Mike wasn't there. Eleven needed to survive because she had not yet seen even a fraction of what this world had to offer her. She shouldn't be happy with only what she had experienced because there was too much left to explore. She deserved to exist for herself, not for Mike, not for Hopper, not for Brenner.

'Mike Wheeler had promised Eleven to give her a life that she deserved. That was the oath sworn by the last paladin to the last mage on this earth,' Mike smiled absentmindedly as he realized how to save her.

It was finally time. A bell started ringing somewhere, and Mike felt the world transforming around him. It was still dark, but he knew it was fading away to oblivion as Eleven's life-force drained away in the mortal world.

Mike shouted to the few remaining fireflies hovering about his chest, "You have not released me from my Promise, Eleven. Since I can't speak to you, let me show you the true meaning of the promise."

He closed his eyes and reached inside his own heart and looked back at his life. There was a flash of light, and then he was standing somewhere with a vibrant blue sky and a bright green sea calling out for an adventure. 'Hawaii, 1978.' Mike's mother was chatting with Nancy while Mike was building a sandcastle with his dad. The sun shone brightly in the sky and bathed them in a warm light. A blurb of light flew through the towers of the castle made of sand.

Ding, the gong rang far away.

Mike struck deeper to find another memory. He was at the hospital where Holly had just been born. He turned his head towards the bed and saw his mother's face. She was crying in joy. Dad was standing beside her beaming like the Sun. A tiny point of light started blinking above Holly's face.

The gong struck once more.

Mike walked towards the swing. It was his first day in school, and he knew no one. No one even looked at the small boy who was scared to be in such a big crowd. Then he found his way to the swing where another little kid was sitting alone. The kid looked up at Mike and flashed a cheerful smile, "Hi, I am Will." That was a friendship that went to hell, twice, but always lifted them up in the end. Two rivers of light moved in harmony as they weaved through the chains of the swing.

Mike looked behind again as the bell sounded, but it was closer this time.

"Hey," the weird kid called him, "Wanna play DND?" The kid had no teeth, so Troy called him toothless. He was so jovial that he never cried, never. Dustin Henderson never grieved, and he never ran away. Even in the face of impossible odds, he was always ready to fight, even if he didn't have the necessary strength to emerge triumphant every time. A bright spear of light rose from the ground and disappeared into the sky.

Mike reached out again. Two cycles raced furiously through the streets of Hawkins. The riders were almost neck to neck until the very last moment when one of them pulled ahead and crossed the finish line first. Mike had always been fast with a cycle until Lucas beat him in the Mirkwood run one day. And they became best friends from that day onwards. Two streaks of light approached each other and then started racing together towards the infinity.

The bell rang, destiny arrived.

The last firefly pulsed desperately as is kept defying the all-encompassing darkness around Mike. He was running out of time. Destiny raised its sword to Fate for the last time.


Back in the cabin Mike suddenly started breathing laboriously, and his eyes began twitching behind his eyelid furiously. Steve almost jumped up as Nancy came running. She took Mike's hands, the one clutching Eleven's arm, and tried to pull it apart. It didn't budge an inch. As if the flickering lights weren't enough, now something unnatural was going on between Mike and Eleven. The occupants of the room felt a sliver of hope in their hearts. But Eleven was still lying motionless, and the shadow of death still covered her beautiful face with darkness. They were afraid of hoping for an impossibility. Eleven's death has proved to them once and for all that miracles did not happen in real life.


Deep inside his heart, Mike realized that he didn't have much time left. But he also knew what he wanted to show Eleven; not the kiss, not the reunion, not the first day, not the leap. She knew all of them, He reached into his heart for the last time as the last firefly disappeared in the background.

Mike stood in front of the school's stadium dressed in a baggy navy-blue colored sweater and blue jeans. Dustin, Will, and Lucas weren't there. In fact, all three of them had decided to skip the Snowball last year. They knew what Mike felt, and they couldn't go. Dustin even shouted at his stupid friend, "You son of a bitch, none of us are going. Not this year. You hear me?"

Mike didn't. He reached there with the Supercom in his hand. Then he slowly started walking while hiding his face from the crowd. He saw all the couples that were going inside. They were laughing and trying to find comfort in each other's arms. He was also thrilled because he believed she would come. After all, he had made a promise, and she wouldn't let him break the commitment now, would she? He stepped into the hall where music was playing, and Mr. Clarke was serving punch. He bowed his head and went behind the staircase. It was time. He brought out the radio, switched to the predetermined channel and whispered, "El, you are out there, aren't you? I know you are, I can feel you."

"I..." He lost his voice. He wanted to cry, but he held on. He couldn't be sad today.

He proposed to the unknown, "Do you want to dance with me?"

There was only static. He moved up and found an open spot. He didn't know how to dance but still put out his arms to embrace the imaginary girl who had accompanied him that night.

"I'm going crazy, but this is the best way. Better go crazy than believe that she's gone forever," Mike muttered as he moved with the music and made a mess of his steps, but he tried. He kept at it until the music stopped. He was tired, but he didn't show it. He was happy that he could keep his promise.

Then with an unexpected blow to his chest, he realized that it didn't matter. Because he couldn't keep his true promise to Eleven. It had taken him a long time to figure out, but the promise was never about the Snowball, it wasn't about the kiss, it wasn't about the shelter, it wasn't about the Eggos, it was something entirely different. Mike Wheeler had promised to gift Eleven a life she deserved to live. She had suffered so much pain and horror in her life, that Mike was desperate to take the pain away and make her smile; 'That was the true Oath.'

Standing inside an endless nightmare, Mike looked at the darkness above him and uttered quietly, "You have saved me Eleven. I know that makes you happy. But did you ever think what makes me happy?"

Tears crashed down his cheeks as he continued, "The only thing that makes me happy is to see you live a life that you deserve. A life with your friends and family. A life where you don't have to hide. A life where you could walk into a room and everyone would lose their mind over how pretty you are. A life where the world recognized you for who you are. Please come back so I can help you live the life you deserve."

"Come back and let me keep my promise. Please," Mike uttered his final request and collapsed into the darkness. The void was nearly gone now, and eternal darkness swallowed the young boy who had defied the inevitable until the last breath.

Suddenly a bright glow appeared around Mike as thousands of fireflies pulsed a pure white light and descended on his body. The darkness recoiled from the iridescent points of light and retreated beyond the veil. But Mike could not witness his salvation because he had already passed out.


Back in the room, Nancy tried dragging Mike's hands away from Eleven's, but it proved futile. In fact, he was pretty much immovable. Suddenly the lamps around them flared up all at once, and the air started becoming heavier. Hopper jumped up and reached for his gun.

"What the fuck?" Joyce gave a faint scream and fell backward. Jonathan ran towards Nancy and pulled her away just as Steve was suddenly thrown back by an invisible force, but Mike didn't fall on the ground. He was suspended in the air like magic. The lamps started to build intensity until they began to burn like the Supernovae and nearly blinded the occupants of the room. The kids standing outside weren't affected by the initial burst of radiation, but they regarded it a second later when the forest in front of the them was illuminated by the glow shining through the windows. Dustin's jaw dropped as if he had seen a ghost while Lucas gulped and grabbed Max's arm. And then the three of them covered their eyes and entered the room together.


The fire department in a city far away from Hawkins was suddenly woken up by a frantic call from a concerned citizen. The caller informed the station about a blazing inferno that was on the verge of consuming a small home somewhere in the suburbs. The caller kept shouting hysterically through the receiver, "It's burning like the Sun."

"Excuse me, ma'am? But where is the fire exactly?"

"Right next door. I have never seen anything like this."

"What are you seeing ma'am? Is there smoke? Do you see any people in the house?"

"I CAN'T SEE SHIT. It's like the Sun has risen inside their house. Dear lord, someone save the Ives."

"We are on our way ma'am. Please move away from your window."


Back in Hawkins, somewhere on a track hidden inside the woods, a car screeched to a halt as the headlights flared like the twin rays of a newborn star. Murray shouted to his passenger, "Is this Destiny too? Fuck, even the speedometer. What the fuck is going on Doc?"

Dr. Sam Owens started laughing hysterically, "It's over. He did it. The boy's destiny has defeated her fate."

"Which boy?" Murray was thinking about the poltergeist in the woods.

Dr. Sam Owens was still grinning as he uttered the name. Murray's eyebrows rose, "That scrawny kid?"

"Physical strength has nothing to do with your resolve. What do you know about the sheath?"

Murray sighed, "Will Lisa be alright if I leave you in the woods right now?"

Dr. Sam Owens forcefully ceased his laughter when the severe pain radiating from his leg reminded him of his mortality. He spoke to his driver, "We don't need to find Hopper tonight anymore. My patient has been saved. Turn around and get me to the hospital."

"But what about…"

"I am bleeding like a half-butchered pig, Mr. Bauman. I promise you that Hopper won't take it kindly when he discovers my dead body inside your car."

Murray switched the lights off and turned the car around and started driving it slowly towards the highway. He had to rely on the moonlight to navigate through the woods. A few seconds later he asked his passenger, "What were you saying about the sheath?"

Dr. Sam Owens was tired beyond belief, but he decided to entertain his driver for the time being, "The sword is a magnificent weapon but…"

The growls of a restrained V6 engine slowly faded into the darkness. The passengers did not notice the faint glow that was visible from the top of the woods behind them. But they did see the strange glow that set the sky in front of them on fire. It's as if the entire town of Hawkins was set ablaze by some barbarians.


Inside the Wheeler residence, among the burning rays of lamps possessed by strange spirits, Ted Wheeler held his wife to his chest as the light threatened to blind them. Karen shouted at her husband, "Ted. What's happening?"

Ted spoke feverishly, "I don't know. But I'm having a good feeling about this."

"What's so good about the Sun shining inside your house? It's going to start a fire," Karen shouted over the loud buzzing noise produced by the lamps.

"Hold onto that vase tightly dear. This will be over soon, and we'll be okay. All of us will be okay," Ted kept smiling for some odd reason.


Inside Hopper's cabin, Dustin, Lucas, and Max entered the room with their eyes covered with their arms. The lights were so bright the radiation would have burned through their eyelids if they removed their hands.

However, the light slowly died down, and the lamps returned to their usual intensity after a minute. Once the afterimages produced by the light faded away, they observed Mike floating in the air just above Eleven's body with his face facing hers. Eleven did not look so pale anymore, and her eyes twitched behind her eyelids. Then suddenly her chest moved as if she was trying to breathe. The kids jumped in joy and ran toward the couch. Slowly Mike's face started moving towards Eleven's, and they touched their foreheads together.


Mike opened his eyes to light and noticed that the world was no longer collapsing around him as if a shield had blocked the destruction from advancing further. It was no longer dark, and a glorious blue sky welcomed him as he struggled to stand up. He could hear faint voices that sounded like his friends. He felt strange as he looked at the fireflies. They were now flying in rhythm around him as if they were drawn towards him by an unknown force. They started coming closer together, and then they started merging into more prominent points of light. Mike looked in awe as the lights coalesced together into a mini-Sun and from there a radiant figure stepped out. Her outline showcased a head covered by buzz cut hair, big luminous eyes and a stern yet caring smile that melted Mike's heart.

'Eleven's back, awesome!' Mike couldn't restrain himself, he smiled, and then he started laughing. The figure came to him in a steady pace and then stood right in front of him. The radiance slowly faded away as the figure resolved into a person whom Mike had known since the very first day he was born, but it felt as if he was seeing her after an eternity.

'Oh, how much I missed her,' Mike thought as he locked his eyes with the eyes of the girl standing right in front of him.

Jane Eleven Ives, the soulmate of Mike Wheeler spoke in a cheerful voice to her own soulmate, "Mike. I want to live."

"Why?" Mike needed an answer.

"Because I want to make friends, I want to eat Eggos with you, I want to ride the bike with Lucas, I want to play games with Dustin, I want to draw pictures with Will, I want to go fishing with Hopper, I want to go to the beach with my family, I want to study with Nancy, I want to hang Christmas light with Joyce."

She paused for a moment and then hugged Mike tightly and whispered, "I want to live a life which you always wanted me to have Mike. But we'll do it together."

'I want to live so that you can keep the real promise that you have made, Mike Wheeler,' Eleven had at last found her purpose in Mike's destiny.

The bell rang right against them. Mike smiled triumphantly and smirked at Eleven's fate, 'not this time.' He held Eleven tightly in his arms; she felt so real. The world was fading into light around them, it was time to return to the present. Suddenly Eleven gasped and seized Mike strongly. He turned around and came face to face with an astonishing sight.

Somewhere in front of them, somewhere that was neither far nor close, a giant sword was partially buried into the earth. The hilt was made with something that glowed like the sun, but the blade outshone it like a Supernova. Two figures stood facing each other on two sides of the sword. Both resembled Eleven, but one of the figures possessed magnificent wings made of light while the other one was wrapped in ominous clouds made of darkness. The figures gripped the hilt of the sword at the same time, and the world exploded in a flash of light.


The residents of the room kept staring in reverence as if they had seen the most majestic sight they had ever witnessed in their entire lives. Mike Wheeler had wielded Destiny to bring Eleven back from the clutches of her Fate. In the war between Love and Hate, Hope had emerged victorious.

Jim's knees buckled, and he fell the floor. He couldn't find any words to speak, so he kept sobbing. Nancy helped Steve to get back on his feet, if his jaw dropped any further, he could have probably fit a bowling ball inside his mouth. Jonathan rested his arm on his mother's shoulder who was crying hysterically now.

Dustin, Lucas, and Max moved to the couch, and no one stopped them. They moved closer and saw Mike and Eleven gazing intently into each other's eyes and whispering;

"Do you promise to be with me?"

"Forever!"


A/N: The final and the most significant chapter of Fireflies. I had always wondered what the Promise really meant until one night, I found the answer. And now you know the truth as well.

Hope you guys liked the story, the first part of my Stranger Things Extended Universe. Please leave a comment if you had enjoyed the story or if you have any feedbacks.

There are many unanswered questions and hidden secrets spread all over Fireflies. You will find their answers in the next stories; starting with Arc III - Redemption and beyond.