Author's Note - This was just a story I had in mind. I've always was very amused whenever Seven broke the fourth wall while playing the game and I wanted to write a story that revolved around that idea. This was intended to be just a one-shot, but as I was writing it, I kept on feeling the urge to continue it so it's a great possibility that I will. There may be game spoilers within, so proceed with caution. Seven may or may not be out of character.

Beyond the Wall

She was always filled with a sense of sadness and happiness mixed together whenever she finished the last day of the current route she was playing. Happiness, because they finally received their happy ending, and sadness because she had to start all over again. She wasn't sure how many times she had gone through Seven's route – like many, he was her favorite – but each time she played through it, he always managed to make her laugh and smile. It seemed rather cliché – falling in love with characters in a game, but ever since she downloaded Mystic Messenger it quickly stole a piece of her heart. Even now, when she had played through all of the routes – including V's and Saeran's – she'd always find herself going back to it whenever she was feeling bored or glum – they all managed to cheer her up. "Victoria, are you honestly playing that game again? It's such a waste of time." Her smile disappeared as a voice filled her room, and she looked up. An older woman was standing in her doorway, her gaze looking down upon her with an air of disapproval – streaks of gray shone through her dark hair, and her skin was slightly wrinkled.

"I'm sorry, Grandmother," Victoria murmured quietly, "I just enjoy playing it. It takes my mind off of things."

Her grandmother's expression didn't change, if anything she appeared even more dissatisfied as she stared at her only grandchild, "You need to focus on your health. Playing silly games should be the last thing on your mind." With that, her grandmother disappeared, closing her door behind her. Victoria turned her gaze away from the door, glancing down at her phone. The cheerful, upbeat music of the Mystic Messenger's main page was playing and with a soft sigh, she turned off her phone, setting it on her night stand. She didn't hate her grandmother, she knew she was just worried about her, but ever since her sickness took hold of her, things had changed. Her grandmother had grown distant and she had been left to her own devices – which included downloading games on her phone to keep her mind occupied. There hadn't been much else she could've done – the illness kept her bound to bed and she couldn't attend school as she used to. The only real company she received was visits from doctors and at times her grandmother's servants would stop by and entertain her; otherwise, she was alone. A soft sigh escaped her, and she picked up her phone once more. "I guess it's no use feeling bad for myself," She mused quietly as she opened the game once more. The cheerful music greeted her once again, and she opened the menu that allowed her to view the story options. She had just recently finished up Seven's route again – perhaps this time she should play through Zen's. It had been quite a long time since she'd done so; he had been the first route she pursued.

Before she could click on his route, however, her phone suddenly glitched, and the familiar music cut off. The game was still running, but now there was a new option to update. A rush of excitement filled her. Did the developers finally decide to update the game? Hopefully it was an actual gameplay update – she had been longing for more story to the game; not just bug fixes. Not wasting anymore time, she pressed "update" and game flickered once more, seeming to restart itself. Realizing that it may take it a while to update, Victoria set her phone next to her to sip a bit of the tea that had been brought to her earlier. She didn't allow her hopes to rise too much, though. She would often check the developer's webpage and tumblr for any possible updates – and there was no news of an update with new gameplay. Something as major as that would have spread across the fandom fairly quickly and would have somehow leaked by now. However, even so, it was hard not to be excited. Maybe Cheritz decided to keep it a closely guarded secret and wanted to surprise everyone.

After a while of waiting, the game finally turned back on. Nothing had seemed to change as she first logged on, and the faint feeling of disappointment began to dwell within her. There was no new story option, nor was there any new DLCs. It must have been another bug fix after all. Oh well, I do appreciate that they're still working hard on keeping the game smooth for everyone. A touch of a smile appeared on her face. When she resumed to her previous intentions to pursue Zen's route once more, however, she nearly dropped her phone when a certain ringtone suddenly sounded from her phone and Seven's icon showed up – just like it would if she was in the middle of playing the game – but she wasn't playing anyone's route right now. Just what was this? Did they add something new after all? Hesitating, she finally answered before the countdown ended. Silence was on the other end for a while and she wondered if perhaps it was all a fluke, but then she heard a noise – the sound of someone clearing their throat? "Hello?" There was no mistake – it was Seven's voice. The voice was still Korean, but translated in words and English on her phone, and this time there were no options to respond to him.

Trying not to be frustrated, she waited for a few moments for the options to come up, and when they didn't she clicked her tongue in disappointment. "Maybe it's just a bug after all," She muttered outloud, "maybe if I restart it—"

"Wait!" Seven's voice suddenly spoke urgently, causing her to nearly fall off the bed, "don't restart it! I..I know this might be a bit confusing right now, but you can hear me right now right?"

Again there were no options to respond to him… but…

"Did you… just reply to what I said?" She asked slowly, a nervousness beginning to rise in her chest. This had to be a new update. But just how in the world did they make it where he could actually reply to her words? The coding for such a feat would have taken forever to make.

"Ha!" Seven cheered, "Mission a success. It took a while, though."

"Wow! That's so cool," She exclaimed excited "I didn't realize the game developers had this up their sleeve. It must have taken forever."

There was a chuckle on the other end of the phone. "The game developers? No~ they didn't have anything to do with this~" Seven's voice sounded very smug. "I did this on my own. Don't tell anyone though, this is our little secret."

Deciding to play along, she found herself smiling. "Oh really? And how did you manage to do that?"

"That's the secret too~" Seven sounded as if though he was grinning himself, "but it was a lot of work. Breaking the fourth wall is more difficult than it appears."

"Breaking the fourth wall?" She couldn't help her curiosity.

"Yup!" Seven replied cheerfully, "it's the wall that separates individuals such as you and me apart. Most of the time it's a forbidden line to cross, but sometimes it'll be allowed in certain occasions. Like those times during the game where I hinted that I knew that it was all just a game."

It made sense, but this development still confused her a bit. The update was different from the others – there was no new story route or DLC, it was just a sudden call from Seven. Did they intend to branch a story off of this, or was it just a special bonus for the players to have some fun? The AI that they created for the call was amazing, though, it was almost as if she was talking to a real person. Before she could help herself, a question slipped through her lips. "How is it that you're able to understand English?"

"Hm? Oh, you're speaking English, then?" Seven sounded a bit curious as well, "That's interesting because for me you're speaking Korean. There could be some sort of automatic translator installed somewhere… hmm."

"For me, you're speaking Korean, but it appears as words and English on my phone," Victoria looked down at the text."

"Definitely interesting! Also very convenient, too. It'd be a shame if we couldn't have understood each other after all that work."

She found herself losing track of time as the two of them spoke and as that time went on, she still couldn't help but be impressed on how hard the creators of the game must have worked to make a feature such as this. What made her nervous, however, was the idea of hanging up the call. The game had still looked very normal before the call had shown up and there had been no indication of an update – so would she even be able to call again? Was it only a one time sort of thing? It had been nearly two hours, though, and normally calls would be very short so perhaps this was different than norm. "Hey, Seven?"

"Hm?" He almost sounded sleepily, as if time had affected him as well.

"When this call hangs up – do you think there will be an option to call you again?" She wasn't sure if he'd have an answer – he was just a character after all – but maybe the creators had anticipated this question and added to his dialogue.

There was silence on the other end for a while, but finally she heard him yawn. "Hmm… I'm not sure to be honest," He admitted, sounding thoughtful, "it took a lot of work just to break through this time – it may not allow me to do it again."

"I see." She answered, unable to hide the disappointment and sadness from her voice. It must be a one-time deal after all.

"But, there is one thing you should know before this call ends," Seven's voice had turned serious – reminding her of how he was when he joined MC in Rika's apartment in his route, "I know that this entire time you've stuck to the belief that this was the developer's doing. I wouldn't blame you, but I wanted it to be clear that this is real," The seriousness lifted just a bit, "I've always been curious about who was behind the screen – who was behind the limited main character. I wanted to learn more about you, Victoria~."

This time she did drop her phone – it slipped through her fingers and fell onto her lap and she could feel her heart skip a beat. Not once in her conversation with him had she spoken her true name, and she always used a fake name during the gameplay so there couldn't have been anyway he could have possibly known that. After a few moments of regaining herself, she picked up her phone. Seven was waiting patiently for her response, and she exhaled softly. "…you're really real?" She finally spoke hesitantly, her voice quiet.

"Not entirely," She could hear a smile in voice, "I'm still made up of code and bound as a character of this game. I'm just the only one who's been able to cross over the wall. Eventually, I'll probably be pulled back over."

It had to be a dream. That would also make sense… she'd often dream of all of them becoming real. It wouldn't be a surprise if it'd be something she'd dream about. "Sounds like something I would dream about," She chuckled softly, "I've been bedridden for nearly a year now and it'd be nice to have such company."

"Bedridden?" Seven asked quietly, sounding a bit concerned.

"Yes, I've been terribly ill for quite some time," She rested her head back against her pillows, gazing up at the ceiling, "I started playing Mystic Messenger due to loneliness. It helped me cope. That's why I asked if you'd be able to call again. It's been really nice to be able to talk to someone like this."

For a moment he was quiet once again, and she was a bit worried that she had upsetted him. Why did I have to bring that into the conversation? It did tend to always dim the mood. "I see," He finally spoke, not sounding upset at all – in fact he sounded in light spirits as always, "I guess that gives me more reason to work hard to come back to you, doesn't it? Consider it a promise~ besides I'm still curious about you."

"Don't make promises that you can't keep." The words slipped out before she could stop them and she grimaced at how bitter she sounded.

"I wouldn't," He didn't seemed bothered by the bitterness, "In the meantime, you can play with the others. They'll give you company. I'll speak to you again soon~"

And with that… the call ended.

And she woke up.

Her room was dark and night had fallen. So I did fall asleep after all. She sighed softly. Her phone was on her nightstand as she left it when her grandmother had visited her. Next to her phone was a plate with a sandwich – the servants must have snuck in while she was sleeping and left her dinner. She didn't really feel hungry at the moment, so instead she picked up her phone and opened up the game. As expected, it looked the same as it did before. No sudden call was waiting for her, and there was no signs of added gameplay. As she moved to set down her phone again, though, a soft ding made her pause and as she glanced down at the screen once more, she could feel her heart stutter a bit as she read the message waiting for her.

Wait for me, okay? I'll take you to the space station… Victoria.