Seven hated himself. He should have just left the poor girl alone. Better he suffer than her right? Everything about her was flawless. It broke his heart every second of every day to know that he was the one who extinguished the beautiful light in her eyes. Before she met him sure, her life was uneventful, but at least she was safe, and happy. Of course she would never ever admit to him, or even herself, that she was unhappy. She really did love him more than anything. But still, even the strongest of love wasn't enough to overcome the things he put her through. From making her constantly worry about his health, to having to drag her to all corners of the earth for assignments because he was so terrified of something happening to her if he looked away for even a second. Being dragged around like his shadow was starting to drain on MC. She loved him very dearly, and she loved traveling with him to exotic new places, but she had passions of her own, hobbies, friends. Of course Seven made sure she never wanted for anything, but still, the "dangerous guy hacker lifestyle" was draining on both of them. And their relationship. But of course they were stuck in an endless game of relationship chicken. Neither of them wanted to be the first to say they wanted an out. There was of course, nothing MC could really do but agree with him and go along with his plans, because she genuinely was afraid. She was afraid of what he was capable of when he was sad, when he was in love, and when he was angry. He had already convinced (partially forced) her to accompany him to god knows where across the world, abandoning her friends, family, hobbies, and obligations to the RFA. Seven was always a very emotional and damaged man. He felt deeper, loved deeper, and hurt deeper than everyone else, many of his ideas and solutions to problems were rash and dangerous. If she wanted to leave him she knew it wouldn't be that easy. He loved her more than anything in the world. She was his stars, his moon, his sun, his whole universe, and no man in their right mind is letting the universe slip from between his fingertips.

At the moment they were in Cambodia, near a beautiful beach called 'Koh Thmei' which was universally known for its excellent seashells. Seven managed to weasel in some free time for them to go together. MC of course, was touched to get some free time to spend with him. What she didn't expect was for him to be distant and cold the whole time, "Darling, I know you've been stressed out with work lately but, could you at least pretend to be happy to be with me?"

He sighed irritably, when they were happy he was never so dismissive and short with her, "Listen, darling, I really don't have time for your petty little problems right now, alright? Now will you quit nagging me and drop it already?" He snapped, eyes and voice as frigid as ever.

She stood up and silently walked away and down the beach a bit, Seven immediately regretted being so harsh with her, but he really didn't have the energy to humour her right now. His malice towards her, however, was not an accident. He wasn't an idiot, he knew dragging her along with him on his assignments all over the world isn't what she wanted. He knew all she wanted was to live a calm life with him somewhere, have a normal, traditional wedding, and then go back to their suburban home, where they were always safe, and he would go on normal business trips and while he was gone, they would text a few times a day, and he wouldn't watch her through CCTV cameras. Because they were safe, and normal. But he knew he could never give that to her, he could never give her the simple, beautiful, safe life she deserved. And giving up his career was simply out of the question right now. He loved her more than life itself and he would've given her anything and everything he had, but, it wasn't enough. But he, of course, could never break her heart by saying such things, and of course, she would never admit aloud to not supporting her love, they both loved each other so, so much, but of course, that wasn't enough.

About 10 minutes later MC came back, she had tears in her eyes and was holding something in her hands. She sat down on the ground across from him, and looked into his eyes with a sad and sympathetic look in her beautiful eyes. He knew instantly.

"Seven, love." he knew and recognized that he was purposely pushing her away, but man. He was not prepared for it to kill him this much, "I know you don't love me anymore," She sadly whispered, tears starting to flow freely now, "And we both obviously know why, I mean, look at me, then look at you, I was an absolute fool to think that I could ever be good enough for you," His heart absolutely shattered, he wanted to push her away for her own safety, but he never for a single second wanted her to doubt how flawless she was. He wanted her to curse his name, to yell at him, to destroy his belongings and burn his name from her heart forever, he never wanted her to hate herself because of him, "Listen, it's okay, I don't hold anything against you, but I just have one request, please just, keep this for me," She put a small shell into his hand, "Look, when we met, as soon as our eyes met, everything blossomed into bright colours, colours I had never seen before. When I saw you I saw a beautiful aura around you explode a bright and beautiful shade of pink, and then I saw our entire future together. We loved eachother so much, and had such a beautiful life and everything was beautiful and bright, and I saw every ounce of love we had for eachother, and it never ever extinguished. Even now I see you brighter and more clearly than anything I've ever seen in my life, and when I'm with you I feel such a violent and earth shattering feeling of joy. I know in my heart of hearts we're supposed to have a peaceful and loving life together. I've known it since I first talked to you in the RFA messenger app. I can never force you to love me or to be with me if you aren't happy, and to admit it, I'm not happy right now either. But this feeling, this aura has never gone away or faded, not for a second. But I'm afraid it's gonna start if we keep going like this. Please just, promise me you'll hold onto this shell, so you never forget me. And if by some insane coincidence in the universe, we meet again in better terms, we'll come back to this exact spot on our honeymoon, and everything will be okay again, and you'll hold me and smile that signature 707 smile, and we'll both truly be happy. Just, promise me, you won't forget. Please. Don't forget me." She was smiling sadly and openly crying.

He felt a gaping, overwhelming hole where his heart used to be, an all-consuming aching feeling that consumed his entire being and made the world around him fade into darkness and pain and nothing would ever be okay again. He longed to make her smile like he used to. To pull her into his arms and kiss her adorable face and tell her that everything would be alright and that she shouldn't worry for a second because his heart would always be in her delicate, trembling hands. But all he could do was nod. And hurt. Because he really couldn't give her any of the things she talked about. Of course he saw all those things too, he wanted more than anything in the world to drop everything and just give her everything she needed, but he just couldn't. He was too much a coward. Besides, it was much safer for her to be as far away from him as she could get.

As he watched her walk of that beach moments later, after a bittersweet and brief kiss to his forehead, the way she always did whenever he felt hopeless or run down or downright suicidal. Something that once brought him comfort and happiness, now was replaced with a sinking feeling. Watching her walk away, for the last time, replaced every feeling, every memory, every thought in his body with an overwhelming emptiness, and pain, so much pain. He never realized just how dim his world was without the sun in it. Just how dark and cold the night could be without the moon. Just how overwhelmingly alone he felt without the stars. Just how empty he was without the universe by his side.