*TRIGGER WARNING: Child abuse*
*To see the author credits, full origin story, and fanart credits for any chapter, click on the external link. It will take you to the chapter on Quotev. Scroll to the bottom of it and you'll find everything linked.*
Fun fact, did you know Zero was originally supposed to be a proxy of Laughing Jack? I didn't until like, five seconds ago when I checked the creator's YouTube.
Also! Zero is shipped with Puppeteer and it's mentioned that her and Puppet's creators were working on a story of them, but it never got fully developed beyond a few comics. You can find them on the creator's YT which is linked below.
Appearance/Info
Originally a girl named Alice, she had green eyes, pale skin, and caramel colored hair. She was often covered in bruises as she was physically abused by peers and the man she lived with after her parents died. She was kind and intelligent but never had many friends, so she made up imaginary ones that she kept track of by using numbers.
Her very first one was named Zero, and Zero's purpose was to protect Alice from bullies. They spent every day together joking around and telling stories until Alice's parents died in a freak 'accident'. Alice one day had the strange urge to cross to the other side of the street, and as she was doing so, a truck came barreling toward her. She froze in fear and it swerved to avoid her, crashing and lighting on fire. Alice's parents were behind the wheel and they slowly died in front of her. Zero later admitted to being behind the accident because she thought Alice's parents kept them apart and prevented Zero from doing her job. After this, Alice's neighbor and babysitter took care of her. He was drunk and abusive and she blamed him for the accident since he wasn't watching her that day. She didn't know Zero was behind it until years later.
Fast forward a few years and Alice is in class when her teacher says the word 'zero'. This triggered Alice for a reason she couldn't understand and she had to excuse herself as she began to feel sick. As her head pounds, she goes into the bathroom and splashes her face with cold water, looking up to see her reflection blink. Later on in another class she accidentally cut herself deeply, but she didn't feel anything. She came back to her desk after taking care of the wound and saw red circles all over her work. Fast forward again and she's walking out of school when someone trips her and throws a carton at the back of her head. She snaps, turning around and punching the kid in the gut hard enough to make him cough up blood. He fell and she kneed him in the head, also breaking his leg with her foot. As the boy's friend comes up she dodges him, sending her elbow into his back. She gets on him and punches him over and over again. She snaps out of this only when someone calls her name and she sees the fear on everyone's faces. She began to cry as she regained control and ran home.
When she got home she began to clean her wounds, asking aloud if she had ever done something like that before. Her own voice answers back saying she had to protect her. She asks who the voice is as she watches her reflection speak to her. Zero answers back that she's her best friend, asking if Alice remembers.
Later, Alice is expelled and becomes a different person, breaking into fits of violent laughter. She steals, fights, and spends all her time in solitude in her room. She didn't eat or talk to anyone other than 'herself'. She felt as if her brain had been switched with someone else's. She got horrible migraines that caused her to cry, and she eventually lost complete control of herself.
One day as her caretaker beat her, her head began to pound as if something wanted out. She resisted until her vision went black and she passed out. She awoke with aching muscles but no headache. She went out for food and came back, eating and listening to the news. The news was about a man who had been murdered and dismembered. His head wasn't found so he couldn't be identified. Alice walked off and smelled something horrible, finding a bloody sledgehammer in the hall. She ran to her room in a panic but screamed as she saw red circles all over her room, the head of her caretaker on her bed. She screamed, running down the steps before tripping and knocking herself out.
She awoke to a room full of mirrors. Zero was there and told Alice that since she was imaginary, she latched onto Alice's consciousness in order to protect her. She couldn't help when she was imaginary, so by fusing with Alice's consciousness, she became able to help. Zero said she was lonely since Alice began to ignore her but that she had gotten strong enough to where Alice couldn't control her anymore. Alice flew into a rage, breaking all the mirrors and feeling nothing despite the many cuts she got. She awoke to find her skin and hair bleached white, also noticing black circles ringing her eyes from her eyebrows to her cheeks. She laughs happily at her new appearance and it becomes clear it isn't Alice anymore. Zero had taken complete control. Alice tries to speak up, saying "Please leave me alone."
Zero responded back "I have for much too long."
Alice didn't respond, fading completely.
Zero thought to herself that she resembled a skeleton, and for some reason she decides to cut her mouth open and sew the sides back together. As she finished she noticed the blood and stated how much she disliked the color. She recalled the blood from Alice's father's scalp and the fire that surrounded her mother. It was the last color she saw before Alice locked her away. To solve this, she dipped her finger into bleach and dripped it over both eyes. When her vision returned she only saw in black and white.
As she finished her work, the phone rang and she answered it. It was Alice's friend, Ann. Zero agreed to come over as Ann said she had a gift for her. She brought her sledgehammer and when Ann opened up, she was scared and tried to flee. Zero threw her to the floor and stepped on her arm, breaking it in half. She told Ann that Alice was gone, specifically saying "You can't have Zero with one left." before taking the sledgehammer to Ann's head.
She opened Ann up and placed all her bones next to her. Since her skull was crushed and couldn't be placed with the other bones, she instead drew an 'o' where her head would be in blood. She saw the gift Ann was going to give her and opened it up, finding a black and white scarf. She liked it a lot and took it with her as she fled from the police. She said "And now with you gone, we finally have zero." before disappearing for good.
Traits
As Alice she was traumatized by her parents' death. She was an overall kind girl, but she was pretty shy. Despite this, she had one (non-imaginary) friend named Ann that she talked to regularly.
Zero seems to completely lack mercy for anyone other than Alice. As Alice's protector, she only acted violently when she was protecting Alice. Ann never did Alice any harm, but it can be presumed that she only killed her to cut all ties to Alice's past life. This is supported by what she says as she kills Ann. I do wonder if jealousy at Ann being Alice's friend is a motive, but there wasn't any dialogue or text to support this theory.
Motive
Zero's sole motive originally was to protect Alice, though she also seemed to be trying to eliminate all ties to Alice's past. It's unknown if she has a current motive.
Method
She didn't have a set method that was shown.
Sledge hammer to the big 'ol head lmao. Makes the boo boo go away. IM KIDDING- - Brinlee
Weapon(s)
Her sledgehammer.
Theories
I don't think Zero was just an imaginary friend, at least not the whole time. I think it's possible Zero was originally an imaginary friend, but eventually a real spirit took over the role. Or, Alice's belief in Zero made her real, like a tulpa. Either way, the entity (who I'll refer to as both 'they' and 'she') eventually took over Alice by latching onto her consciousness and essentially smothering it with their own. The theory that makes the most sense to me is that Zero was an idea that Alice had to protect herself. She pretended Zero was real even though she wasn't. Then, a real spirit came and bonded with Alice after being attracted by all the energy Alice put into believing in Zero. It was like free food for the spirit, but then she began to genuinely bond with the little girl. I think this spirit really did love and care for Alice but in an EXTREMELY twisted way. Every time Alice hurt herself she felt no pain, and this spirit actually did protect her from all harm, asking nothing in return. She didn't insult or hurt Alice, but she did seem to have a naturally taunting nature. And of course, she murdered Alice's parents indirectly and killed her only other friend. (I'm giving her a pass on murdering the drunken abuser.) I also think the spirit had a goal other than protecting Alice, and that was to have a body of their own. To do this they latched onto Alice's consciousness and built strength over the years, only making themselves known to protect Alice. After enough time had passed and they were strong enough to take over Alice's body, they did. They did this both to have their own body and to fulfil their goal of protecting Alice. I assume they thought they could best protect her by living as her, thinking Alice was unfit to live her own life. They also erased all those who were close to Alice so that no one could interrupt their new life as Zero.
One thing I want to note is that this entity isn't only in Alice's head/body. She seems to have control over the outside world to some degree, which we can see when Alice walks back into her classroom after accidentally cutting herself. She finds red circles drawn all over her work when she comes back, meaning the spirit somehow physically manifested long enough to draw them. To me, this shuts down the theory that Zero isn't real and is only a side effect of some mental illness Alice has. It proves that Zero is a real entity that interacts with Alice, and sometimes, the world around Alice as well.
Yeah I agree, seems to be a powerful ass spirit or Alice has severe psychosis 0-0. The idea of Zero being a separate entity that was able to control outside things reminds me of Sally for some reason. Like a poltergeist. The more power Zero has, (through monching on Alice's energy like Ark said) The more they are able to control Alice and the outside world around her. More crunch bar, more power. Sorry not sorry. I heavily believe in the paranormal so I find it totally plausible. - Brinlee