Video summary
The narrator recounts their journey from being a casual fan of cartoons like *Totally Spies* and *Code Lyoko* to discovering the French animated series *Ink: Invisible Network of Kids*. While initially viewing it as a copycat show, they grew to appreciate its grounded tone and strong voice cast. This interest led them to DeviantArt in 2014, where they found a dedicated community of fans creating anime-inspired artwork. Among these artists was a talented creator known online as "Hey Im Zero," who the narrator befriended through shared enthusiasm for the show's cut content and concept designs. Their friendship involved exchanging fan art, discussing ideas for future seasons, and connecting over their mutual love for the characters, particularly Zero, who had become a significant comfort character for the artist.
The dynamic between the friends took a dark turn when "Hey Im Zero" suddenly stopped responding to messages, only to later post disturbing artwork titled "Forgive Me, Father." In this piece, the character Zero was depicted looking injured and terrified in a cornered room, with text implying she felt blamed for her father's actions. The artist explained via email that she had been enduring severe abuse from her alcoholic father, who frequently insulted her and threatened her safety. Fearing he would find out about her struggles if she spoke to the narrator, she pleaded for secrecy while posting vague updates like "Had a bad day." This silence and distress continued until she posted another harrowing image called "Look What You've Done," which showed Zero standing over a dead man with a bloody knife, suggesting she had killed her father in self-defense.
Upon seeing this second disturbing image, the narrator immediately contacted the artist to express their concern and confusion about what had happened. The subsequent email revealed the full extent of the abuse, detailing how the father had physically assaulted the girl since she was ten years old, including forcing her hand onto a hot stove and throwing bottles at her. In a moment of desperation after being throttled, she grabbed a kitchen knife to save herself, an act that resulted in her father's death. She expressed deep shame but insisted it was necessary self-defense, asking the narrator for forgiveness before stating this might be their last communication. The emotional weight of reading about her trauma and the fear that she would disappear if he found out highlighted the terrifying reality of domestic abuse situations even among close friends.
Following the artist's final message, the narrator investigated news reports from France regarding the case and discovered that the father, Bernard Ledger, was indeed a known abusive alcoholic with a history of arrests for noise complaints, DUIs, and other crimes. The court proceedings ruled the incident as self-defense, resulting in no prison time for Evette, who was instead placed in mandatory therapy and moved to a local housing unit. Although the narrator never heard from her again after that tragic event, they hoped she continued to pursue her passions away from the trauma. The story serves as a somber reminder of how domestic violence can escalate quickly and the difficult choices survivors are forced to make when trapped in an abusive environment, ultimately leading to a life-altering consequence for both the victim and the perpetrator.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
>> When I was in my mid to late teens, I
was often on DeviantArt. It was the main
place I would go to look at cool art
animations and games, mostly Sonic,
Dragon Ball, Naruto, or even Totally
Spies. Yeah, I'm a dude and I like
watching Totally Spies. It's a good
show, okay? But I eventually got really
into this one French cartoon after a
friend of mine who watched quite a lot
of Code Lyoko, even got me into the
fandom from it, suggested I should watch
this show called Ink, Invisible Network
of Kids. Now, from the looks of it, it
seemed to be what some considered a Code
Name Kids Next Door copycat, but I
thought it was really sick. The show
felt more down-to-earth and less wacky
than KND and I honestly thought it was
pretty cool nonetheless. Heck, a lot of
the voice cast from Code Lyoko was in
it, so I could understand why my friend
suggested I watch it. Eventually, I got
curious to see if there were any fans of
the show on DeviantArt. I mean, the show
had come out in 2009, so give or take,
there would definitely be a fandom for
it by 2014, no? Well, I struck gold.
There were so many fans out there on the
site, from fan artists to those asking
search character name here accounts. It
felt so satisfying to see that although
it was a small fandom, it had dedication
to it, especially with some of the more
anime inspired fan art, [music] which
led me to eventually find this account.
You know the kind if you were on
DeviantArt back in the day. The MS Paint
bases that were clearly traced from an
anime screenshot or the shading done by
something like Fire Alpaca or Krita,
which I always found to be cool. From
what I could tell, this artist was
definitely a huge fan of the series
along with a few anime and comic book
fandoms that they were also in. Now,
this is the only screenshot I have of
Hey Im Zero's page. Zero spelled as Z 3
R 0 or as she is actually known as Event
since she did leave DeviantArt [music]
a while back and her page wasn't
entirely archived on the Wayback
Machine. However, I did download
basically all of her artwork and cosplay
stuff back when she was still around.
Honestly, I thought it was neat. She,
for the most part, was quite talented
with her artwork, both physical and
digital, along with her work on cosplay,
such as an Obito cosplay that she did
around that time. She also, of course,
had cosplayed as a character from Ink.
This being Zero, who was clearly a
comfort character of hers. Seriously, a
good third or so of the arts Hey Im Zero
did was of her. Then again, a good
amount of art she did was just Ink fan
art. Heck, even her username was a
reference to her. I eventually commented
on her deviation that was NinjaZ concept
designs and how I thought it was really
cool. It turns out it was related to
some cut [music] content going to be in
season 2 of Ink before the show got
canceled, [music] where Zero basically
would have left the team only to become
a vigilante similar to Batman. Overall,
the concept art was sick as hell and I
had to show my support. That alone was
what led to us being friends on there,
often trading each other fan art, later
sharing our emails so we could contact
each other if needed in other ways,
talking about our ideas for season 2,
who our [music] favorite characters
were, you know, average stuff that would
happen in fandoms like this. Then one
day, she wouldn't respond. I [music]
just thought she must be busy today and
I left her alone, but she still wouldn't
respond by the next day or even the day
after that. I didn't know why she was
doing this until later that evening when
I noticed that she had uploaded some new
art. It was called "Forgive Me, Father".
It was of Zero. So, I just thought it
was some normal art until I noticed that
she seemed to be cornered in some sort
of room. She looked rather injured,
[music] like she was bruised all over
with a bloody nose. Heck, one of her
arms looked scratched and damaged as if
she had just gotten into a knife fight
[music] or something. There was a sense
of panic in her eyes. You could also
faintly see the silhouette of a man
going towards her, a broken glass bottle
in his hand. There was also text next to
her. It read as follows.
"What did I do wrong to upset you? I
tried to be good like you said, so why
do you still yell at me? You act like
it's my fault she left. You act like I'm
a burden to your pathetic life. You act
like Mr. Perfect the second the
neighbors get worried hearing my pleas
for help, but you're not. Why do you
hurt me, your own daughter?"
Everyone who noticed the art [music]
immediately began commenting, asking
Heyimzero if she was doing all right,
clearly concerned for her well-being.
She only respond with "Had a bad day"
[music] or "I felt a bit tired" or even
"Just felt like drawing this, you know."
Eventually, I got an email from her. She
mentioned how she wanted to tell me the
real reason she did the artwork in the
first place,
>> [music]
>> stating that she got into an argument
with her dad, who she stated was a piece
of and how she had been having a
rough week due [music] to him, but
pleaded with me not to tell anyone out
of fear of him finding out. That alone
freaked me out. Finding out a close
friend of mine overseas was [music]
dealing with possible abuse while I
wasn't able to do anything about it was
a terrifying thought for me. And yet
just the next day, she was casually
posting more fan art like it was just an
average [music] day to her. Nothing dark
or sad though, just some art. I
thought things had gotten better for her
and that maybe, just maybe, some divine
intervention had helped her out. But
that wasn't the case. A few weeks later,
she posted another dark drawing. This
one showed a man slumped on the floor, a
beer bottle scattered across the room,
his throat slashed out and stab wounds
all over his torso. I had no clue who
[music] this man was in the drawing, but
then I noticed who was also in the
drawing. Zero. The poor girl was
standing there clutching a bloodied
kitchen knife. Her hands, hoodie, and
boots were splattered in the man's
blood. She looked both shocked and
terrified, tears welling up in her eyes.
The image was called Look What You've
Done. Now in ink, it was implied that
Zero did [music] have a shitty home life
and that her relationship with her
father was not good, but I didn't expect
someone to just casually come up with
the idea that she accidentally killed
presumably her dad. But that's when it
hit [music] me. If the previous image of
this nature represented Evee's struggles
at home with her dad, then oh god.
I had to email her immediately.
Evee, please respond if you see this.
>> [music]
>> It's urgent. Did something happen again
with your dad? Did he hurt you? What did
you do? Evee, please answer me. I don't
want this to [music] get worse for you.
Please.
Just tell me what happened.
I thought I wouldn't get a response at
first, but then the sound of the email
notification struck, making me feel
dreadful once.
Mike, I'm sorry. This will probably be
my last email to you because of the
stupid I did. It's about my father.
Well, I can't even consider him my
father after all the [music] he
did to me. He just wouldn't stop hurting
me. He kept screaming insults and
threats at me, acting like it's my fault
that the divorce happened when it was
all caused by him drinking
[music] and beating mom and me. He
literally forced my hand onto a stove
while it was on just I asked him to help
me with something when I was around 10
years old. 10 years old. And yet he
still decided to harm me. He's a bastard
with no remorse in his empty tar-stained
heart. He got home earlier tonight. He
was drunker than usual and started
calling me insults, ones about me being
a girl. He was always misogynistic
though. Eventually, he lost his [music]
temper and threw an empty bottle at me.
I snapped and told him to leave me
alone, [music]
to stop treating me like a punching bag.
He went ballistic and started beating
me. I think I might have cracked a few
ribs from him attacking me. I can't
remember much though, except when I
noticed the knife on the counter. He was
throttling me. I thought I was going to
die. I did what I had to do to save
myself. I'm ashamed of what I did, but
it was that or me going missing [music]
due to that sick monster who conceived
me. I'm sorry, Mike. Please forgive me.
I called the emergency services, told
them I acted out in self-defense and
that my dad had been abusing me for a
while. Because that was the truth. If
this is the end, then thank you for
being my [music] friend. Eget Ledger
I haven't heard from Eget ever since
then, but after scheming through some
news reports from France during that
time, I did find one about the case. It
stated that due to further
investigations at the Ledger residence,
her father, Bernard Ledger, was an
abusive alcoholic who had been under
arrest many times in the past for
multiple accounts of noise complaints,
DUIs, and many more horrific crimes.
Evette, however, had to move into a
local housing unit and was given
mandatory therapy for the events. The
court ruled it as an act of self-defense
and she was not given any time in
prison, luckily. I hope wherever she is,
she is still doing what she loves.
>> [music]
[music]