Zero's most noticeable personality trait is his drive. Whether it's a drive to improve, pursue a target, complete a mission, save someone - Zero is stubborn and headstrong, and once he's set his sights on something he steadfastly refuses to fall back and give up, no matter the personal cost. Despite the tolls this focus has taken on him in the past - and the things and people this has cost him - he's able to put aside his feelings to concentrate on what's ahead of him. What ultimately matters is the goal, and all else falls to the wayside. However, he's neither unnecessarily sacrificial or cold-blooded - he'll prioritise his friends before himself in his belief that the world needs them more, and he's capable of putting his responsibilities above all else, but he pursues the chance for the best outcome at all times, believing in a better future. He still feels the loss and fall of comrades keenly, and will prevent others from unnecessary sacrifice if he can.
Though he fights because it's his responsibility and won't shed unnecessary blood, he genuinely enjoys combat; being able to fight an opponent that can match him, even knowing they were a former comrade, brings something like happiness to him. Nothing else matters in such moments but the thrill of the fight, clashing and striving to be the one victorious. Confident in his own strength, he brings all of his skill to bear against opponents who want to defeat him.
He's honest and straightforward - he's not simple or foolish, though the way he presents himself may seem that way. He just doesn't consider bantering or discussion to be worth his time - especially in urgent missions, where every second is precious, and there's nothing worth wasting on idle chatter. He freely admits that he leaves the more complex issues to those who want to consider them more closely; for him, as long as what he's missing isn't directly relevant to his mission, he can put it aside for later consideration and focus on the now rather than the future or the past.
This doesn't mean the past doesn't weigh heavily on him, though. His missing knowledge of how and why he was created haunted him before as he continuously sought answers to the meaning of his birth, and the reasons he finally found for his existence have left scars on him. He occasionally broods over the fact that he was created solely for combat and destruction, sincerely believing that he has no place in a world of peace and that as long as he exists, there will be war. X and Axl are usually able to shake him out of these gloomy moods, but it's still something he nurses deep within him. The losses he's suffered while pursuing the job haven't helped with this belief - after all, focusing on the mission and doing what he was ultimately built to do resulted in the loss of close comrades like the General and Iris, and the entire reason for Sigma's colony drop and the spread of the virus across Earth was to awaken him to his 'true potential'. It's no surprise that he thinks this way, considering that disaster seems to follow in his wake, but it's a testament to his strength of will and personality that he carries on regardless, finding new things to believe in and lend his strength to in the form of his trusted friends' ideals.
He strongly believes in his friends' value, going so far as to potentially throw away his own life because he feels X is more needed by the world and urging X to 'live for him' in death; in defying his own purpose by his own choice and holding to the path of justice, he fills the gap left behind by pushing his closest comrades forward into the future, supporting them in any way he can.
He has strong feelings on the idea of destiny and set fates; even if what the future holds is nothing but darkness, he'll fight until the very end to change it in any way he can, and show no mercy to anyone who stands in his way. He refuses to be defined by the choices of others - he has a strong and volatile reaction to being used or copied in any way, often defying claims that he's meant to follow after someone else out of what seems to be sheer spite and reacting to experimentation on his parts with fury. In the end, what happens to him is always something he'll choose for himself, and anyone who tries to take that from him will have to fight him for it first.
(The irony of him being the original carrier of the Maverick Virus isn't lost on him as an S-Class Maverick Hunter, and he finds a grim humour in the fact that he seems to have rebelled against even his set, destructive purpose despite everything that has happened to him.)
Despite the horrors and moral conflicts he's experienced, Zero isn't all business and mission-focused, and neither is he constantly consumed by melancholy and existential dread. While he's fairly serious in combat, he's more than capable of joking around to lighten the mood at any point; as a Maverick Hunter who lives with the knowledge that a comrade one day may be a raging, wild enemy the next, he knows that reflecting too deeply on such things will lead down a dark path. His sense of humor is often dry and subtle; he's likely to mess with enemies just to see them scramble, or to make smart comments to see how they'll react. More often than not, he's found that simply expressing his honest feelings that he doesn't care about what Mavericks have to say is something that most Mavericks react to in amusing ways, and he finds that funny.
He knows the importance of bonds with others; he's able to read people's emotional states quite easily due to his experience - being able to tell when a soldier can't handle the stress they're being put through is an invaluable skill for a commander. Though he usually works alone, able to handle anything that gets in his way that is too dangerous for lower-ranked Hunters to even think of engaging, he still finds it a useful tool to have, especially in judging the motives, behaviour and connections of others. The importance of being able to identify true Maverick behaviour is of paramount priority - mistakes can and have already resulted in widespread death and destruction or the crumbling of one individual's entire world. Even one loss from poor judgement is too many, in Zero's eyes; though he's sudden in action when he can confirm a clear and hostile target and he isn't as paralysed by indecision as X, he still takes as much time as he can to consider the situation - though usually he ends up concluding that violence is the only answer and the only way to make someone stop when all reasoning fails.
He's slow to really trust those he doesn't already know - betrayal is high on his list of things he's unlikely to forgive, and so he doesn't give out his trust or even his casual friendship easily - but to those he grows close to, he's stubbornly protective of. A soldier to the core, he becomes more tense and serious in situations he has no information on, keeping to himself.
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Zero's most noticeable personality trait is his drive. Whether it's a drive to improve, pursue a target, complete a mission, save someone - Zero is stubborn and headstrong, and once he's set his sights on something he steadfastly refuses to fall back and give up, no matter the personal cost. Despite the tolls this focus has taken on him in the past - and the things and people this has cost him - he's able to put aside his feelings to concentrate on what's ahead of him. What ultimately matters is the goal, and all else falls to the wayside. However, he's neither unnecessarily sacrificial or cold-blooded - he'll prioritise his friends before himself in his belief that the world needs them more, and he's capable of putting his responsibilities above all else, but he pursues the chance for the best outcome at all times, believing in a better future. He still feels the loss and fall of comrades keenly, and will prevent others from unnecessary sacrifice if he can.
Though he fights because it's his responsibility and won't shed unnecessary blood, he genuinely enjoys combat; being able to fight an opponent that can match him, even knowing they were a former comrade, brings something like happiness to him. Nothing else matters in such moments but the thrill of the fight, clashing and striving to be the one victorious. Confident in his own strength, he brings all of his skill to bear against opponents who want to defeat him.
He's honest and straightforward - he's not simple or foolish, though the way he presents himself may seem that way. He just doesn't consider bantering or discussion to be worth his time - especially in urgent missions, where every second is precious, and there's nothing worth wasting on idle chatter. He freely admits that he leaves the more complex issues to those who want to consider them more closely; for him, as long as what he's missing isn't directly relevant to his mission, he can put it aside for later consideration and focus on the now rather than the future or the past.
This doesn't mean the past doesn't weigh heavily on him, though. His missing knowledge of how and why he was created haunted him before as he continuously sought answers to the meaning of his birth, and the reasons he finally found for his existence have left scars on him. He occasionally broods over the fact that he was created solely for combat and destruction, sincerely believing that he has no place in a world of peace and that as long as he exists, there will be war. X and Axl are usually able to shake him out of these gloomy moods, but it's still something he nurses deep within him. The losses he's suffered while pursuing the job haven't helped with this belief - after all, focusing on the mission and doing what he was ultimately built to do resulted in the loss of close comrades like the General and Iris, and the entire reason for Sigma's colony drop and the spread of the virus across Earth was to awaken him to his 'true potential'. It's no surprise that he thinks this way, considering that disaster seems to follow in his wake, but it's a testament to his strength of will and personality that he carries on regardless, finding new things to believe in and lend his strength to in the form of his trusted friends' ideals.
He strongly believes in his friends' value, going so far as to potentially throw away his own life because he feels X is more needed by the world and urging X to 'live for him' in death; in defying his own purpose by his own choice and holding to the path of justice, he fills the gap left behind by pushing his closest comrades forward into the future, supporting them in any way he can.
He has strong feelings on the idea of destiny and set fates; even if what the future holds is nothing but darkness, he'll fight until the very end to change it in any way he can, and show no mercy to anyone who stands in his way. He refuses to be defined by the choices of others - he has a strong and volatile reaction to being used or copied in any way, often defying claims that he's meant to follow after someone else out of what seems to be sheer spite and reacting to experimentation on his parts with fury. In the end, what happens to him is always something he'll choose for himself, and anyone who tries to take that from him will have to fight him for it first.
(The irony of him being the original carrier of the Maverick Virus isn't lost on him as an S-Class Maverick Hunter, and he finds a grim humour in the fact that he seems to have rebelled against even his set, destructive purpose despite everything that has happened to him.)
Despite the horrors and moral conflicts he's experienced, Zero isn't all business and mission-focused, and neither is he constantly consumed by melancholy and existential dread. While he's fairly serious in combat, he's more than capable of joking around to lighten the mood at any point; as a Maverick Hunter who lives with the knowledge that a comrade one day may be a raging, wild enemy the next, he knows that reflecting too deeply on such things will lead down a dark path. His sense of humor is often dry and subtle; he's likely to mess with enemies just to see them scramble, or to make smart comments to see how they'll react. More often than not, he's found that simply expressing his honest feelings that he doesn't care about what Mavericks have to say is something that most Mavericks react to in amusing ways, and he finds that funny.
He knows the importance of bonds with others; he's able to read people's emotional states quite easily due to his experience - being able to tell when a soldier can't handle the stress they're being put through is an invaluable skill for a commander. Though he usually works alone, able to handle anything that gets in his way that is too dangerous for lower-ranked Hunters to even think of engaging, he still finds it a useful tool to have, especially in judging the motives, behaviour and connections of others. The importance of being able to identify true Maverick behaviour is of paramount priority - mistakes can and have already resulted in widespread death and destruction or the crumbling of one individual's entire world. Even one loss from poor judgement is too many, in Zero's eyes; though he's sudden in action when he can confirm a clear and hostile target and he isn't as paralysed by indecision as X, he still takes as much time as he can to consider the situation - though usually he ends up concluding that violence is the only answer and the only way to make someone stop when all reasoning fails.
He's slow to really trust those he doesn't already know - betrayal is high on his list of things he's unlikely to forgive, and so he doesn't give out his trust or even his casual friendship easily - but to those he grows close to, he's stubbornly protective of. A soldier to the core, he becomes more tense and serious in situations he has no information on, keeping to himself.