Before there was life, there was Space. Then Space became lonely and created two things, his only creations. He called them his children. One was Vacuos, she who preferred to stay in the darkness with her father. She had no voice to mortals but could be heard clearly by her sister and father. Her sister, the Universe, wanted to do more with the powers that had been bestowed upon her. When she grew bored of staying with her father, she ventured out with his blessing and began to make her first world. This world was called Prime. When the Universe created her first bits of life on Prime, she realized that nothing could live forever. That would give mortals too much power. So she asked her sister to handle Death for her, and she agreed.

While the story of Universe creating the rest of the world is interesting, this isn't the focus of our story. Our focus is on Vacuos, the Void and the Queen of Death. She created the Courts of Death and commanded death by herself, taking souls and placing them in their Heavens or in the Land of the Damned, where the most wicked people were tortured for their crimes. But as the Universe made more and more worlds, she couldn't keep up. So he got a helper. A Valkyrie, who were servants to the Demigods that Universe had made to watch over her worlds for her, named Justare. She had technically taken him away behind his Demigod's and the Universe's back, but nothing ever came of it. She gave Justare a new name; Medicus, the Latin word for Doctor. She gifted him a sword that could light up with flames to light the way through the thick fog of Death so that he could never get lost. Ancient civilizations adopted the snake curled around the blade with wings because of Medicus, the merciful angel came for people's souls after they died.

Medicus commanded the Death Courts in his Queen's steed and was given the title Angel of the Death Courts. During this period, Medicus met a group of mortals with whom he became friends with. Among them was a man named Malum. One day the mortals fell, all except for Malum, who was cursed with the Mark of Medicus. The Mark was created by Medicus when he had cursed a human for trying to kill him for his wings. It could make anyone bloodthirsty and dangerously powerful. Unable to kill him for fear of getting his own mark, Medicus could only defeat him again and again throughout the years.

During these years it was just Medicus and Vacuos, but then it became too much for the poor Valkyrie. So he went out and, with Vacuos's blessing, got helpers. He took spirits that had already passed and with their permission put them to work in the Courts. He took the spirits of great warriors and made them guards so that no mortal could come and steal a soul to bring someone back to life. He even recruited a demon named Rufus who would become the very first Reaper. They fell in love. During this time, Vacuos was alone, and she grew lonely. So he created his first son, Elian. He sent him down to Earth after Medicus returned, but he didn't live long. He starved to death on the streets of Mesopotamia. She begged the Universe to give his son a second chance. But the Universe was unimpressed with her sister's 'imperfect' creation, she turned him down. But she persisted, and soon came to blows. Medicus came to protect his Queen, only to be blinded by their true forms that were too great for his mortal eyes. Vacuos demanded that she'd heal him, but Universe refused and left. Space had to intervene to bring his children back together again, and told Universe to bring Elian back as the Human Demigod. Furious but unable to deny her father, Universe did as she was told but still wouldn't heal Medicus's eyes. There is still a rift between the sisters, to this very day.

Years passed, and Vacuos grew bored of dealing with Death. She created another son, who she called Ezekiel. She sent him down to China, in the year 200 AD. He was raised by a priest, who named him Zaire, and joined the army when he came of age. But he died young, just as his brother had, after getting kicked off his horse and breaking his neck in the fall during a battle. Vacuos refused to let this one go, and refusing to go to her sister, she used as much power as she could and made him into the second Reaper. The job of a Reaper was to collect the souls and bring them to the Courts so that they could be judged. At first, she didn't want his son to know about him and the Courts, and he ordered Medicus to watch him from afar. But Medicus grew attached and began to see him as his son, and soon, Ezekiel found out about the Courts and his true origin. He took the title Prince of the Death Courts and sat in his mother's throne for her. Shortly after, the Universe had her own child with her Demigod lover Archangel. But she was far too powerful and she didn't know how to handle her, so she left her with Space. Space then gave her to his grandson Ezekiel, who now went by Zek, and told him to care for her and love her as if she was his own sister.

She was the very first Angel of Death, who was created to be immortal with the Reapers and be their shoulder to lean on. They were meant to share their burdens and hold their pain when needed so that they could rest. Shortly after Angel came Lucille, better known as SS, who was the son of Satan. He had been making trouble for the Courts for years, killing people who weren't meant to die just yet under his father's orders. Zek beat SS badly in a fight, but it sparked an unexpected friendship. Zek showed SS a better world, and what it was like to be good. SS broke away from his father and began to the third Reaper. Who came next was a mortal, a spunky woman who made powerful weapons. Her name was Gabriel and she became good friends with Zek, Angel, and SS in her mortal life. Then, she became very sick and Vacuos didn't see the point of letting such a powerful and wonderful soul waste away, and he made her the Weaponsmaster of the Courts.

And this group worked for the Courts, ruled by Zek and Medicus, for years and years. Then Zek died.

The Courts were torn up by it but they had to move on. SS was forced to take the throne a hundred and thirty-three years after his brother's death, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. Over eighty years later, they got a new member of the Death Courts. Aella Blair, who went by Blair. She was an angel from the Archangel God Marcus, saved from his cruel rule by Vacuos who felt her loneliness and sadness through her void. She became SS's Angel of Death. Then, nearly a hundred years later, on the dawn of the 2000th year, Zek came back. He had been placed in the core of the Archangel Realm, owned by Universe's lover Archangel, to save him. He was reborn as the Demigod of the Death Sirens and was much weaker then he had been before.

It's years later where we pick up on our story, in the year 2018. The story of how Ezekiel Vacuos and Malum, the most dangerous and powerful enemy to the Death Courts, became the most iconic star-crossed lovers in all of the Universe.

"Mr. Malum-"
"Now isn't the time child, I have to clean up the mess Nicator made of the damn-"
"But sir, Ezekiel Vacuos is here!"

The room became silent as Malum stopped. While his minions respected him, there was no shortage of fear. He was tall and underneath his layered overcoat and white shirt, he was muscular and callous. His amber eyes flickered to the young guard trembling in the doorway, clutching her bow tightly. She was gasping for breath and in a cold sweat. She had run down from his post at the front of the mansion they called their home and base.

"And what does he want?" Malum asked, his voice smooth like velvet but his eyes reminded the archer of a hungry lion. She swallowed.

"H... He wants to speak to you, s... sir." She answered, fighting to keep her voice steady. Malum hated it when they showed fear. He was known for cutting people down where they stood if he felt like they were about to abandon their cause. Malum's eyebrow lifted in surprise, seemingly indifferent to her shaking voice before he turned to the high ranking soldiers gathered around the table before him.

"My sincerest apologies, but I'm afraid we'll have to push this meeting back to a later date." He said smoothly before he turned and left the room with a swish of his coat. The archer stepped out of his way and trembled as his shadow passed over her, but he didn't even look her way. Nearly everyone in the room let out the breath they had been holding, except for the high ranking soldiers who glanced amongst themselves before dispersing to go back to their duties.

"Ezekiel, this is a ridiculous idea," Medicus said fiercely.

It was a windy day, and Malum was pretty annoyed by it. Though he didn't mind his overcoat moving with the wind, he very much minded having to hold his hat down so that it didn't go flying off his head. But as he walked around a corner of the large roof and saw his guest, he quickly dismissed his annoyance and focused on the task at hand. The guards stationed at this hour kept a wide distance between them and the young man sitting on the stone jutting out from the edge. Malum would've rolled his eyes at their open cowardice if it was anyone else sitting there. At least they were in their rights mind to keep their hands on their weapons.

"What other choice do we have?" Zek growled. "This way, I can be useful."

"Ezekiel!" Malum called over the wind, coming to a stop an arm-length away from the teen. Those blue eyes just stared at him. "I will admit, this is quite a surprise! The only time we've ever seen each other is to fight it out, and even then Medicus and the others are with you!" Zek didn't respond. "Did you have to come through the roof, though? My front door is right there after all, and I would never shoot first and ask questions later-"

"Are you done." Zek cut him off with a harsh growl, and Malum snickered as the guards openly gawked at Zek's 'disrespect.'

"Well, right to business then! What brings you here, Ezekiel?"

"You are useful-!"
"No! I'm a pitiful minor Demigod! I'm not even powerful enough to be a Reaper anymore!"
"So I should just throw you to the dogs?!"
"Come on, it makes sense and you KNOW it!"

"First of all, it's not Ezekiel."
"Ah, right, Zek-"
"No. It's not Zek. It's Zen."

Malum's eyebrows shot up and he almost lost his grip on his hat. "Zen? My my my, Zek, I wouldn't have thought you'd follow your dreaded aunt's wishes!"

"I didn't." Zek, Zen, growled. "But things have changed."

"I go there, I tell him a sob story of how I'm not wanted because I'm not useful anymore!"
"Ezekiel-"
"I tell him I'm bitter and angry! That I've been replaced by the people who I thought was my family! I know these Courts and I know all of you!"

"I can tell," Malum smirked. "I can practically feel the hate radiating from you, but it's not for me, is it?"

"Medicus isn't who he claims to be." Zen's bitter snarl finally shut Malum up. "I'm gone for three hundred years and I come back to find that they've replaced me and that my own brother has taken my throne." Malum stared at the teen before him, and he could see the anger and the grief in his eyes. Zen looked away and glared out at the valley Malum's house was in. "I come home and he turns me away. He told me they have no use for me." He bared his teeth like he was a wolf before he looked at Malum again. "I have nowhere to go. I don't want to live but I must, and my family has turned their back on me."

"And what of the Demigods?" Malum asked. Zen's face twisted in a scowl of disgust.

"Ezekiel."
"Medicus!"

Medicus stared at him before he sighed. "We... We should talk to the others-"

"No. SS will never go for it, much less Angel. If they don't know, their reactions to my betrayal will be real. Malum won't have any reasons to doubt."

"I am no Demigod." He spat the word like it was venom in his mouth.

"Yet you go by your Demigod name."
"Only because I refuse to go by the name my bastard mother gave me."

Wow. This was serious. Zek worshipped his mother to no end. But then again, this wasn't Zek! This was Zen, apparently. "And why are you here, Zen? Zen jumped down from his perch. He walked up to his old enemy, never looking away from his amber eyes. He stopped when he was a breath away from the taller man, ignoring how he had to look up at him like a child.

"I have nowhere to go. I've been betrayed and I'm bitter. I'm beginning to see something in your cause." The guards looked amongst each other in shock. "I want to join you. I know the Death Courts like the back of my hand, and I know how my ex-brothers fight. Their greatest weapon, Angel, will never be able to raise her sword against me." He held his hand out. "I'll be able to bring so much to the table that there's no way you won't finally win."

Silence followed Zen's bold statement. The guards were silent and watching with wide eyes as their leader and one of his oldest enemies stared each other down. Was this really happening? The fallen Prince of Death, the second eldest son of the great Vacuos, was turning to their side?

"..."
"Please. Give me your blessing, Medicus, because I will go with or without it."

Suddenly, Malum took his hand and shook it, a smirk crawling on his previously startled face.

"Very well, Ezekiel. But please... Be careful and keep your wits about you."

"Well, then... Welcome to the team, Zen."

"Malum is a trickster and a liar. He'll use you and then kill you once you're worthless."
"Don't worry, Medicus."

Zen sneered widely, eyes darkening like a stormy sea.

"He's nothing against a liar like me."

[A/N: HOLD ON TIGHT CAUSE HERE WE GOOOOOO-]