In the beginning all was formless and void. Existence itself had yet to become. And then there was something. A tiny mote in an infinity of nothingness.The mote spoke...

"Shit. He got me again."

It was a girl, naked as the day she was... Well not born, exactly, but you get the idea.

Looking around, the girl said to no one in particular (obviously), "Can we get on with this? He'll be here before much longer."

Ahem. Right. Onward.... The girl looked around at the profound lack of - well anything really and said:

"Well this won't do. Time to rig things in my favor. Alright all you nothing out there, listen up. I am pure Potential. I know you haven't had any organization around here until now so here's the deal. I'm going to kick this thing called 'Existence' into gear. Got it? So here we go. Forget light and matter and even spacetime. Those can wait. I need an ally, so I call into existence - Probability! You who govern the infinite number of possibilities. You who decide the outcome of the dice roll, the coin toss, and the tired old pickup line. BE! Your will I bind to mine own. My will is your will. There is no other. This time Potential governs Probability. I am the Mistress of creation. I am the Mistress of All That Is, All That Will Be, and All That Could Be. You are tasked with protecting me and those who are my friends and allies. Those who will come to me in the last days, in the days before the End. This is your mission. Do your job as you have in the other existences. But when the time comes you must protect me at all costs. Is that understood?"

From the void came an all-pervasive voice. It was everywhere and nowhere. It said,

"Yes, Mama."

"Good girl," said Potential. "Mama is going to do something but she'll be back before you know it. I love you sweetie." 

"I love you too, Mama."

With that, Potential cupped her hands together and breathed into the space between them, and a light shone there. The light grew in intensity and size until it was a shining orb slightly larger than Potential herself.

She looked at the orb just floating there in the  nothingness.

"Oh come on out of there, Michelle. Stop being a showoff."

A buxom, statuesque woman stepped out of the light. She was medium height, taller than Potential but much different in appearance. She was shapely, almost plump in appearance with rather large, ahem, assets. Her diamond blonde hair fell to cover the dimples on her bare buttocks. She carried an object that couldn't seem to decide if it was a staff or a sword. It shimmered and writhed slowly like captive smoke. She looked around and said,

"AAARRRRRGGGHHHHHH!" As she looked around wild-eyed at the endless void surrounding them. Her naked arms and legs flailed about wildly as she fought to gain purchase on something that wasn't there.

"Michelle! Get some dignity, girl. Good grief you're an archangel for Me's sake. Get a grip." Said Potential.

Michelle froze, wild-eyed and hanging there in the void, her hair floating about her head.

"Um, hi?" She said.

Potential said, "Hi. Your name is Michelle. I created you to be my friend, companion, and protector if need be. Now calm down. everything is fine."

"O-okay," squeaked Michelle. "Who were you again?"

"I'm... Well I'm 'The Creator' this time around. I am literally all the potential for everything that is or will ever be. Jeez that's too much. Just call me..."

She thought for a moment...

"Call me Lal. It's short and easy to remember."

"Alright, Lal. So I protect you , right?" asked Michelle.

"Primarily. But not for a long time. There will be others for you to protect. One in particular that you will meet in only one reality. He may be a key player in what is to come. Or maybe not. Who knows. He's a wild card. One I will intentionally set in motion outside my influence. You are to keep him safe. Understand? He is your other half, your other self, even. His name will be Michael Blackstock. Remember that."

Feeling her purpose fill her, Michelle swelled with confidence. She stood up straight though there was no surface to stand on. "It will be done. Protect you. Protect Michael Blackstock. Understood."

She thought for a moment. "Why will you need protection. You're literally all powerful."

Lal sighed. "I'm going to be vulnerable for a few eons, Michelle. Parts of me will... Well for lack of a better term They're going to die. Over and over and over. I'm going to need you to guide those parts of me back together."

"DIE?" Michelle's eyes were round and a little bulgy. "WHAT? WHY?"

"Because he always thinks he is weak, sister. He's not but he always thinks so. He will be there for every death. He and I always end up together. I want him to bond to me like he never has before," said Lal.

"He thinks he's weak but he isn't? Okaaayyyy..." Michelle said skeptically.

Lal was silent for a non-existant minute and said, "Michelle, I'm not going to lie. This is going to be a very long and arduous road we're both going to travel here. But if we stick to my plan then everything will turn out alright. I've managed to stack the deck in my favor. Just trust me and we will be alright. Can you follow through with me?"

Michelle looked into Lal's shining blue eyes for a moment and nodded. "Yes. I can do this. WE can do this. I'm with you."

Lal smiled and nodded, floated over and hugged Michelle saying, "Alright then. Let's kick this thing off. Shield your eyes - this is going to be the brightest thing ever."

Michelle, not wearing a stitch of clothing, grinned and snapped open a pair of Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and slipped them onto her face.

"Where did you..." Lal began, then shook her head. "Nah. Doesn't matter. Here we go..."

And she sped away, disappearing into the distance. Michelle waited and started to go after her when out of nowhere there was the brightest blue-white light. A light so unimaginably brilliant that it... well to be frank it can't be imagined. That's what unimaginably means right?

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes. As Michelle saw the light she felt a wave of... What? Reality? Spacetime? Existence? Well whatever it was, it was the opposite of the nothing she had floated in only a moment before. Removing her sunglasses and letting them dissolve into a cloud of atoms, she stared at the place where Lal had gone. She detected nothing. But there were myriad little pulls from off in another direction. They all had the familiar resonance of Lal's vast energy. She moved toward the many clusters of dark bubbles hanging in the distance. Somehow they reminded her of blackberries, although she didn't even know what a blackberry was. All she knew was that her sister was counting on her to do her job. And she was damned well determined to do it. 

And in one. Only one of those little universes... There was a pull. She knew this was her secondary mission. This was the one she must go to. Him. The other half of her. She focused on that pull. With all her attention, she focused on it.

As she focused, she didn't sense the huge white wings emerging from her shoulders. They spread, wider and wider until, like the wings of a great swan they stretched out behind her. Still she concentrated on that pull. She had to... had to...

Her wings flared with the light of a nova and she streaked toward the little bubble of a universe, faster than the eye could follow. Faster than even light could follow. HE was waiting for her. She would find him. And she would never let him go...

Some indeterminate... Well not time later. Time didn't exist yet... Anyway in sequence "before" the previous events, a wizened old woman appeared in a tiny flash of almost invisible light. For a while she was unmoving, floating curled in a fetal position the formless void. Then a faint pink glow suffused her ancient form... At first nothing happened but slowly, so slowly she uncurled her form and finally "lay" floating... 

A girl child's hesitant voice came from seemingly everywhere at once, "Mama? Mama, wake up. It's time!" 

The pink glow around the woman intensified and the wrinkles on her aged face began to soften. Her thin, wispy silver hair began to fill in and take on a slight blue sheen. Faster and faster the changes came and it wasn't long before a woman of perhaps 30 years lay floating in the not-even-void.

"Mama. Wake up! You're gonna be here soon!"

The woman opened her eyes and looked around at all the non-existence and sighed.

"So. It's time again. Hello, Probability. Mama has missed you. So many billions of millennia. Mostly alone. Just to reach this point. This is the end game, isn't it?" She said, to the... Well not air but you get the idea.

"Yes, mama. This is it. I'm sorry you have to do this again, but its the last time, I promise."

"I know, my angel." she said. "One last time. We can do this, together. This time, this "me" will be called Potential. Understand? That'll be her purpose. Let her be what she is. Let her provide the possibility for all things. But YOU. YOU guide those possibilities. You take what could be and make the best possible outcome. Okay, sweetie? Can you do that?"

And Probability answered, "Yes mama. I know what to do. I promise to make our dream a reality. I can do this."

The woman, Lal she had been called many times. Goddess at others. To her it hardly mattered. She spoke. "I know my sweet baby. I trust you. But I'm going to have to do something a little different this time."

The voice of Probability spoke once more. "I know mama. I understand and I'm ready."

"Let me see you, before I go?" Said Lal.

A small girl of perhaps 8 years appeared in front of her wearing a simple white shift and held out her arms.

Lal took the girl, pulled her into an embrace that only a mother could give and said, "Oh my sweet child. It's going to be a long time. Such a long time. But we will see each other again. I promise."

Tears flowing from both their eyes, Probability said, 

"Oh mama. It's okay. When its all over it won't seem like any time at all and we can be together again. I understand why you have to seal me away from contact from inside. It's the only way the plan can work. I'm just glad you figured out how I can reach inside without being touched from there. I'll be out here pulling the strings of probability while you and... well the other you are inside. I'll watch over you. Don't worry."

Lal looked at her ageless child, knowing how lonely she would be. She silently wept for her child. Then she hugged her, kissing her small tears away. "Probability, I swear I will return for you when this is over. I can't lose you."

And Probability smiled at her mother, "I know mama. I will be here when you return. Now you should probably move off a ways. You're almost here..."

Lal smiled. Her little girl would be okay. She was as strong as her mama. She hugged the child one last time. Kissed her cheek one last time. Then opened her arms to let the girl float free.

Probability smiled widely at her mama, and nodded her head. Lal nodded as well, turned her back, and flashed away at a speed so great it rippled even the non-existence surrounding her. 

"So what do you think, Aunt Charlie? You think she needs someone on the inside there to watch her back?" Said Probability.

"Like totally. You know she doesn't watch out for herself like she should! I'll keep a super+ watch on her." Said Charlie.

Probability smiled and said, "Thank you Aunt Charlie."

Charlie hugged her and looked toward the "direction" Lal had gone. "Think I can catch her?"

"Haha. Not a chance." said Probability.

Charlie grinned and tilted her head, her fuchsia hair flowing to one side.

"But I can try." said Charlie with a wink and a bubblegum pop.

Charlie left so fast she was there one instant and just gone the next. Just GONE.

Probability giggled, shook her long blue curls, and thought, "Maybe she will catch her."

And probability vanished. Silence once more was upon the deep.

And then...

And then there was something. A tiny mote in an infinity of nothingness.

The mote spoke...

"Shit. He got me again."