We Won't Know Unless We Try

"What?!" The two Twynes shouted in chorus.

When they realized they were talking in unison again, they glared at one another and looked away. Seeing that there was no opposition and just negative reactions, he continued.

"The portal to Olivia's universe might still be open," JaNyx pointed out. "After all, it's only been... Less than a day since she arrived here. It could still be there."

"How can you be so sure?" Olivia questioned.

"I'm not," JaNyx admitted. "But we won't know unless we try, right?"

"Right," Oliver nodded in agreement.

"What do you mean 'right'?!" Olivia exclaimed incredulously. "You and I looked at the well when The Maestro jumped inside and disappeared!"

"Oh, right." Oliver nodded in agreement again. "There was no 'portal.' It was just filled with dirty, stagnant water."

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. 

"You're quite indecisive, aren't you, Oliver?"

Oliver shrugged.

JaNyx hummed. "Not to remind you of a traumatic memory, but whoever threw you in the well probably saw something similar."

"What do you mean?" Olivia queried.

"I mean, they probably thought the well was just, well, a well," JaNyx said, looking quite proud at his pun attempt.

Olivia giggled while Oliver wrinkled his forehead, clearly fed up with his best friend's antics. 

"I doubt they threw you in because they knew it was a portal." He continued in a serious tone this time. "It must've looked unsuspecting and not obvious enough for them to throw you in."

"In other words...?" Oliver probed for him to continue.

"It probably looked had the appearance of a regular well." Olivia finished. "With the dirty, stagnant water and all."

JanNyx nodded. "You really are Oliver's opposite. You're quick to get the gist of things."

"Hey!" Oliver growled.

"Although I'm still trying to grasp the concept of how you traveled in our universe," JaNyx spoke and completely ignored Oliver's warning. "If I compare your situation to popular media, there must've been a pre-requisite before you got isekai-d here."

"Isekai...?" Oliver repeated, frowning.

"You don't need to understand as long as Olivia does." He then glanced at her. "You 𝘥𝘰 know what that means, right, Olivia?"

Olivia nodded.

"JaNyx, the one in my universe, I mean," She clarified as an afterthought. "Used to complain to me how isekai became the popular trope as of late."

"Oh?" JaNyx raised an eyebrow. "Judging from what you said, she doesn't like isekai?"

Olivia shook her head. 

"She said it was amusing initially, but it got too overused after the years."

"I seriously feel left out, guys," Oliver complained.

"Anyway," JaNyx cleared his throat, returning to the topic. "There was probably something that triggered the portal to open. Do you remember any extra steps you did this morning that could've triggered it?"

Olivia blinked blankly before tilting her head to the side, contemplating deeply.

"Gosh, you're so cute," JaNyx muttered out of nowhere, causing Oliver to elbow his stomach. "Ouch, hey!"

"Okay, let me start from the beginning of my morning before I got thrown here." Olivia cleared her throat as she recalled what happened.

Both Oliver and JaNyx nodded, signaling that they'd listen attentively.

***

"I remember helping The Maestro in the bus." She summarized. "Aside from that, I had a regular day."

Oliver gave her a scrutinizing look.

"So this wasn't the first time you were thrown in the well?" He asked.

"Oh," She exclaimed, realizing that she had accidentally left out something in her story. "No, that was the first time my bullies got so violent that she attempted to hurt me fatally. But it's the norm for me to get bullied every day."

"Olivia..." JaNyx whispered, concern evident in his voice.

"Wait," Instead of feeling pity, Oliver perked up from his tree root. "In another universe, 𝘐'𝘮 the one getting bullied? That's so pathetic."

"I don't need pity, but you didn't even offer it in the first place." Olivia scowled. "You only think about yourself."

"Wha--" Oliver was about to argue, but JaNyx suddenly burst out laughing.

"Isn't it ironic that Oliver here is the bully while you're the one bullied in your universe? This might be life's f*cked version of karmic retribution."

"So you're saying it's my fault?" Oliver growled.

"Not necessarily," JaNyx shrugged. "I don't believe in karma or anything like that, but since the concept of alternate dimension has been proven, concepts like karma might be real. So yes, it 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 be your fault." 

Oliver scowled. His hands were balled to a fist like he was ready to swing it any time soon. For some reason, Olivia wanted to egg him on actually to do it. 

Ever since she got here, she'd become quite a daredevil. Maybe it's just her frustration at discovering a bad version of her in an alternate universe or something else entirely.

All she knew was that her next set of words pissed Oliver to no end.

"And the person who bullied me was the Goodd in your universe."

"What the f*ck?!" Oliver and JaNyx exclaimed at the same time.

JaNyx suddenly burst out laughing at the sheer irony of things. At the same time, Oliver shouted profanities at Olivia as if it were her fault that the alternate version of Goodd was bullying her.

"You let 𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘥, out of all possible people in the whole f*ck*ng Huxley, to bully you?!" Oliver grabbed his blond locks and attempted to rip them out. "This is so humiliating!"

"Goodd isn't a timid person in my universe," Olivia smirked because she got the desired reaction. "She's a horrible person, just like you." As an afterthought, she added. "Also, her name is Badd in my universe."

"You're calling me horri--Badd?" Oliver was about to burst into anger once more when he took notice of the name. "As in, double Ds at the end, just like Goodd's?"

Olivia nodded. "Weird, I know."

"Even in an alternate universe, Goodd still had the stupidest name," JaNyx noted.

"So you do agree that Goodd has a stupid name?" Oliver glared. "You made me sound like a horrible person for thinking the same!"

"But you 𝘢𝘳𝘦 a horrible person, Oliver." Olivia interjected.

Oliver scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You don't even know me." 

"I'm a good judge of character."

"Right," Oliver said in a tone as if he didn't necessarily believe her but was willing to humor her. "Anyway, time to throw you in the well so you could return to your own universe."

"That's it!" JaNyx shouted out of nowhere, having a light bulb moment. "The pre-requisite!"

"What?" The Twynes asked at the same time again.

"We need Goodd to throw you into the well!"