Chapter 10

Ben looked at her, the look of pure loss in her face. It broke his heart. But he wondered why? She had done nothing wrong. She had to see that. "Mal, I understand what you are telling me, sort of, why though? To explain why you four are so close?"
"No." He didn't get it, it was her fault her mother was able to come off the isle, she had brought her the eye, her friends had unwittingly helped her. "Oh Ben it's my fault that my mother could leave the isle. If I hadn't had Carlos throw that party so I could prank Evie, he wouldn't have tested his invention for her and it wouldn't have opened the dome for a moment. It wouldn't have activated the staff or Diablo. No staff, no way for her to leave the isle."
"Mal, that was all just circumstances that all happened to worked together. You didn't throw that party with any other intention than to prank Evie. Wrong as that was." He looked at her with a look that made her want to crawl into a hole. A look she had never seen from him, to her before. One he had given Audrey a few times.

"Oh I have apologized so many times for that, well after arriving here and realizing how wrong it was, Evie is tired of talking about it."
"It's true Ben." Evie had come down to see where Mal was, she had been listening to her story for a while now. "And Mal there is no blame on your part. We had no idea, when Carlos activated that contraption of his that he would open the dome, he just thought he'd get a signal to come through, not break through. He was proud of his work and wanted to make me feel better. Don't say it. None of the things we did, were anything other than circumstances that evolved. We didn't set out to make them happen. And honestly, as soon as the dome was opened, you know damn well your mother would have been able to call the staff to her hands no matter where it was on the isle."
"I never thought about that. I guess your right E. Thank you."
"Not a problem. And without any of that stuff we went through, we wouldn't be the great friends we are now, so it was worth it to me." She crossed the room and hugged her friend.

"You are so right E." Mal hugged her tighter. "Ok, I am fine, I'll be up soon. I…we are talking."
"You keep that up." Evie said. She patted Mal's hand, and smiled at Ben. Then walked out the door.

"Evie is right, there is no way you could have known that soon you would be brought here. There was no way you would have known that Jane would grab the wand and break the dome. You may have used words to convince Jane that she needed to look like everyone else to fit in, but it was her choice to grab the wand. You never told her to do that. The only thing you knew was you guys were forced to come here and get the wand. But you didn't take it did you?"
"That's true I suppose."
"Not suppose, it is true. You had no way of knowing those events would follow after you found the staff. If she only had the staff on the isle and the dome never cracked, if you never got called over, if you did get the wand to her…all these If's mean possibilities in how future events would happen. Like dominos, if the chain started to fall and one wasn't lined up, it would stop the rest from falling." She looked at him, and he knew he would have to show her what dominos were. He pulled out his phone and brought up a video of dominoes falling. "See what I mean?" She nodded. "If you were that first domino, you started the progression. But the domino in the front, never sees the end of the chain. It never sees what happens after its first strike. And all it does is hit one domino. You only set off to find the staff because your mother made you go. She was that first domino. But not really, maybe it was Evil Queen when she threw that party and didn't invite you, or it could have been Audrey's grandfather for not inviting your mother. There is no way in real life to figure out which domino started a chain once it's all fallen." He pulled up a picture of a series of fallen dominos. "See there is no way to know which one started the chain."
"I see your point, but my actions added to the chain."
"Yes, and so did mine and my father's, and Evil Queen and Audrey's grandfather and Jane and so did your mother and so did Carlos and so did Diablo. If you think about it, I was just as guilty. I brought you here, and gave you the opportunity and access to the wand. That gives me just as much blame."
"I don't think you invited us here to bring the end to Auradon."
"No, and you're going after the Dragon's eye wasn't done to bring an end to Auradon, it was doing what your mother told you to do. You were sent there before I sent for you, so she had no idea what she was going to do with it after you brought it to her."
"What I was threatened into doing…I see your point. I never blamed anyone for this but me, but like you said it was one event leading to another. No one event could stand on its own and have the same end result. Ok, that makes sense."
"It does. Ok. So anyway, time for Bed. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow. We need to notify the new kids they are coming to AP."

Author's note. This is one of my favorite chapters I have ever written.