The Wheel of Fortune is numbered tenth of the Major Arcana. It carries gods and mortals, binds all elements. The wheel turns, and fortunes rise and fall. We are all at the mercy of the whim of fate.

"They're late." Hook paced back and forth under the shadow of the house, marking the time with shots of rum. Six empty glasses already sat on the bench. He took a clean glass from the shelf above and poured another shot. As he had said the night before, he didn't want to be sober when the darkest of dark curses rolled over them.

"Yes, thank you, Captain Obvious," muttered Rumplestiltskin, but his own anxiety betrayed itself in the restless twitch of his fingertips. "We still have time. It is the longest day."

Hook lifted his glass and gave Rumplestiltskin a look. "Come on, Crocodile. Bottoms up!"

Rumplestiltskin, who only had one glass beside him along with a pitcher of water, sighed and refilled his glass. Unlike Hook, he intended to keep as much of his mind intact through the curse as he could. "Cheers."

"What cheer you animals find in poisoning even yourselves, I will never understand." A woman stepped out of the air into the sunlit meadow, her smile promising nothing good.

"Gothel," growled Hook. He threw his empty glass aside and drew his sword, lunging at the witch.

Rumplestiltskin didn't even have time to chide Hook on the futility of his attack before the man was flung against the wall, hitting with a sharp thud before he slid unconscious to the ground. He shoved down his own dread, carefully placing his own glass on the bench before he spoke. "To what do I owe the dubious pleasure of this visit?"

Gothel's smile widened. "I wanted you to appreciate the full depths of your failure."

No. Rumplestiltskin looked away, unable to bear the triumph in her eyes. He knew. His voice was barely a whisper as all his plans crumbled before him. "You have the Dark Curse."

"I will have everything," gloated the witch. "Your darkness destroyed my daughter. Now you shall know my loss as if it were your own..."

Rumplestiltskin couldn't hold back his gasp. Henry? She can't know...

"Your son may be dead, but he had a son. The protector you sent to him was as selfish and treacherous as all your kind. She pays the price and he is unprotected."

Rumplestiltskin flinched. His heart clenched painfully, and he clutched at his chest, forcing himself not to collapse. Fate closed in on them all, and he could do nothing. All their efforts to change that course had failed, and they were out of time.

Gothel's smirk was all too knowing. "Good bye, Dark One. In the new world, you, too, shall be replanted in a garden of my design." She lifted a hand flicked her fingers at him. A dart of sorcery flew out faster than he could react and struck him between the eyes.

As dark visions blossomed in his mind, her shape shimmered and vanished in a swirl of smoke.

The net was enchanted to resist magic. It was woven of some kind of vine, grown together rather than simply knotted. Drizella recognized the flavor of Gothel's power running through the supernatural growth.

"Do you think she killed him?" Alice asked. Drizella couldn't see her at all; the two of them were wedged into the net back to back, their combined weight pulling the vines tighter as they twisted slowly in the air.

"Who?" Drizella rolled her face sideways, peering up at the dark canopy of the tree above them. The net hung from a massive branch high off the ground. They must be in a forest, then, for the trees to shoot upwards rather than outwards. She wriggled her hand where it was trapped against her side, trying to reach the dagger in her boot.

"Nigel."

The curse caster Alice had found — and befriended. Drizella's breath went out in an unhappy sigh. Then, "Probably. I'm sorry."

"We have to find her."

"Alice..."

"We can't let her do this to people."

"I know. But first we have to get out of this net. Can you reach your magic?"

"No. Drizella, I can't do it again either. I can't just find another poor innocent to cast a curse for us..."

"We can worry about that later. Can you reach the dagger in my boot?"

"I don't think we have 'later'! This world is fraying at the edges. Can't you feel it? It won't last another year." The conviction in Alice's words chilled Drizella to the bone.

"All right. Then we have to do this today." Drizella shut her eyes, trying not to panic.

"We have to get the curse back. You'll cast it. Promise me."

"Alice..." Drizella wanted to refuse, but what if it came down to that in the end? She changed what she was going to say to, "We don't even know if she'll give the scroll to us."

She felt Alice go limp against her back, all the fight gone out of her. "Oh. Oh, no. It's no good, then."

Drizella longed to hold her tight and reassure her, or even better, for Alice to hold her and tell her that everything would be all right. But she doubted it was true, no matter which of them said it, so she breathed carefully until she could speak without her voice shaking. "Alice. Let's get out of this net."

After a while, Alice began moving again. "You know, I think I can reach your boot..."

As the king's closest friend, Hansel had become much in demand among those petitioners who wished to leverage his influence with Henry. They came in all flavors, from foreigners to local townies, from nobles to merchants to craftsmen to beggars. Rarely did they actually want to talk to Hansel himself.

Ironic, he thought, when the truth was that he was losing Henry, day by day. All Henry could see now was Jacinda. Had he forgotten his mother? Had he forgotten his grandparents? Had Jacinda abandoned her people? Instead they clung only to each other, closing their eyes to their pasts and dreaming of an impossible future.

A future where Hansel was shunted to the shadows, a dark reminder of pain that they wished forgotten. A future where Hansel's love could never be acknowledged, never be returned. No matter how loyally he served, he would only ever be the king's advisor behind the throne. What he was in his heart, was not wanted. Not for him the soft touches and sweet embraces, the nights of shared passion.

But today, a visitor came for Hansel, not for Henry. She was clad humbly, but Hansel could sense the power behind the facade. A witch.

She stood before his desk and curtsied.

Hansel tensed in his seat, fighting an urge to stand. "State your business."

"You don't remember me, do you?" She smiled enigmatically.

His hackles rose at the sight of that smile, but Hansel couldn't say why. He clenched his fists to keep from reaching for a weapon. "Should I?"

"We met in Opona."

"Did we?"

"You came on a quest to save the world, but returned empty-handed." The woman waited, but when Hansel said nothing, she placed a rolled-up scroll on his desk. "This is what you sought. I give it to you."

Hansel stared down at the scroll, but didn't move to take it. Why couldn't he remember? Her words jarred against his memories. She was familiar. He did know her. He didn't. "What is this?"

"Your salvation. Everyone's salvation. Of course, salvation is never that easy. There is a price." The woman slid a wooden jewelry box next to the scroll. It was carved with innocuous images of leaves and flowers, but Hansel shuddered, sensing malevolence in the way the woman's fingers lingered on the lid, trailing away in silent invitation. "I have obtained it for you."

Salvation? Was the world in danger? His thoughts blurred, and it was as if his innards had turned to ice. Danger. Escape to another realm. Henry's mother. When had his memories turned so slippery? Why hadn't he noticed? "What... what do you mean, 'salvation'?"

"Oh dear. You really have forgotten." The woman circled around the desk. "Permit me..."

Hansel jumped up from his chair, and this time he did grab the spear off the rack behind his desk. "Stay back!" He thought about calling for the guard outside his door, but that nagging familiarity stopped him. What if she was telling the truth?

The woman smiled again, lifting her hands as she took a step back. "As you wish. It's simpler if you permit my touch, but my magic is not limited by distance."

"What magic?"

"Someone has tampered with your memories. I can restore them for you."

Before he could think better of it, Hansel nodded. "Do it."

She did. She was Gothel. The witch who had taken Gretel as a student and then sent her to her death. The witch who had defeated Captain Manzana.

Captain Manzana. The memories came flooding back.

We're all in danger... The Dark One's spell is meant to save us by taking us to another realm.

Hansel tapped the scroll with a trembling hand. "This... this is the Dark One's spell?"

"Yes."

"Captain Manzana... she said there was a price." Hansel's eyes slid to the jewelry box. He swallowed, reaching for it, but didn't open it. "This?"

"Yes."

Hansel nodded. He glanced at Gothel, then back to the box. He had no reason to trust the witch, but he had to know. He flipped open the lid. A heart (human!?) lay inside, cushioned on green velvet, pulsing gently.

"The heart of the one you love the most."

Hansel cursed and scrambled back in shock. "You mean..."

"King Henry's heart."

Next thing he knew, Hansel had the tip of his spear at Gothel's throat. Breathing hard, he managed to ask, "Is he dead?"

Gothel's face remained calm, even as she tilted her head back away from the metal blade. "Not yet. He sleeps. For now."

"Put it back."

Gothel shook her head slowly. "Think. The fate of your world is at stake. Will you let everyone die because you were too weak to do what must be done? This is your duty. Steward of the king, steward of the realm."

"No. You lie. This is a trick." Steel pricked skin. Hansel ignored the gradual up-welling of blood on Gothel's neck and kept his eyes on her face. "You killed my sister..."

"She was a victim of her own nature," said Gothel. "As are you all. Perhaps it is as well you are too short-sighted to accept my gift, even to save yourselves."

"You're trying to trick me into murdering my best friend." Hansel spared a glance at the bright red heart in the box. It beats for Jacinda, not for me, whispered a treacherous voice at the back of his mind. Never for me.

"One sacrifice, one death to ensure that a thousand thousand may live."

Could it be true? Captain Manzana had said the Dark One's spell could save them, but had been cagey about the price. Was this why? Or were those false memories planted by Gothel? Hansel didn't know what to believe. Think. "So you say."

"Because it is the truth." Gothel met his eyes, and her gaze was too knowing, too penetrating. Could she read his thoughts? Her smile unnerved him, and he would have looked away if he dared.

He could send for the fairies. They had no reason to support a witch. And what if they confirmed Gothel's information?

I've already lost Henry. Hansel tried not to think it, but the dark thought persisted. Besides, he is king. It's his duty to sacrifice for his people. As for his duty to his mother, to his grandparents — it seems he's already forgotten them.

"You must decide," said Gothel. "The spell must be cast before sundown today, or it will fail."

If I can't have him, no one can. The thought rose unbidden and Hansel forced it back. He had to think of the realm, of Henry himself. But his resolve wavered, and he silently justified himself, I swear I will find your mother. I will avenge your grandparents. And when I am done, I will beg your forgiveness in the Underworld. He would give up his own life as soon as he had fulfilled his vow.

Hansel took a shuddering breath, finally lowering his spear. "I'm no sorcerer..."

"You don't need to be," said Gothel. She wiped the blood from her neck, calm as ever. "The magic is inscribed into the scroll. You need only read it... and offer up the final sacrifice."

"If I do this..."

"You will be saving the world."

Drizella followed blindly, trusting Alice to find the path. Finally freed from the net, she had followed Gothel's trail to the Dark One's farm. They found Rumplestiltskin a cowering, gibbering wreck. Alice's father was in a marginally better state, battered, bruised, and tipsy, none of which helped in his efforts to feed a potion to Rumplestiltskin.

"A transference potion," Hook mumbled to Alice when she asked. "Gothel was here. Hit the Crocodile with some kind of geas..."

"And you think transferring it to yourself will help?" asked Drizella.

"Anything that disrupts her plans could help. The Crocodile is a tricky bastard, magic or no... no good him working for her."

"Yeah, that would be bad, very bad." Alice gave Drizella a pleading look.

Drizella nodded, moving to help with the potion. With her help, Hook got the potion down the Dark One's throat, upon which the latter promptly passed out.

"Go, Starfish," said Hook. "Stop Gothel. Whatever her scheme, it bodes ill for all of us."

Now they were hundreds of miles away, in an unfamiliar castle. The room was a spacious office, furnished in the style of the Enchanted Forest — except for the cauldron bubbling in the middle of the floor. A woman and a youth faced each other across the cauldron.

Hansel. And Gothel. Drizella saw to her alarm that Hansel held the curse scroll in one hand and a heart in the other. Hansel was going to cast the curse? Before she could wonder whose heart he held, Alice charged in, summoning a burst of magic that threw both Gothel and Hansel skidding away from the cauldron.

"Gothel!" Alice closed in on Gothel, grabbing her by the collar. Both vanished in a cloud of white smoke.

She means to distract her mother to buy me time to get the curse. Drizella understood Alice's intent without needing an explanation. They had no time for such things. She went to Hansel, who was crouched on the floor, shielding heart and scroll with his own body. She couldn't take the scroll, but a simple spell sent the heart to her hand.

Hansel gasped. He scrabbled for his knife, but Drizella froze him with a gesture.

"Hansel, wait. We don't know what traps Gothel may have laid on the scroll." It couldn't be too bad, could it? Gothel hadn't had the scroll for that long. And she had somehow convinced Hansel to cast the curse. Drizella wondered if that would be so bad. Of course, he hated Drizella (and Alice by extension), but surely he was no friend of Gothel — unless she had tampered with his mind. "You can't trust her."

"I can't trust you," growled Hansel. "You took our memories away. Even from your own sister!"

"We were trying to protect you," Drizella protested. Not that it had done any good. "I wouldn't harm Ella. What did Gothel say to you?"

"It's not what Gothel said. It's what Captain Manzana said. It's what the Dark One said." Hansel straightened slowly as Drizella's spell waned. "Everyone thinks just because I don't like magic, that I don't understand it. I know more than you think." He held the scroll tightly clenched in his fist. "I can read a spell; the truth was written into this curse. With knowledge, I don't need to trust."

They were interrupted by a frenzied banging on the door, and barely a second later, the door burst open to admit Ella. Ella, with her new face and name — Jacinda — who dashed into the room.

"Hansel! Something's happened to..." Then her eyes widened in shock as she took in the scene. "...Henry. Drizella? What's going on?"

"Ella." Drizella grabbed her sister by the arm. She bit her lip, running mentally through a list of plausible lies before realizing how useless they were. Fine. She reached for her magic and triggered the counterspell to release her sister's memories before letting her go. "Remember."

Ella staggered back, gaze swinging wildly between Hansel and Drizella. "Oh, gods, Drizzy. What have you done? Why do you have that heart?"

"Ella. Ella, this is important. Hansel volunteered to cast the spell that can save us all. I need to know... can we trust Hansel?"

"What?"

"I mean, besides wanting to kill me. Do you trust him to have the best interests of the realm at heart?"

Hansel snorted in derision. "As if you care, witch."

"Of course I care! But if we're all to be made into Gothel's toy-things, we may be better off dead... at least there is freedom in oblivion."

Hansel fidgeted with the scroll, his eyes on the heart in Drizella's hand. "She... she added chaos to the spell. So that even the caster will be caught in it. I don't think she could change it more than that."

"And that's the truth?"

Hansel's eyes flashed. "I'm no liar."

At that, Ella winced. She said in a low voice to Drizella, "We've never been friends, but I know Hansel has always been loyal to Henry. You can trust that much."

A look of pain crossed Hansel's face, and a horrible suspicion took root in Drizella's mind. She said slowly, "The spell is no ordinary spell. It's a curse to break a world and put it back together again across the veil. The cost to cast it is... high."

"The cost? What cost?" asked Ella.

Drizella stared at Hansel. "You must crush the heart of the one you love the most."

Ella gasped.

Hansel's head dipped in a tiny nod.

Ella's hands went to her mouth. "Not Henry. No, Hansel, you can't!"

Henry? Henry, as in the king of the Enchanted Forest? Drizella looked from Ella to Hansel, rendered speechless by shock.

"Jacinda. I have to do this," said Hansel through his teeth. "Our world, our whole lives — everything we ever believed to be true is an illusion. We're no one, nothing, unreal. We were created by a genie's wish to be set dressing in someone else's play."

Ella looked appalled. "So when Captain Manzana was talking about saving the world..."

"This is what she meant. That she wouldn't let our lives be nothing. That I won't. That Henry's grandparents' deaths mattered. We matter, Jacinda. This is the only way we can become real."

"But to do that, you want to kill Henry?"

"I don't want... gods, Jacinda." Hansel shuddered, his voice breaking. "Of course I don't want to. But it's better than the alternative: that he was never real at all. That none of us were. I swear, once I've avenged his family and mine, I won't live a day longer. I'll beg his forgiveness in the underworld."

Ella turned to Drizella. "Is... is this true?"

Drizella nodded slowly. "I'm sorry. This wasn't what we wanted, but our time has run out. The spell must be cast today, and the scroll can't be taken away from Hansel by force. Besides, who else is willing to make this sacrifice?"

"I see." Ella took a step towards Hansel, then touched his arm. "You know I love him, too."

Hansel grimaced, but made no denial.

"Ella!" Then Drizella bit her tongue, afraid of inadvertently goading her impulsive sister into something rash when she needed to protect her soul.

"Don't worry, Drizella," said Ella without looking at her. She kept her eyes on Hansel as she continued in a lower voice, "...and Henry loves me, too. You know that."

"Yes," whispered Hansel.

"So there is another possibility. One that saves the life of the person both of us love," finished Ella.

Hansel's eyes widened, and the brief flare of hope on his face jolted Drizella into understanding.

"No! Ella, you can't be serious!" Drizella felt as if she was sinking into a nightmare. None of this is real. And it wasn't, so why should it matter who died? But it did matter. It mattered that she had lost Ella once, and couldn't bear to see it again.

Ella finally turned to meet Drizella's gaze, a slight smile on her face. Her voice was calm as she said, "Drizzy, it's all right. By rights, I should already be dead, executed by the king in Opona. It was Henry who saved me. My life was always his."

Hansel said, his voice trembling, "He... He won't. He wouldn't do it. You know him. He... he loves you too much. He... he would die first."

"I know. He has the heart of a hero," said Ella. She laughed sadly. "Like someone from the sagas. That's why we have to force his hand."

"Force his hand? How?"

"My sister still owes you a favor, doesn't she?"

"Ella, you can't!" Drizella staggered back in shock as Ella reached out to her. "You can't ask me that."

"Drizzy, it's for the best. And you said it yourself, we don't have time."

Drizella didn't understand how her sister could say that, or how she could be so calm about it. She herself wanted to scream, but a lifetime of restraint held, and her own voice was quiet as she spoke. "Don't do this. I already lost Ana..."

"It's not about you, Drizzy. If the price for all our lives is that I give up mine, I can do that."

"You have no choice," said Hansel. "You owe me a favor."

"You've decided, then." Drizella let out the breath she had been holding and resigned herself to the inevitable. She was magically bound to grant Hansel whatever favor he asked, within her power. "Ask."

He could have gloated, but he didn't. Hansel simply said, "Return Henry's heart to him. Take Jacinda's — Ella's — heart and see that Henry casts the spell on this scroll."

Given no choice, Drizella woke Henry and summoned him to Hansel's office. Heart returned, heart taken, explanations made...

Henry was horrified.

But he was given no choice, either, not if he cared at all for the lives of his people. And he did care. No matter how much he loved Ella, he knew his duty, as did they all.

Drizella took pity on the young king, even as a new hope grew in her. A slender thread to be sure, but she would take what she could get. "Your Majesty, the blame for this death is mine."

Three pairs of eyes went to her in shock.

Drizella explained slowly, "I once made a wish..."

"What wish?" asked Ella.

"For Ana to be alive again. Don't you understand? This is the price." Then she chuckled at the irony. "Alice is wrong. One egg can hatch into two chickens, if you put a wish in it..."

As Ella and Henry huddled together in their last embrace, Drizella set the spell onto Ella's heart. She still had her little paper box that contained one of Ana's hairs. Now she used that hair to bind one life to the other — if the spell worked, Ana would be alive and well in the new land.

Hansel watched by the window. Now he turned with a warning that sunset was imminent. "Henry. It has to be now."

Ella and Henry looked up, faces streaked with tears. They murmured to each other, then Henry moved to the cauldron. Drizella handed him the heart wordlessly.

"Drizzy," whispered Ella, catching Drizella in a sudden hug.

Drizella hugged her back, choking back a sob. She couldn't speak.

It was time. Henry stood at the cauldron with scroll and heart.

Then only the heart.

And then it was done. A cloud of purple billowed from the cauldron, sweeping over the three standing in the room, then through the walls. It expanded outwards, faster and faster, rolling out to swallow the entire realm. And when the cloud dissipated, there was only the void.

Running before the cloud, Alice chases Gothel to the end of the earth. Reality is a cliff on the edge of an infinite sea of nothing. But Gothel has something... an escape. A wooden door carved from an enchanted tree. She opens the door. Alice catches hold of her mother's ankle. Gothel leaps through the portal. Alice pulls back, digs in her heels. The curse rolls over them...

Do they go through the portal? Do they fall to the curse?

Ask the moon.