Belle. Hey, Belle.
Fifteen months ago, Belle had divorced and left Rumple.
He had not wanted to admit it, but deep down, he knew precisely why.
He loved her, but she couldn't trust him. He'd made too many wrong choices—too many weak choices—in the blind addiction, the blind longing, for power.
She had spoken boldly and fiercely when she insisted, "When you love someone, you never give up on them." But she had given up on him.
He hadn't wanted to give up on her. He'd wanted to believe she'd always love him.
But when she left him in Storybrooke, he had known she did not want him to follow her.
So he'd used his mirror to watch her.
Hoping she'd come back to him.
He'd willed it every morning when he checked up on her.
Please. Come back to me, love.
And then came the morning he saw in the enchanted mirror. After rasping, "Show me my Belle."
Her looking at the positive pregnancy test. His baby. In her stomach. And another man had comforted her and promised to take care of them.
That was the moment of truth for Rumple. The moment when he knew it was time to give up on Belle…for good.
That was why he'd killed himself.
He'd used his dagger, of course. Immortal as he was, he'd only had one way to leave his body.
And he had left his body.
Unfortunately, his soul had not been put to rest. Because even dead, his love for Belle was his unfinished business.
His spirit had zoomed straight to her after death. He'd had no control of it. It was part of the True Love connection.
Now, he could leave her side, if need be, but he could not leave whatever city she was currently in.
He knew she wasn't happy. She felt trapped, lonely, and unloved. But she didn't know how to fix her problems.
She'd gotten her adventure in the great wide somewhere. The adventure she'd wanted more than she could tell.
But the price…the staggeringly deep price of getting this adventure was hellish.
She'd never dreamed her adventure would come like this.
It was all she wanted.
But had she known the price, she would not have so desired it.
The trouble was, you never got what you thought you wanted while knowing what the price was.
She still didn't know the half of it. She was completely unaware that Rumple was dead. She was only half aware of how much John was betraying her.
But Rumple would be by her side, loving her, until the very end.