Reply To: Rumple's Boys

I think this issue is complex. I should note that, when reading everything below, remember that I am one of the biggest Nealfire fans on this sub.

When I first saw the hints of Bae making this decision, I grew upset. “He’s the good guy! He’s not supposed to give into darkness!” I mean, this is the guy who tried to convince Rumple to leave an entire world for the sake of giving up magic. This is the guy who, many years later, stopped Rumple from beating the Sheriff of Nottingham up with Lacey (hey, remember her? *crickets*).

But look at the time *between* those two incidents. After he was Baelfire, he was Neal. Neal was not the most moral figure. He gave into impulses (theft, lying, etc). Did he have good intentions for some? Sure. But he wasn’t perfect. As he grew older, he learned better.

Now look at the younger version of him. He was a teenager (which, remember, teens are hormonal) who watched his dad get insulted and himself get pushed. He was holding the weapon capable of ultimate evil in his hands. He was enraged, a feeling probably amplified from the dagger. He probably wasn’t realizing what he was saying at the time. When he returned to the cottage, he was still holding the dagger. As a result, he was probably still on the dagger’s high. Rumple saw that and wanted to take him out of it before it could get any further. He was a good kid who accidentally slid off the track. He wanted to put him back on it and absorb his sin himself.

I’m not saying that this story direction is okay. I’m not saying Bae’s reaction is completely IC. But I’m also not saying that it’s entirely OOC either.