I see your point Phee, but here’s another possibility. Let’s say that Rumple and Zelena have been together for a year. Let’s speculate that something has happened to Bae in the missing year in enchanted forest. Let’s say Bae’s life is in danger. That unless Rumpel intercedes in some way Bae will be killed or taken to a new land where he will never find happiness.
Wouldn’t Rumple move worlds to find a way to get Neal out of EF and bring him to a safe place, storybrooke?
In that case, yes, I can see Rumple wanting to take action if either Neal or Belle were in danger and there was some way he could save them. At the same time though, he’d know that whatever he did, if magic were involved, there would be a price, and it could be his price that he’d try to save them and they’d end up dead instead. So it’d be risky, but I could certainly see him trying to craft some way around it if it meant trying to protect them.
My own headcanon right now though is that Neal was exempt from the new Curse somehow, because I reckon that’s gonna be him in the hood in SB, and FTL costume + in SB = that person evaded the new Curse and got there by some other means, so if that person IS Neal, then I’d think he’s pretty much in control of where he is and how he got there, and hasn’t had any aid from Rumple scheming. And Belle DID get caught in the new Curse, so if one of them did and not the other, then it doesn’t really work that Rumple had something to do with the Curse in order to protect them, because he’d have ensured that the Curse didn’t miss one of them, and he’d also have ensured that Zelena didn’t end up in either of their general vicinities.
My brain is getting tied in knots. LOL I’m ready for the next ep and some more facts to work with now please.