Reply To: Shard or a Box?

[Slurpeez]

So, I rewatched the scene. While Rumple is aware a portal was being opened as indicated by his monologue, I think he expected someone was trying to get hold of that all-powerful Olympian crystal. He didn’t know someone else was really after Pandora’s box. Also, thinking how Rumple often does, who wouldn’t target the shard over the box? Rumple probably reasoned the box would be safe, since he thought only the Scooby gang knew Belle was in it. He didn’t yet know they were in A Land of Untold Stories. Why would Rumple expect someone to be after Belle when he knew Henry, Emma, and Regina were all after the most powerful object ever devised? In conclusion, while Rumple did effectively “choose power” over Belle in that scene by going for the shard over the box, I’m pretty sure he never expected someone would kidnap Belle when a more powerful object was in the same vicinity. Perhaps Rumple’s own love of power (and thus the crystal) blinded him to seeing the possibility that someone would seek to kidnap his wife to have leverage over the dark one.