Not that I want want to put too much thought into it, but this is 30 years of living, no curse. Did Belle just rot-to-death in EQ’s castle when they banished EQ? Did she escape or get rescued? Did she and Rumple repeat in A.U. for 30 years what has happened over the last 3-ish years that has passed, in-story, on this show? Ugh. Is their an A.U. Gideon? And/or did they split? Whether it goes good or bad – how and at which point does someone get the better of Rumple and he ends up in the jail/psych-ward?
Oh, I had interpreted what you said as in he still wanted to perform the dark curse, not that he wanted to do so some 30+ years ago. I was sort of assuming that with Nealfire having shown up some 13(?) years ago, that Rumple’s plans would have changed regarding the Dark Curse. Just don’t ask me how Nealfire got back to the Enchanted Forest.