But… if Henry wouldn’t be in Storybrooke, Emma’s kiss would never work; no true love involved, no magic operating there.
If Emma truly loved Neil, why wouldn’t it have worked as a kiss between the two? Why did it have to be Emma and Henry?
I imagine there is fan fiction on how, to break the curse, there had to be a moment of true love between a parent and a child; a symbol of Rumple’s grief.