I’ll be interested to see the reunion between Belle and Mr Gold.
Whilst we know Rumpel believes her to be dead, we don’t know what Belle was told for Rumpel not coming to help her, especially if Regina has anything to do with it. I think Belle remembers fairytale land. The curse was supposed to take away happy endings but Belle didn’t get a happy ending, neither did Rumpel or Jefferson and those two remember their fairytale lives so it’s quite plausible for Belle to remember too.
I can just see the first thing Belle does when she comes across Rumpel in Storybrooke is slapping him across the face. Belle’s been locked in the mental ward probably from the word go so she’s not going to necessarily demonstrate the same personality she had in fairytale land though I think there will still be flashes of the old Belle that come through. Rumpel could see this and realise that Belle isn’t broken by her experiences but is more than likely “chipped”.
I would love for Belle to escape from the mental ward of her own accord because it would really set Regina on edge. She’s been keeping Belle locked away from Rumpel for a while so if Rumpel was to discover Belle was alive and who locked her up, I wouldn’t want to be in Regina’s shoes when Rumpel comes calling.
All magic comes with a price!
Keeper of Felix