The Return, cont’d
FTL: As he and Bae make their way through the night, Rumple frets. He doesn’t trust the BF, thinks thd bean is a trick and will kill them. Bae starts into the vortex the bean creates but Rumple holds onto him, using the dagger as a stake to pin them to the ground. Bae calls him a coward for violating their deal, then Bae slips into the votex and disappears. The vortex closes. Rumple digs frantically, calling for Bae and insisting he wants to come too, but it’s too late.
In SB, Gold confesses, “You were right, Bae.” As August looks away, Gold admits he was a coward and asks for forgiveness. “In every waking moment I’ve been looking for you.” As they embrace, Gold cries and asks if Bae forgives him. August says he does. Gold says he knows August has come to the woods to find the dagger. August explains that if Gold still has the dagger, he would know Gold hasn’t changed. Gold takes him to the spot at which he buried the dagged after Emma arrived in town; he says he was hiding it from Regina. He then offers the dagger to August, recommending its destruction, “the way you always wanted to. I found you and I don’t need it any more. I chose it once; now I choose you.”
But August turns the dagger on Gold and tries to command him with it. Gold realizes August has scammed him: Bae would’ve known Gold has no magic because that’s why Bae wanted to come to this world to begin with.