Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-25926288-20160713182420/@comment-25375217-20161002021346

That's not really what Colin O'Donoghue has said. And, as mentioned before, none of the characters seemed particularly interested in helping Belle anyway.

However, I did say "particularly", which is a word intended to bring focus to a specific reason, not to state the sole reason. I'm sure that their friendship, used somewhat loosely, was also a deciding factor, but what we've seen and what Colin has said shows that trying to show that he's a good guy, especially for Emma's sake, is a major part of his decision-making process. (Colin also said he wants to one-up Rumple some.)