Board Thread:Spoilers!/@comment-24589671-20150219205427/@comment-24674051-20150221190137

WorldHopper22 wrote: I think Belle may be leaving town. A&E said multiple people will be leaving Storybrooke, and they didn't say leaving by crossing the town line. So I think Belle will leave with Will to another world in search of Anastasia and I think Rumple might come along too (in an a attempt to win her back.  from a storytelling perspective, this idea is intriguing.  However, from a TV perspective, I hope they don't go this way.  We saw a little of what happens when people go off on their own side stories with the Neverland Arc. Limiting the trips to one or 2 episodes leaves very little room to tell the stories, and any longer, the story starts to become confused.

Personally, I don't mind a book that devotes a chapter or 2 to a side plot, focused on a smaller number of characters, but it does not translate very well into a TV format (or even a large screen format).

However, you are correct in what A & E stated about people leaving storybrooke. coupled with one of the other comments above, maybe the Apprentice presented Emma and Regina with a spell that allows them to open a portal at will (as a gesture of thanks for releasing him from the hat). Which could open all sorts of possibilities for stories in the future (such as having the camelot arc in Camelot).