Giving a simple nod of understanding, Rumplestiltskin left that topic at that. He did prefer not getting into a fight when it could be avoided. While underneath everything he was still the coward he always had been, he far preferred talking and making deals in place of fighting. Great power came with great cost. While he had attained the power in order to save his son from going to a certain death, it ultimately resulted in him losing his son because he'd been to scared to go with Bael through the portal when it had opened. Ever since, every single thing he had done had been to reunite with his lost son.
"She is my love," he answered simply, glancing to the ground momentarily, remembering back to when she had tried to break the spell on him and he'd lashed out and cast her out because he'd been afraid, believed so deeply that no one could ever love him. "It did touch her once, long ago in our own land. But she has not turned from me. Most days I do not understand how she could love someone like me. She's only ever known me with this darkness." Belle had never met him before he'd become the Dark One. But he supposed that in this world with the Dark One still tethered somewhere inside of him, he was as close to the man he'd once been as he would ever hope to become. "But thank you, I am trying to keep it from coming between us again. I can't lose her, not again." Those last words were said with a tone that suggested he'd felt great loss throughout his life.
"Ah, this power of mine can be transferred from person to person in a very permanent sort of way. It is not a power that can be taught to an apprentice. Being the Dark One grants you immortality, in a sense. The only thing that can kill the Dark One is to be stabbed with a particular dagger. Upon the blade of said dagger, the name of the Dark One is engraved into it. I killed the former Dark One this way in order to get his power. Let us just say the consequences of that action were not made known to me until it was too late to turn back." A corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk. "Though my magic, that I can teach to others, and I have had a couple apprentices over time." Listening to Jacen's explanation of his power, Rumplestiltskin tilted his head slightly, thinking over the other man's words.
"That sounds much like what I have told many others in my world. Magic always comes with a price because nothing is ever free. So that is a notion I understand better than most." He glanced at the plant that Jacen had taken the life from for some moments, then looked over the other plants momentarily before looking back to Jacen. "To have such dominion over life, death and everything in between must be quite the weight upon one's shoulders. You are able to sense life in that respect? In order to have such dominion, it seems you would need the ability to sense it to know where to look."