A/N: Sorry for the wait but I've been dealing with some medical issues. I won't keep you waiting. Enjoy the chapter.

Rumpelstiltskin just stared at the man standing before him for what felt like entity not sure how to respond. How was it that this man had managed to find his daughter when all his knowledge and powers had made it impossible to do so? And what did he mean that he was his daughter so-called protector? And if he was his daughter's protector then where had he been all this time?

"Start talking," demanded Rumpelstiltskin his voice taking a slightly darker tone to it daring the man to try and lie to him.
"My name is Thanatos," began the man.
"As in the Thanatos, the Greek god?"
"No, I was just named after him," began Thanatos. "I am a son of a previous dark one. My father was Zoso; I believe you know of him."

Rumpelstiltskin recalled the previous Dark One that he had managed to kill and thus claiming the powers for himself but he hadn't heard of him having any family, nor had Zoso ever spoken of him having a son when he used to torment him before he had managed to learn to shut the voices out.

"Indeed," stated Rumpelstiltskin. "However, I don't recall hearing he had a son."
"He didn't know," stated Thanatos. "Unlike your daughter, I wasn't born out of love. My father and my mother met before he became the Dark One and they were only together for long enough, for me to be conceived before he moved outwards. However, while I wasn't conceived by true love, I was born just as my father had officially become the Dark One."

Rumpelstiltskin stood there staring at the man before him as he seemed to be fighting off something before he managed to continue his story.

"Do you know of the prophecy?" asked Thanatos. "About a child born of the dark one?"
"Indeed," stated Rumpelstiltskin.
"Good," stated Thanatos. "That'll save some time. As I told you because I was born just as my father became the dark one, the ones who are partially responsible for your daughter kidnapping, also took an active interest in my life as well. However, when it became clear that my parents weren't true love, they quickly lost interest in me, until I showed signs of having magic."
"Magic?"
"In my bloods, flow the same kind of magic that lies in your daughter's blood, however, unlike your daughter I am still bound to the laws of magic," stated Thanatos.
"Are you trying to tell me my daughter isn't?"
"No," stated Thanatos. "Because your daughter is magic itself, reborn into a human vessel. Through her will, she can make the impossible happen and she can reshape the laws as she sees fit. However, there is a cost to this magic."
"There always is," replied Rumpelstiltskin slightly under his breath. "What's the cost?"
"Your daughter will one day have to make a choice. You see when magic was first created, it lay in perfect balance. There was no such thing as darkness nor was there light. There was simply magic, however eventually people and gods began seeking magic out and asking it to grant them favours that magic grew tired of heeding the calls that it decided to choose someone to used its gifts to help her. So it create a holy grail and waited for a person who would be worthy of such a gift and found the one they call Merlin and the true essence of magic has been woven into the earth itself ever since. However, when Nimue became the first Dark One and Merlin was sealed into a tree, magic became unstable and it's been out of balance ever since. Ever since then magic has been at war itself. The dark and the light fighting, one side always winning and the other losing, only to switch as the players change, and even now that war continues."
"So what does my daughter have to do with this?"
"About 100 years after the war began, the being known as the Oracle of Delphi prophesized about a child who would finally end the end the war. Your daughter will restore magic to its former glory but in doing so she will also decide if darkness, light or by some miracle total balance will be the result. The ones who took your daughter feared that if she was to remain with you, the darkness that you surround yourself in would consume her and she will bring about the darkness," stated Thanatos. "However, what they fail to see is that by keeping her from being free to make her own choices and her own discoveries they are trapping her in a void of fear and misdirection's. They could very well be the ones that make the darkness win."
"So how is that you know all of this?"
"I know because I stumble on the oracle by accident while I was trying to learn about who I was. The ones that took your daughter had originally feared it would be me who would be the child spoken of, but when it became clear that I hadn't been born of true love, they tossed me aside. However, by accident I found out about the prophecy and the fact that I was the child of the Dark One that I began to educate myself on magic and its origins," stated Thanatos. "I ended up figuring out how to tap into the same magic force that is deep within your daughter but I can't fully control it or command it as she will one day be able to do so. However, I do have a better understanding of its true power and though it I was able to keep myself young. Eventually, I learned where my father was but when I got there to finally meet him, I saw you plunge your dagger into his heart and become the Dark One yourself."
"So you have enteral youth," stated Rumpelstiltskin.
"I did at one point but the same people who are mostly responsible for your daughter being taken from you, had discovered that I could access the magic they deeply feared and they decided to take matters into their own hands. They found me one night when I was at my weakest having just pulled as much magic as I could from its source to stop a child from dying and cursed me."
"Curse you how?"
"I'm no longer human," stated Thanatos. "I'm trapped between my true form which is standing before you and this horse form that I live a majority of my days in. At first, I couldn't transform back, I was stuck in the form of a horse until one day another oracle girl with eyes in her hands and stitches covering her face stumble upon me. She recognized what I truly was and told me to go to the very spot where the holy grail had once been, even though it wouldn't be there anymore, it was where magic was born so I would be able to understand what I was meant to do. As I was leaving, I saw you approach the same oracle and kill her. It took me a while, but I manage to find the spot and I felt the same magic I hadn't felt since I became trapped in my horse form overtake me. I don't fully know what happened next but I do remember hearing this presence in my head. It told me that the prophecy was closer than ever to being revealed but since I was trapped in the form that I was, I wouldn't be able to live long enough to see it happen. Having felt what the magic felt like and knowing that the child who was truly born to fulfill the prophecy life would in danger, I wished for a way to help said child. That's when the presence told me there was a way. If I gave my word to protect and care for the child, I could become linked to him/her until the time came for the prophecy to come to pass. I told the presence I would do anything to help and I suddenly felt so sleepy. The last thing I heard before I woke up four years ago was the same presence telling me that I would sleep till the child was born and then I would just have to find the child. It further went on to explain that I would be able to access the magic again but for only short periods of time when I needed to call on it to save the child. That's how I am able to appear like this now. I know where your daughter is but I can't rescue her on my own."
"Where is she?" asked Rumpelstiltskin.
"In terrible danger," stated Thanatos. "I've been looking for her ever since I woke up, I sought you out and I finally managed to locate you, only to discover that I was too late and that the same presence that cursed me had convinced someone in this town to help them kidnap her. I've been trying to find her as well but alas nothing until today when I felt the same type of magic that I used to feel today and I followed the magic and I saw her."
"How was she?"
"She is healthy for the most part so whoever has been helping to hide her is taking care of her. I watched as she created a leaf pile in the middle of the yard with her magic, but I don't think she knew what she was doing before she finally noticed me. I watched as she approached me and just as she was about to reach out and touch me she made contact with a barrier that I couldn't pass and she was sent flying backwards into the leaves."
"Is she alright?"
"Yes," stated Thanatos. "I felt her life force but she was just rendered unconscious and I felt someone with magic approaching. I decided to take off so the person wouldn't know I had seen her until I had a chance to rescue her but I need your help. I can lead you to your daughter but I can't break the barrier and such on my own. It's taking all I have now to appear like this before you and I can't access the needed magic to free her."

Rumpelstiltskin took in all he knew and stared at Thanatos before him not fully sure if he believe all he had been told, however he knew he couldn't pass up this chance at being able to rescue his daughter. He could always deal with Thanatos later on, once he was sure his daughter was finally home safe and sound.

"Lead the way," stated Rumpelstiltskin.

A/N: Okay so now you know who the horse is. However, is he telling the truth? Will the get there in time, or will it be too late?