Hello everyone!

This note at the beginning is going to be a DOOZY, so much so that I almost considered making it it's own chapter. I just have a lot to say though, so please, bear with me.

I have removed the old story (basically just re-uploaded over it and all that jazz) so this is now COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY. If you read the story before 1/29/2016, that is an ENTIRELY different story! Yes, some things will be the same, but they are also very much NOT.

So. There. Now onto other buisness.

This is the sequel to "Tango", and I would encourage you to go read that story first and foremost or else a lot of things in this story will not make sense. Especially the whole entire plot. Wow. That was kind of dramatic... Okay, well maybe it will make sense, but I like reviews and I like story hits. Makes me happy! Below the line but before the title, I am including a summary of Tango, for all of you that need one. Especially since I know it's been... a while since I have updated.

Lots going on. Being an adult. It's weird.

0/10 would not recommend.

And again, I repeat: For people who have already read the first few chapters of FoxTrot that had been posted - THIS IS BASICALLY A WHOLE NEW STORY! :) I changed a few things and it... well it changed everything. Who knew a moment on a couch being comforted would change the whole stories set up? Well, I didn't, that's for sure. But now Danni and Vlad are just writing themselves!

Also, this is in third POV, instead of first POV, because of reasons... Alright fine, the reason is I want to write Vlad, too! And he had thoughts and feelings as well people! So this story is gonna include him, too, as well as many other POV.

So. Without further ado, I fervently hope you enjoy the brand-new retelling (and in some cases just plain old telling) of Foxtrot.

-Jay

Summary: (Sequel to Tango) War is coming to Amity Park. Predicted and assured by the Master of TIme and Space himself. Yet, it is not to occur for a few more years. Time plenty for the Halfa pair to get up to their usual brand of mischief. Danni and Phantom, unfortunately, are about to learn the hard way that just because the future is to come, it does not mean the present can not reflect their fate. There are choices to be made, and not all of them easy. They, along with Vlad, are forced to return to Amity and learn much ado about everything including family, secrets, and betrayal. [AU]

Warning[s]: Language. For now.

:INNER DIALOGUE:

"REGULAR TALKING"

"COMMAND"

One Hell of an Overview of TANGO:

Daniella Fenton and Danny Phantom were merged into one soul by a freak Ghost-Portal accident, forcing them to share one body, one life: forever. Phantom is a smart mouth ghost and Daniella is simply a child compared to the ghost who has lived for a century. Yet, during a 'family' road trip, in their third month of life together - they meet Vlad Masters, a brilliant billionaire.

He is also like them. A halfa. Only he is one person in one body, while they are two. None-the-less it is he who warns them that in a weeks time they will be hunted for the right to be Marked. A tattoo form of ownership that everyone in Ghost-Zone society is subjected to.

Before that though, Danni, Phantom, and Vlad plot against Danni's parents, the Fenton's. Vlad wants Maddie as a wife, always has and always will, yet Jack Fenton is in the way. He gets Danni's blessing to go through with his plan to besmirch the good name of Jack's and destroys the Fenton's name. It is after Jack is arrested for attacking the guests at Vlad's party that Maddie, Jazz, and Danni return home. Only for Maddie to become angry at Danni for acting out and does something regrettable that forces Danni and Phantom to run a week earlier than they were originally planning to.

In the months that follow, they run. They run from humans and ghosts alike. The humans want Danni because she is a runaway, the ghosts want them both to be Marked. The Halfa Duo learn new tricks of the trade and how to run faster, better, and more efficiently. All for naught. At the beginning of their second year on the run, they are ambushed by all of the ghosts who had been called off until the second year of the hunt.

It is there that Danni is Marked by none other than Vlad Masters.

After Danni awakens, a marked person, she learns of a future she very much wants to stop. Only there are so many variables and too few answers to truly be able to stop it. Let alone change it. Can she change her sister enough for the future she saw in Clockworks tower to never come true? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

And this is where we find them.

And Now We Three

A halfa is a being that at any one time, and at any chosen moment, can be human or ghost. They are immensely powerful. Usually taking on rare or semi-rare talents. Fought over, sought after, the whole shebang. What a halfa is not, is a being that can be both, human and ghost, at once. But Danni Fenton and Phantom never were one's for following the rules.

Breaking rules on the other hand...

:It is definitely your turn.: Danni, the human of the two, said inside their minds.

:Why do I always get 'my turn' when he's pissy?: Phantom asked, running a physical hand through his physical hair. Or rather, Danni's hair. He was in her form at the moment. The maids were around and would flip if they saw a real, in-the-flesh ghost. Plus, no matter how durable they both were, in any form, Vlad was more likely to go easy on them if the face looking back at him was a girls.

He was sexist like that.

:It's not always when he's pissy.: Danni defended, weakly.

:It's not, is it?: He shoved a few choice memories at her and she recoiled, back to her part of the mind, on stand by.

Last wednesday. The tuesday before that. Every single monday. Danni relented.

:I can take over if you want?:

:No,: Phantom huffed, watching the door that Vlad had gone through an hour before. The one that lead to his lab. To the ghost portal. To the king. :It's not often I get to be in charge after all. And you are tired.:

:You get to be in charge of all the ghost stuff.: Danni said, faintly amused. :I get to deal with Master. I thought that was the deal?:

:I honestly don't understand how you can be so happy about that,: Phantom hated talking to people. He wanted action and he wanted it yesterday.

:You know why.:

Did he ever. Danni had had a crush on Vlad even before the whole master-enslavement deal.

:Yes, I do, but it still boggles my mind.:

A snort reached him, a mimic sound inside his head. :... What do you think it was about, anyway?:

Phantom looked to the door, watching, waiting. With a frown he looked deeper, trying to think of any reason that Pariah and his council would have reason to call for their Master. It had been quiet for the last few months. Honestly, their hunt had been the most action in the past two years. Vlad was usually informed of meetings weeks in advance. They hadn't even gotten through breakfast before he had been called off.

The worst part was he hadn't even really told them to wait for him, Danni and Phantom both had just felt it right.

Now, almost three hours later, they were regretting their decision.

:A quick flight?: Phantom finally broke, feeling the itching under his skin.

:Yes!: Danni answered a little too quickly, throwing all good feelings towards him for suggesting it. :I thought you'd never ask!:

Looking outside of the lounge area quickly to check if the coast was clear, Phantom and Danni disengaged from one another. Danni pulling free, much like coming out of water. Except the water was a stream of consciousness turned into flesh. An odd feeling, but once it was semi-permenant it was just like any other old body.

"First to the old pine about a mile out wins?"

Danni was already nodding. "North or south?"

"North." He answered, without an an ounce of hesitation.

Never one to be able to stop herself, Danni only smirked, forgoing the reply, and transformed: The race on.

"Hey!"

The tree that they were heading to was one of their favorite race-to spots. It even had their ecto-written carvings. "D + D 4ever." No doubt many people down the line would immediately think of lovers, of any kind of relationship as uncomplicated as that, but they knew what they were and it was enough for them both of them.

Fifteen minutes later, one short race, and a good few minutes taunting each other, they were sitting at the base of the old tree, laughing wildly. Hair windswept. Faces flushes as much as they could be. It had been neck in neck for the last few seconds, but Phantom had played dirty and pushed Danni. She had seen it coming, of course, she wasn't stupid, and had dodged; but they'd been so close that she had lost her trajectory.

He won by a landslide. A full three seconds.

Danni couldn't be mad though. He was her soul. He was half of her. It was like she was right there with him, winning.

So she laughed uproariously and tackled him.

Not expecting that, he shouted, a high pitched sound from surprise as he went down. "Hey - Agh!"

"Gotcha!" Danni straddled him and then attacked his ribs mercilessly with tickle-attacks. Fingers jammed into armpits as he tried to bat her away as well as try to protect himself. He was probably one of the only ghosts she knew that was ticklish.

"I still - ahahah -" He panted as he tried to wriggle away from her hands. "Beat you! Hahah!"

"You might have won the battle, Phantom," Danni crowed, triumphantly as she noticed the tears streaming down his face, even as a ghost, as he laughed even harder. "But I've won the war!"

It descended into madness after that. Silly madness. Each of them getting thrown around, one on top, the other on the bottom, but it changed as they tussled. Danni received her just deserts for starting the fight, but it was easy not to take it at all personal. Both of them laughing at the beginning and the end.

Both of them stopped to catch their breaths. Puffing in each others faces.

It took them a half an hour to settle down, truly and peacefully, but when they did, it wasn't long before they found themselves on one of the tippiest-top branches of the old pine tree, seated, staring out over the horizon. It was easily as tall as Vlad's tallest ceiling. About three stories. One the tallest tree in the entire forest surrounding his home.

Which made it a perfect spot for watching the world get sleepy. Vlad had left around three, so now well past six, closing in on seven.

:~Here comes the sun, doo-bee-doo-wow ~: Danni sang to herself inside her head, some of Vlad's old music he played every now and then getting caught in her mind. Their Master was one of... refined but dusty practices. Yet, the song fit the moment, so Danni wasn't one to hold back small pleasures in her life.

The warmth of the world was becoming something a little cooler. The sun setting did that. Gave the whole world that dusky appearance. Orangy-yellowy glow, all while it was turning black. Fading from blue. Phantom and Danni weighed nothing, so the topmost branches didn't even bend as they sat on them.

"It's a beautiful night." Phantom announced, a very soft smile gracing his face. Even as he kept his eyes closed and basked in the cool of the evening.

Feeling the last rays of sunlight touch her face, cooling her rapidly cooling body; Danni smiled back.

"It is. Isn't it?"

Now if only Vlad was here...

They both took a long deep, draft of air into their useless lungs, tasting the freedom that came with that motion. They worried, briefly for Vlad, before trying to put it out of their minds. Unsuccessfully.

What if something had happened? Danni's mind was alight with possibilities, as she shivered in the cool evening. What if the King wanted him for a mission? What if we didn't see him for weeks? What if it was Clockwork? What if -

"It's too nice of a night to worry," Danni said.

"I simply must agree with that statement, Daniella, dear."

The voice startled them. With tensed shoulders they turned quickly to see none other than Vlad Masters, in his Plasmius form, floating behind them.

In the past year, he had slowly been changing his outfit, so Phantom and Danni didn't immediately recognize him.

Gone was the suit and in it's place stood light, yet sturdy armor. It looked more like a tunic, but with weighted forearm pieces, knee high boots, and a slim, almost unnoticeable chest piece. Vlad had claimed that since the war was coming, they all might as well get ready in their own time. He had just decided that his time, was now.

A sigh of relief left both their mouths.

"Hey, boss." Danni greeted brightly, with a smile, as her body relaxed. "Didn't even sense you."

"Almost went arse over elbow," Phantom agreed, slipping into his british roots that he had done very well in covering. He turned his body so he was now facing Vlad.

"Terribly sorry about that," Vlad was not the least bit apologetic, especially with the smile on his face. "I returned and noticed you were not in the house, so I thought I would come seek out your company."

Vlad would never admit that he enjoyed searching them out like he had, even if the news he was bringing was less than ideal, but he did. And the varying reactions of his Halfa's when they saw him? Icing on the cake. Enough to make him smile. Especially if he masked his signature.

With only the slightest of frowns he realized they need to be trained better to notice such things as that, even if it was fun sneak up on them.

"So what'd the King want?" Danni asked, as she crossed her legs and floated. Her poor little heart was finally back to a normal beat. Enough so that she could appreciate the sight in front of her.

Vlad hadn't changed much over the year the younger Halfa pair had been at his home. He'd atrophied in his perfection much like a vampire did. If anything, he'd grown younger. His hair had grown and he now had it pulled not at the nap of his neck, but up in a sophisticated bun. Sometimes a messy bun. He only wore it so at home. Not that Danni minded. Danni thought it was a little too hot for other people to see Vlad when he was like that, so she didn't mind being one of the only people privvy to it. The 'old people' fat that Danni and Phantom liked to joke about was almost non existence after their daily sparring matches.

He hadn't always been so... chiselled, that had come after. After their arrival.

Hot? Yes. Handsome? No doubt. But well exercised, like a well oiled machine? No. He'd relied on brute strength and his own powerful-core before he had come into possession of the young Halfas. And that had been his downfall. Danni and Phantom were faster, smaller, and just generally more full of energy. Vlad hadn't stood a chance when they were back at their full power - not unless he used all that knowledge up in his brain and 'skillfully' beat them. Because he wasn't just battling some no name ghost, he was battle Phantom - a century old ghost - and Danni, his sidekick. They were by no means weak.

Now that he was teaching them, though, they were catching up to him on skill level.

So what was a Master to do?

It was how Vlad had slowly, but surely, come to realize his own failings. If his Halfas hadn't been so exhausted when they, himself and the other ghosts, had finally come to capture them; Vlad now had no doubt they would have lost. But that was the way of the beast. The way of the Marking. So, to make up for that, for both himself and the Halfas, he worked on keeping himself in tip-top shape. He'd promised to train right there with them. Using less of his brute strength, and getting more out of his own training-chamber he'd built all those years ago, than ever before.

And it looked good.

Danni was more than often reminded to stop staring by Phantom, than not.

But who could blame her? Vlad looked like he stepped out of a Gucci add half the time. How could she not drool?

This was something Danni wasn't shy telling Phantom, but would never voice to Vlad. She valued her sanity too much for that. And the teasing that could come from the older Halfa would be too much too bare, as her Master and as someone she liked. And as someone who she was bound to for all eternity - or you, however long they lived, and seeing as the King was going on centuries...

Vlad frowned as he responded to the question, breaking her reverie. "You will not like what I have to say."

"It can't be that bad," Phantom said, hovering above the branches.

"We've heard loads of really bad news, after all," Danni agreed.

"I came to have a chat, and felt it better to seek you out, rather than you seek me out."

"Really?" Danni said, floating upwards. "But you could have just called us back...?"

Danni wasn't usually the first one to bring up the power the Mark's held, especially her own badger shaped one, but it was a truth. A universal truth. And Vlad hadn't been shy about using the Mark, on a very low setting, only the slightest heat behind it, to call for them before. Nothing too fancy though, mostly just 'dinner', 'training', and 'get up'.

"Can't I come enjoy the evening with two of my favorite minions?" Vlad asked, smirking as they both rolled their eyes in tandem.

"We're your only minions, Master." Phantom said, mockingly speaking his title, as he still sat on the branch before raising an eyebrow.

"Hmmm, you're right." Vlad looked off into the sunset thoughtfully. "I will have to remedy that."

:Remedy?: Phantom's voice was monotone and faint, at a distance much greater than completely joined at the core.

:I don't like the sound of that...: Danni said, wearily.

"Kidding." Vlad said, noticing their comfort level. "Just a joke. You two are plenty for me."

They relaxed.

"Was the calling from the King really that abrupt? You usually get a few weeks notice for these things... And," Danni said, puzzled. "You usually inform us of these... developments."

She felt like such a 'big girl', mature-er, using those kinds of terms, but being around Vlad did that to a person. He demanded the best, and that included words. It included culture. It would have been easier to use simple words. To speak as if she was a seventeen year old that had lived as such. Slang included.

Yet, she wasn't a normal seventeen year old. She had never been. Not since her birthday. Not since ever.

As such, she acted her part perfectly.

"There have been some developments." Vlad wouldn't look at them. "Most of them... fortunate enough in their own way. Others... Not so."

Vlad never looked unsure of himself. And he was unsure. Which is why it took them a second to realize the emotion. Danni nor Phantom had ever known the man to look away when talking to them. He always had an eye on them when he was speaking to them, unless he was otherwise occupied and his attention was torn.

Yet, the only thing to keep his attention was the sun.

And he hardly was looking.

That was when it started sinking in. Vlad had news. From the way he was staring at the sun rising, it was bad news. Something that they weren't going to take well. Danni sunk back onto the branch, making it lean with her physical weight. Wanting to feel something real around her as they waited for Vlad to continue.

It had been a long time since he had been the bearer of bad news.

The badger on their forearms tingled as if touch, but neither had done so.

"I do apologize, Daniella, I know this will come as a shock but it is necessary," Vlad finally breathed deeply through his nose.

Heart sinking, Danni waited.

"What do you mean?" Phantom asked, his eyes shut as he tried to imagine anything that Vlad would throw at them.

:It couldn't be... that bad, could it?: Danni asked herself, well aware that Phantom could answer if he so chose, but they both kept silent.

"It's begun."

Ever cryptic, it was Phantom who huffed. "What has begun?"

Yet both had an inkling of an idea.

Vlad was silent, weighing everything, as the sun inched up. Then he physically changed. Straightened. Pulled himself together. Turned to them.

"We've received our first marching orders."

"Marching orders, sir?" Danni queried, aware that something had shifted.

"The council has convened." Vlad informed them, sighing. "And the situation has become something we had not thought it would. Not for a few years at the least. The humans are pushing our hand. Pariah Dark is planning his war. "

Oh. War. That little old thing.

Which wasn't such a little old thing.

It just wasn't... horrible. Awful, yes, but not down right bad. The council wasn't bad, after all, just... focused.

It was made up of all the 'noble' and old ghosts. The one's that were the highest power-levels ghosts besides the Halfa's. Able to be so, because of age and how gaining power in the ghost zone worked. Namely, older was more powerful. Steep in power long enough and you pick something up. The ghost zone's entire atmosphere was power and less than two of the ghosts on the cousin had ever left the 'zone'.

There were quite a few families that made up the 'inner' hierarchy, which then branched out into the lower level 'nobles' and then from there was when the Marking actually mattered. Vlad was a Second tier knight, and Phantom and Danni were third. Only so because Clockwork was a Primary. One of the ancients, rather than a nobel.

They were the one's who were in charge of planning life in the ghost zone. And the war.

It was all rather confusing, but it wasn't anything that the Halfa's needed to worry about.

Danni relaxed.

"What are our order's then, Master?" Phantom asked, well aware that this was one of those times where Vlad was playing his part of 'Master' very well.

Therefore, they would play their part as servant, just as well.

It wasn't like the Halfa pair wasn't aware of what would be required of them from the ghost King. Pariah Dark had made it clear that they would be helping with the war effort any which way it went. It was almost a relief that it was finally happening. They were finally getting their marching orders.

The future was coming closer and closer every day.

Just... faster than everyone had been prepared for.

"We've been..." Vlad paused here, actually looking away from them as he spoke. "Ordered to destroy the Ghost Portal at your family's residence in Amity. As well as find and destroy the plans so it can not be replicated."

Danni blinked.

Danni blinked a few more times. Mind froze as she tried to ponder what exactly that meant.

"Oh. That's not too bad." A great weight lifted off her shoulders, off her chest. "Destroy one ghost portal can't be that hard. I mean it's not like we have to interact with them. Get in, get out. Boom. Easy."

She smiled, but it didn't feel right, still.

"Honestly, I was worried we were going to have to go assassinate the president or something."

Vlad still wouldn't look at her. Not in the eyes anyway. Not even after the funny she had cracked.

Becoming uncomfortable, Danni rubbed the back of her neck. "That's... that's it right? Just destroying the portal?"

"No, Danniella, it is not. The powers that be," Namely the courts of the King. Danni and Phantom could read subtext. "Want information as well, Daniella. They want... confirmation on other weapon plans. On the future. They want - no, need spies."

This time, Danni froze. Listening.

"Spies? But - what...?" She blushed as she tried to imagine herself as a spy. She was straight forward. It went against her own moral compass to lie so blatantly as spies did. And though she had little moral compass to speak of, this part of it was very much alive.

Yet... orders were orders.

"They've chosen us."

Phantom had stayed unusually quiet but now he was pipping up, a fire burning in his eyes. His thoughts were a little muddled to Danni, enough so that it took her a while, but she caught the gist of it. And it wasn't good.

"They want us to reintegrate with the family, don't they, sir?"

They got their answer through Vlad continuing to watch the setting sun. Not a twitch otherwise or not.

Danni froze. Reintegrate?

Reintegration meant to re-become something. Became part of the family. Part of the Fenton family.

Part of Maddie's family.

Again.

No. NO. One time was enough. Far too long, if Danni could say anything about it.

"I refuse." Danni snarled before she could help herself. It came out like a flood. "I can't... I can't just go back there. It's been two years! Maddie hated me when I left! I hate her just as much. And I hardly think that will change with only a few years lost between us."

Vlad did not move.

"It won't work. Whatever plan they want us to enact, it won't work!"

Danni refused to leave the branch she was seated on but she jittered. Legs moved between wispy tail to two legs and back numerous times. She couldn't stop her hands from shaking. There was anger somewhere between the fear that was now strangling her heart, but it was hard to distinguish everything with the overwhelming feelings. There was no hesitation from her though.

:I will not go back.: Danni told Phantom. :I will not go like a lamb to slaughter.:

"We are all going." Vlad said, the Command lacing through his every word, his every syllable before finally turning to them. "Together."

The words fell on Danni like iron chains. Twisting around her half of the soul like an iron clad promise.

She'd never fought a Command before. There had never been a moment where she had wanted to fight so hard, so badly, that she would forget how it was useless, how it would do nothing. Because it would take her forgetting, to make such a mistake. Yet, the chains that hung unseen between master and servant were heavy and brought her to her knees.

Enough so that they all, to soon, they found themselves on the floor of the forest.

And by found, Danni meant she had fallen the entire way, they had followed, and she was now left on the floor trying to keep herself together. There was no pain from the fall. No broken bones because she just simply couldn't get them in this form.

Yet there was pain. Enough so that she could only stand a few more moments as the pressure became hot, heated, heavy as it was - it smothered her. She gasped, holding herself, trying to hold herself together. Alone, for the first time in a very, very long time.

She now knew why Ghosts didn't rebel.

Why Pariah Dark was able to rule with not so much as an ironfist, but an iron Mark. There was no reason to go against this kind of pain for so little reward, yet that didn't stop Danni. Even as it grew heavier. Even as it grew to be painful.

She would suffer until she broke or Vlad's own Command broke.

They all knew which would happen first.

:Please, don't do this, Danni.: Phantom said. He'd accepted the chains of the words without even a second thought. As they did with most Commands that itched over their skin like beetles against bark trying to burrow in. Seared into their souls until completed or otherwise stated.

"Cease the struggling, Daniella." Vlad said, another Command lacing through his voice. He didn't even so much as hesitate, but Danni knew he regretted it. Knew it like she knew the sun was going to rise tomorrow morning. "This is not a mission any of us can refuse. We are the only one's able, and therefore we are the only one's they will ever ask. The sooner you realize that, the sooner we can finish our orders."

The Command piling on Command was very much too much. It felt like she was being crushed by the universe. Enough so that a groan slipped out, a trembling shiver starting up all over her entire body as she collapsed. Arms buckling under the weight of her own body. Danni felt Phantom's hands petting her hair, yet he did not return to their body. That would have probably made her stop her struggling faster, knowing she couldn't have fought against such a Command and sentence Phantom to the same pain at the same time.

"Please," Danni whispered, in one last ditch effort to touch some part of Vlad that would listen.

She heard a sigh, then Vlad was seated next to her, his hand joining in as Phantom's stroked her hair. Vlad's own kept a steady pressure on her back, the upper part of it.

"I would that I could, Daniella, but I have been Commanded as well. This is a mission we were made for."

Did it change it that Vlad was being force as well?

Holding on for a few seconds longer, Danni reluctantly allowed her resistance to be met with empty air. Accepted the orders as she was forced to do. The invisible chains melting into bones. They did not soothe the aches that had been left behind. That was Vlad's job. No, it just made it so that the young woman stopped trembling. Stopped being stabbed by those thousands of needles.

It only made the physical pain lessen.

With her face still buried into the ground, and body still trembling, she tried to not be as angry as she desperately wanted to be.

The knowledge that Vlad was not doing this by himself didn't exactly make Danni like him any more at the moment, but it made her understand. He had been kind to them. The two of them. As kind as a Master was allowed to be. She could not be angry at him for that. Could be angry at the world, but that was still as futile. Danni refused to continually be a victim. Which is why as soon as she was able, as soon as she felt properly forgiven and properly chastised; she crawled into Vlad's lap, shoved her face as far up under his chin as she could and asked for forgiveness for being difficult in the only way she knew how.

Through physical touch.

It had been a long time since Danny had done anything like this. She hadn't ever been so bold as now, but then again, she had never been as difficult as she had been. The pain and the exhaustion that had crept up on her had done a number on the poor halfa. And even as Vlad stiffened, before relaxing, he must have understood what she was trying to get across.

"You're forgiven, little badger," Vlad said, softly, ignoring the wetness against his neck. His hand took over the spot that Phantom had been petting, and slowly relaxed. "This is not the best situation to find ourselves, granted, but we shall persevere. We always have."

Danni nodded, not really feeling up to talking.

What was there left to say?