Lies Become Truth
By Misha

Disclaimer- I don't own anything to do with "Veronica Mars", I really wish I did, but I don't. It belongs to Rob Thomas and the UPN. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.

Author's Notes- This is just an odd Veronica Mars story. It's an AU, taking a different twist of the end of "Leave it to Beaver" where both Keith and Logan died. It's second person, present tense, because that seems to be my favorite medium when it comes to Veronica Mars fic. As I said, it's really odd, but then most of mine are. Well, that's all, enjoy!

Pairing- Duncan/Veronica.

Summery- You ran from your life, from who you were, and in time your lies because your truth.

Rating- PG-13

Spoilers- The whole first season.

You stare in shock at the man standing in front of you. You haven't seen him in over ten years.

You see anger in his eyes when he recognizes you--it might have been ten years, but he hasn't forgiven you for leaving the way you did.

You stand there, not knowing what to say. In a lot of ways this man, your bff for a few precious months, is a stranger to you.

After all, you're not the girl he knew. You have a new name and a new life. You haven't been Veronica Mars in over ten years.

Not since the night you left Neptune for good.

There was nothing left there for you, not really. Not since that night.

You relive that night over and over in your nightmares. The night you found Lilly's killer, the night your father died to save your life and Logan jumped off of a bridge.

It was your breaking point. Neptune held too many bad memories and not a lot of friendly faces. There were a few people you felt guilty about leaving, of course, the man in front of you being the big one. You hated the fact that you were too cowardly even to say goodbye to him. But you thought it was better to just slip away.

You grabbed the check for $50,000--your father had intended for it to be your college money, instead you used it to start your new life, and snuck out without saying a word to your mother. It was only fair, after all she'd left without saying a word to you.

You had intended to go alone, but Duncan showed up at your door and you found yourself asking if he wanted to go with you. Of course, he'd already run away once and been caught, but you figured you had enough expertise to make sure that you two weren't found.

Besides, in a month or two, it wouldn't matter--you'd both be eighteen and old enough to make your own decisions. You asked Duncan to go with you, because he was your only reminder of your old life.

Lilly, your father, and Logan were all dead and you mom was tarnished beyond recognition, but Duncan was the same. Duncan was still Duncan and that was comforting. He agreed, of course, because you knew he didn't want to stay anymore than you did. So, you left.

Duncan had some cash left over from his first adventure and you had $50,000 and it was more than enough to allow you to disappear from the face of the Earth for a while. You two kept a low profile for a year or two, then resurfaced, though not as Veronica Mars and Duncan Kane.

It wasn't because you were really trying to hide anymore, but because you didn't think of yourselves as those people. You had left Duncan and Veronica behind you, along with all the painful memories.

You rewrote your history. You were still high school sweethearts and yours was still a true love, but everything else changed.

In your retelling you two never parted, so there were never other loves, and you were never almost brother and sister. In your new telling, parents never strayed and your lives were never defined by secrets and lies and the sins of others.

There was never tragedy and loss and a life stained with the blood of others. Your best friend was never murdered by her married lover, his best friend never jumped off of a bridge. You two were never drugged and you never woke up without your underwear, trying desperately to remember what had happened to you.

When people ask, you both lie easily about your families and explain that your both orphans and only children. The lies are easier than the truth.

Neither of you has forgotten the real story, but it's easier to live in the world of make believe.

Still, overtime you lie, but you still remember the truth. You come to terms with it, more or less. With the fact that Lilly was a slut, that Logan was deeply troubled and perhaps beyond saving, that your parents were far from perfect and that everything you thought you had known had been an illusion.

But, while you've accepted it, you have no wish to live it again. You prefer the life that you and he have built for yourselves, even if it is as much a lie as your old life. The difference is these are lies of your own choosing.

So for ten years, you've let the lies become truth and lived the history you rewrote for yourself. You've tried to have no regrets, except the occasional thoughts of the man standing in front of you now, you felt guilty for abandoning him without a word, but you just couldn't stay. Not even long enough to say goodbye.

So, you just left, like your mother before you. Apples don't fall far from the tree after all.

You understand her better now, because when push came to shove you ran too. You've never hidden in a bottle, but you've thought about it, and even if you don't share your mother's addiction, you do apparently share her taste in men. Maybe the Kane men are just irresistible.

You don't know, but you know that you and Duncan get a happier ending than your mother and his father, even if it's one that you had to forge out of lies. Still, you threw everything away to be with Duncan, not there was much to throw, and it makes you at least understand your mother and how she could do the same for Jake.

All this flashes through your mind in a moment, as you try to figure out what to say.

There's been so many things that you've wanted to say to him over the years, sl many times you were tempted to pick up the phone and call him, and now he's standing in front of you and you can't think of a single thing to say to him.

Finally, all you can think of is "I'm sorry".

He nods at you and then after a long moment, he continues down the street.

There's no big reunion, no catching up. He walks away from you, the way you walked away from him years before and you let him go because you can't do anything else.

You can't change what you did and you're not sure you would anyway. Besides, he's from another life and has no real meaning to you now, except as a reminder of things you've tried hard to forget.

Still, you follow him with your eyes until long after he's disappeared into the crowd. You stand there on the sidewalk, just frozen in memory, longer than you'd care to admit.

Finally you pull yourself together and continue on your way, trying to push the meeting out of your mind. After all, it belongs to another life.

You made your choice long ago and you can't look back now. So, you resolve to let it go, just like you've let go of everything else you'd rather not remember.

After all, you prefer it this way.

The End