The Art of Lying

SUMMARY:

Lilly, Duncan, Logan and Veronica, reigning 09ers of Neptune High, all have secrets they want to hide, secrets that could ruin lives and reputations. But the Fab Four are soldiers fighting to protect their town's innocents from the corruption that pervades it. And Veronica Mars is their general. AU of season 1 from pre-series.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

As with all fan fiction, I own nothing. I've played fast and loose with Season 1 events, so if you're looking for something that lines up against the episodes, this might not be for you.

Unlike my previous fic, this story is not completely written, but it's outlined. I'm targeting a posting schedule around the 10th, 20th, and 30th of each month, give or take a day or so. Thanks in advance for reading! And special thanks to Irma66, for catching my shortcomings before I display them to the world.

Chapter 1: Rise of the Fab Four

SUMMARY: Four 09ers make a pact after a night of discovering the skeletons in their own (and each other's) family closets.

The Fab Four came into being the night after Lilly Kane's fifteenth birthday. Although Duncan Kane and Logan Echolls had been best friends since kindergarten and Lilly and Veronica Veronica had been much the same, they'd only started hanging out the year before, usually boys' and girls' groups that occasionally mingled at events like birthday parties and other 09er get-togethers.

Lilly's birthday was one such event, of course. Jake Kane had started his software company in his parents' pool house, revolutionizing streaming video and, within a few years, turning the beachside town into one of the places to live for the haves—as well as their have-not employees.

The Kanes were the undisputed ruling family of Neptune. Which made Lilly its princess, so of course everyone had angled for an invite to her party.

That an invite went to Logan Echolls, who was Duncan's best friend and the son of two movie stars who just happened to be friends with the Kanes, was a foregone conclusion.

Veronica Mars was also an instant invite, thanks to her best friend status with the birthday girl and the fact that her father's company, Mars Investigations and Security—MIS—was one of the top security firms in the country, and Keith Mars was on the speed dial of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies as well as the President's chief of staff.

The party included an elaborate setup and a mini concert by an up-and-coming pop group. After everyone else left, though, it was just the four of them. Logan and Duncan had settled into pummeling each other at a video game when Lilly bounced in, giggling, with a pilfered bottle of her father's scotch in one hand and Veronica Mars by the wrist in the other.

"Let's play a game of truth or dare," she sang out.

"Do we have to?" Veronica asked.

"Of course we do, Veronica Mars. It's my birthday, so you have to do what I say."

"All right," Veronica agreed, surprising Logan, who wasn't used to the small blond acquiescing to Lilly's plans without at least a sassy comment or an eye roll, at least when it was just the four of them.

While most of Neptune thought Veronica was nothing more than Lilly's lackey and occasional live dress-up doll, he'd come to appreciate the way she always had a comeback for any comment her wilder best friend could make.

"No token resistance, Mars? We must be corrupting you." He smirked.

"Birthday rules, doofus," she said.

But the mention of resistance must have reminded Duncan of his hitherto unexercised backbone. "I don't think Mom will like—"

"Oh, shut it, Donut," Lilly said. "Like Celeste likes anything that has to do with me anyway." There was something cold in her eyes as she said it, and though her tone remained light, her smile was sharp and full of teeth. "In fact, the only person she disapproves of more than me is Veronica here. So I say screw her, and let's play."

Logan gave her a similarly sharklike smile and reached for the bottle. "So who goes first then?"

An hour later, thanks to the fact that they were playing with Lilly, all four teenagers were well on their way to being sloshed when Duncan, who'd been sticking to truths all night, actually took a dare. His sister was quick to jump on the opportunity.

"Duncan, I dare you to kiss Veronica. With tongue."

"Oh my god, Lilly!" Veronica screwed her face up and turned an even darker shade of red than the alcohol she'd consumed would warrant.

"Well, that's what the two of you get for sticking to truths all night, Ronica!"

"Can I take a drink?"

"It's not your dare to drink for, and Duncan drank the past three turns so he's not allowed to drink again."

"Fine!"

And just as Duncan leant over and kissed Veronica while Lilly and Logan laughed and hooted, the door behind them opened to reveal the shocked faces of Jake and Celeste Kane.

"Duncan, get away from her now!" Celeste's voice all but dripped icicles. "Veronica, I think it's time you went home."

"God, Celeste, we were only playing truth or dare," Lilly said, bored. She turned pleading eyes on her father. "Daddy, don't you remember? Veronica's spending the night cause her parents are out of town."

"Maybe she could just take Veronica to her room, Celeste."

"No, I want her out of her tonight. And she will never be allowed back in this house ever again."

Veronica's eyes filled with tears. "Mrs. Kane, nothing was going to happen."

"And nothing will. The very idea is disgusting."

"God, Celeste, take a chill pill," Lilly said loudly. "All they did was kiss."

"That's bad enough."

"Celeste—"

"No, Jake, you will call that whore and tell her to take her daughter home tonight."

"Mom—"

"Duncan, you will be quiet."

"My mother is not a whore." Veronica's tears had vanished, the confusion and hurt of moments before wiped out by fury.

Finally, Jake spoke up. "Celeste—"

"Well, she is your whore, isn't she?"

"Shut up, Celeste." Jake turned to the four teenagers. "Lilly, take Veronica to your room. Duncan, Logan, stay here." He grabbed his wife's arm and headed for the door, all but dragging Celeste with him.

Moments later, the teenagers heard a door slam and the sounds of the adults screaming at each other.

"What the hell was that?" Logan asked. "It sounded like—"

"It sounded like my mom is sleeping with Lilly and Duncan's dad," Veronica said bitterly.

Lilly stood up from where she was sitting and made a show of dusting herself off. "Well, I'm going to find out." At the door, she looked back at them. "Coming?"

Listening to the Kanes fight that night, the teenagers learned a few of the many secrets that would change their lives.

The first secret they learned was that Veronica Mars was the illegitimate daughter of Jake Kane by an on-again, off-again affair he'd been having with Lianne Mars, nee Reynolds, since they'd been high school sweethearts. In fact, Lianne wasn't out of town that night, as the teenagers had believed. She was at a hotel suite, waiting for her lover to arrive.

What enraged the foursome was learning that, while Jake and Lianne had always known it was possible that Veronica was biologically the billionaire's daughter, they had never sought confirmation. Instead, it was Celeste who had had tests run in secret.

Any hope Veronica had harbored that it was all a big mistake or a pack of lies disintegrated when, two weeks later, three separate DNA tests from independent labs proved she, Lilly, and Duncan were indeed siblings.

The second secret blown wide open that night was that Duncan Kane, mild-mannered heir to the Kane billions, was an epileptic prone to rage attacks that could be triggered by intense emotions. Emotions such as shock that the girl he'd been crushing on for the past couple of years was actually his sister.

And while his condition was a secret Lilly had already been privy to, she was no less shocked than Logan and Veronica when her brother went from eavesdropping on their parents' fight to rushing in and attacking their father. Logan, after a moment of shock, had had to leap forward to pry Duncan's hands from around Jake's neck.

The third secret was revealed after they had gotten Duncan, who had suddenly snapped out of his rage to go limp and pliant, back to his room. Logan had been unsure of what to do for his friend, and Lilly had taken his hand and led him to her own room. Veronica had trailed behind them through the dim hallway.

But when Lilly had flipped the switch in her bedroom, she'd looked up and gasped to see blood staining the back of his shirt. Both girls had made him take off his shirt and had been horrified by the bruises on his torso, the cuts on his back.

While Lilly held his hand and Veronica doctored the cuts that had split open as best she could using the first aid kit Lilly had retrieved, Logan shared another dark secret few in Neptune would have guessed: that Oscar-winning actor Aaron Echolls beat his son on a regular basis.

The night of Lilly Kane's fifteenth birthday, she, Logan Echolls, and Veronica Mars made a pact, one they brought Duncan into the very next day. It was a pact borne of their disappointment in their parents and determination not to become them.

So the Fab Four made it their mission to keep each other's secrets and keep each other safe, as much as they were able. And to find out any other secrets that had the potential to hurt them.

It didn't take long to learn that towns like Neptune are built on secrets. And it didn't take long for their mission of survival to turn into a crusade.