Title: From Silence

Author: Snoe

Disclaimers: I don't own anything.

Summary: Veronica was on the bus. Conversations shared by the nearly dead. Meg/Veronica

Author's Note: So this is my first VM fic and hopefully I've managed to portray the characters in a more or less believable light. I know there isn't a huge support of this pairing, but I'm mainly writing this for a friend who begged me for some Meg/V. And just for the purpose of this fic, Meg isn't pregnant. Tell me what you think.

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The explosion came completely unexpected, as explosions caused by car bombs generally do. Veronica hadn't exactly been paying attention, still contemplating the fact that one of the nicest girls in school now suddenly thought she was evil incarnate. When the shockwaves shot through the bus she jerked her head up to see the entire front part of the bus completely gone, the bus driver nothing more than a few spattered stains against the windows.

The explosion had also blown out the front tires, dropping the bus onto its carriage, metal screeching as it slid forward to break through the barrier. The drop into the blue ocean was inevitable as was the death that was sure to follow such a crash, yet Veronica's mind was blank as the clear skies before her. She didn't see her life flash before her eyes or think of some inane activity she wished she'd done before she died. Instead she turned her head around, eyes locking with Meg's for the eternity it seemed to take until the bus tipped over the edge and propelled her off her seat onto the floor.

The bus fell front first, its ugly, gaping hole framing the beautiful ocean below, the salty air rushing in to create a whirlwind of papers and trash. Her mind held onto consciousness with an iron grip and she watched, unable to move, as the blue ocean came shooting towards her. She had been in this dream before, she knew, and any second now would she wake up.

The actual fall of the bus took less than three seconds, but to Veronica it might as well have been three hours. She was faintly aware of the screams around her, the pieces of metal as they tore off, whipping against the sides of the bus, the ruthless wind ripping at the cabin. Those students that hadn't gotten wedged between a seat like she had fell freely from the bus, though never faster than it, making it look like they were suspended in mid-air.

The impact wasn't at all like what she had expected. First of all, Veronica had expected to wake up, but the roaring thunder in her ears, the sudden force that seemed to shatter every bone in her body told her that this was no dream. Secondly, Veronica had expected, in the case of it being a real crash, to pass out or die on impact, not to feel the agonizing pressure on her body, hear the roar of the water as it tore apart the bus.

Almost upon contact, the front part of the bus broke off as if it were nothing but a match, sinking into the blue water to leave behind nothing but more paper and broken seat cushions. The back end of the bus, from where Veronica was still witnessing this, hit the rocks with tremendous force, reducing it to nothing but scrap metal and rubber. Veronica felt herself lifted off the floor and thrown backwards as the water came rushing in almost instantaneously, hitting her body against the broken seatbacks.

The water rushed against her, taking her breath and Veronica knew for sure she was going to die. At last, her body allowed her the comforts of unconsciousness.

And for the first time, right before she passed out, she became aware of the cold body she was pressed against.

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Meg opened her eyes to blinding light and blinding pain. Black spots danced before her eyes, the blue skies above bright and blurry. She wasn't really sure whether she was warm or cold, whether the rough surface under her fingers was wet or dry. She knew she was awake, but lucidity escaped her, just somewhere on the edges of her consciousness that she couldn't quite reach.

Closing her eyes against the brightness, she inhaled as deeply as possible, noting the pain in her body for the first time. Her chest felt incredibly heavy and it was hard just taking those few deep breaths. Meg knew exactly what had happened, knew the bus had sailed over the edge of a cliff and taken them all straight to their deaths. What she didn't know was why heaven was her in pain staring helplessly at a sunny, blue sky. Or why it had her ears ringing so badly she thought her head might split open. Meg had to acknowledge that perhaps, for some twisted reason, she had survived a two hundred feet drop off a cliff, just to lie here paralyzed among the wreckage on a rock, waiting to drown when the tide rolled in.

Deciding she might as well try to move, Meg lifted her right arm, feeling a sort of grand satisfaction at the fact that it seemed to work just fine. She looked at her fingers, almost fascinated the way the light broke through, glinting off the waterdrops clinging to her hand. Next she tried to move her left arm, but felt it weighed down by something heavy. Meg reached over to push off whatever was keeping her trapped, but recoiled when she felt the softness of another body. She was trapped under a corpse. Meg nearly panicked in response, her stomach revolting angrily and she had to take another few deep breaths to calm herself down.

This time her hand was shaking as she reached over, and she tentatively brushed her fingers against the body on top of hers. She felt wet strands of hair, realizing it was a girl with some relief. Then Meg noticed that the body was moving ever so slightly, a sign that whoever it was was still breathing. Deciding to ignore the pain in her head Meg moved her neck to the side, now able to see down along her body and whoever had been thrown against her. She gasped in shock when she realized who it was.

"Veronica," she rasped, her throat dry and salty. The blonde was partially draped over Meg's own body, her head on top of Meg's chest, face turned towards her, eyes closed, while her left arm was draped across the other girl's hips. Meg immediately noticed the large piece of metal that had broken off the bus trapping Veronica's lower body beneath it.

Meg tried to shift again, free herself from the weight on top of her, but to no avail. More pain shot through her body and she gasped for breath, wishing the other girl's head wasn't keeping her from breathing normally. Blinking her eyes, she once again tried to clear the spots she saw, wanting desperately to be able to focus on getting herself out of this predicament. She looked down at the blonde once again, noticing for the first time the rivulets of red-tinted water running across Veronica's face.

As the ringing in her ears subsided somewhat, Meg thought she could hear shouts, though she couldn't tell from where. The sun was still incredibly blinding above and she rather preferred looking away from the bright sky. Reaching her hand over again, Meg ran it lightly across Veronica's hair, happy that she could still feel the weak rise and fall of the girl's chest. The blood that covered her fingers when she pulled her hand away, however, made her start to panic. She had to get out of here. They had to get out of here. No matter how harshly she might've treated Veronica for the past few weeks, Meg didn't want her to die.

"Veronica," she said again, a little louder this time and shook the girl's arm slightly. Veronica probably had a head injury, probably shouldn't be moved, but Meg didn't want them to just lay here, dying. It would just be cruel if they survived the crash just to die here, to die like THIS.

If she could've jumped, Meg figured she probably would have, as Veronica groaned and tried to shift on top of her. Meg held her breath as the other girl's eyelids fluttered and her eyes blinked open, then shut again.

"Come on, wake up Veronica," Meg squeezed her arm, hoping desperately to pull the other girl into consciousness.

The blonde blinked again, eyes barely opening before closing again. Veronica drew in a deep breath and coughed, face scrunching up before she opened her eyes again. Blinking a few times, Veronica finally focused on Meg's face above her and frowned.

"How much did we have to drink?" she croaked, trying to assess their current position.

If Meg hadn't been so terrified, she might've chuckled at the other girl's inane need to respond to every situation with some sort of witty comment or sarcasm. As it was, however, she had to try hard to hold the tears back, feeling the seriousness of the situation so much heavier now that Veronica was awake. She looked down at the blonde, their eyes locking and Meg felt her heart thunder in her chest. She was terrified and in pain, yet for some reason her mind still let her be incredibly aware of the awkwardness of the position she was in with someone she'd been considering an enemy for the past few weeks.

"Are you okay?" she asked, instead of the other million things she had in her mind. Meg regretted it instantaneously, of course Veronica wasn't okay, neither of them was.

"Couldn't be better," Veronica responded with a wry grin and tried to shift again. The pain exploded in her body, shooting down her spine and into her legs and Veronica bit her lip to keep from crying out. Meg looked at her, clearly able to see the pain on the other girl's face, but decided not to say anything. She knew how Veronica hated to show weakness.

After a few seconds the pain subsided again to a dull throbbing and Veronica sighed, "I knew there was a reason I never took the bus."

Meg resisted the urge to roll her eyes and instead decided to ignore the girl's comment, "Can you move at all?"

Veronica looked down at her own body as well as she could, but found that from the waist down she was effectively trapped under some very heavy piece of bus and in the position she was in it was near impossible to lift her left arm at all. Her right arm was trapped underneath her own body at an awkward angle, but she knew she could free it if she just tried a little. Slowly and painfully she managed to wriggle it out from underneath of her, freeing Meg's left arm as well in the process. More pain washed over her body and she completely stilled her movements until it subsided again, cursing the tears that were pooling in her eyes.

"Veronica," Meg said softly, resting her now freed left hand on the other girl's shoulder, willing her to stop moving. The blonde met her eyes again and Meg saw her blink away the tears. "Stop moving, you're just hurting yourself."

Veronica sighed, resting her right arm alongside Meg's body and closed her eyes, "You should push out from under me; with both arms free you can probably just push me off."

Meg frowned and looked at the girl, waiting for Veronica to open her eyes until she spoke, "I'm not gonna hurt you like that."

"Come on, this is your perfect chance to punish me for whatever it is that I did," Veronica ground out, partially jesting, yet Meg still heard the bitterness underneath.

Meg sighed, a sinking feeling in her stomach at hearing those words. She had never meant to really alienate and eventually hurt the other girl like she had. She'd been angry and jealous and in stupidity she had lashed out at the one person she really cared about. It just hadn't been easy, seeing the two of them together. It wasn't always easy being the good girl.

"I don't hate you, you know," Meg said softly, her voice breaking slightly at the words. This wasn't a conversation she had ever wanted to have, let alone here, injured, trapped under wreckage and quite possibly facing death in a matter of hours.

"Could've fooled me," the other girl said, so quietly Meg barely heard her, but it was there. The hurt and betrayal Meg would've never expected to hear from Veronica. Veronica Mars didn't let people walk all over her and hurt her, no, she got even. Meg swallowed the lump in her throat and averted her eyes. As far as deathbed confessions went, these had been pretty crappy.

To be continued...