Artemis is seven years old when she finally accepts the fact that Jade is a liar, but that's okay, because her mother and father are liars, too. Lots of people do it. Even Artemis tells the occasional fib. That's why she doesn't fault her big sister for telling her the pan was cooled when it really wasn't.

As their mother yells and Jade keeps lying, Artemis holds her red fingers under the cool running water in the sink and thinks about the valuable lesson Jade has taught her.

Some people will abuse the trust you put in them. Artemis won't let herself be burned so easily again.

"She's not coming back."

Jade's voice has a way of filling their small bedroom, especially in the middle of the night when all Artemis wants to do is cry. Of course Jade would pick at the freshest wound she has, even as their mother faces sentencing in the morning.

"You're lying," Artemis says, holding her teddy bear tightly against her chest as she turns in bed to face away from Jade's side of the room.

"I'm not. Dad said so himself."

"Dad's lying, too," Artemis says through tears, curling closer to the wall to get as far away from Jade as possible. "Mom told me she'd come home."

Artemis hears her sister shift in her bed and scoff.

"You are such a baby. How do you know she's not lying?"

Artemis doesn't know, but she has to hold out hope. It's all she has now.

"I'd speak up, if I were you," Jade says, holding a sai to her sister's throat, as one does in her line of work. "Tell me where your little friends are hiding the amulet, or I'll bury them under this mountain."

It's a lie. Artemis can tell. She's gotten good at this. (Having the mind link with her teammates, all safely hovering above her in the Bioship, doesn't hurt, either.)

"You never change, do you?" Artemis asks, never intending on receiving an answer, as M'gann uses her telekinesis to toss Jade clear across the field a second later.

Even as they fly away, amulet in hand, mission a success, Artemis can't help but feel like she loses something every time she talks to her sister.

"I can't believe you made me meet you here for that," Jade spits, full of misplaced anger. "I don't care what he does."

A lie, one more infuriating every time Jade has the audacity to repeat it.

"Of course you don't," Artemis says bitterly, fuming as Jade puts her mask back on and prepares to leave.

"I'm not going to watch him kill himself chasing someone who probably doesn't exist anymore! I told him as much. I'm out, Artemis."

Artemis can't help but shout, "Of course you are!"

Jade recoils. "Artemis–"

"No, go ahead and leave! It's what you do! I don't know why I thought you'd do any differently." Artemis storms to the window and lifts it open before she gestures for Jade to leave. "You go. It's fine. I'll be around. That's how things work, right? You run away and everyone in your wake suffers for it!"

"That is not fair!"

"Yes, it is! You left me with Dad! You're leaving Roy! You can't just pick and choose when you want to be family! It doesn't work like that! That's why you're always going to be alone! That's why you have no one!"

There is an instant in which Artemis is sure that Jade, steel-eyed and hard faced, is going to pounce on her.

"If I had taken you with me, you wouldn't be who you are right now," Jade says, her words sharp, tight, hurt. "Thank me when you're done being a bitch."

After Jade takes her leave through the window, Artemis unclenches her fists, sits on her old bed, and tries to catch her breath as she stares at the old Alice in Wonderland poster that still hangs on the wall above Jade's bed for far longer than she should.

Later, Wally will tell her it's not her fault, but Artemis will still feel the fool for letting herself (and her friend) get burned by Jade again.

"It's fine," is all Jade says when Artemis calls to apologize the next day. Another lie, considering Jade doesn't talk to her for nearly a year.

"Look at me," Jade demands, grabbing both of Artemis's wrists and pulling her up from the empty bathtub. "Look at me. Get up. Stop hiding. You're stronger than this. You are going to be okay. You will be okay, because I am not going to leave until you are better. I promise."

Jade doesn't make promises. It must be another lie. Artemis searches her sister's expression for the usual tells– the glint in her eyes, the cracked edge of her lip, the set of her jaw– but the belief and resolve that she finds in Jade's face is so unfamiliar and familiar at and same time that it shocks her into silence. How strange it is to see the hope she's held so close to her heart all these years reflected in the eyes of her sister.

Jade is telling the truth. She will stay. She will help.

Artemis's eyebrows pinch as she tries with all her might not to burst into laughter.

"I believe you," Artemis says, through untimely snickers. "I can't believe I actually believe you."

Jade pulls her up and helps her step out of the tub. They smooth out the wrinkles of her black dress together. Artemis, still wrought with disbelief, catches her sister's arm and pulls her into a tight hug, stunning Jade for only a moment before she hugs her back.

"You'll be okay," Jade repeats, sure and strong and Artemis doesn't know whether to laugh or cry, as she's been waiting to hear these words from Jade for years. "I'll make sure of it. Trust me."

"I do," slips out of Artemis's mouth without hesitation, and for the first time in a long time, it is the truth.