Family Bonds

What awoke Lena from her pleasant slumber was the sounds of plaintive sniffling.

Her eyes slowly opened and adjusted to the darkness, but it took several more moments before Lena found the energy to leave her warm, cozy blankets. Her new bed was a blessing. In fact, her whole new life was a gift of luxury. Lena very much treasured having four walls surrounding her, and a roof over her head.

Her feet touched the soft carpet – it felt so good to be able to go to sleep without your feet being stuffed in sneakers at all hours – and she started making her way to the source of the sniffling.

Webby's bed.

It was on the opposite side of the room. Lena carefully trodded over crayons and plush dolls, some of which were endowed to her – she had never owned anything significant before. Her phone and her clothes were just meant to help her scrape by. But here – here she had things to build her own identity, things to give her joy, things that were her own.

From now on, in this place, her existence mattered. Not just to herself, but to other people too. Scrooge and Beakley doted over her as much as they did over Webby and the boys. Donald was a loving guardian – something that she had never had, not since she was very young. Their love to her was unconditional.

And for once, she could be free to give back her own unconditional love without any reproach.

Webby would always appreciate it.

"Webby?" Lena whispered to the younger duckling, who was crying in her sleep. But she aroused at the sound of her name.

"Lena?" Webby murmured, her voice thick with tears, before she realized, "Oh. I'm fine. Thanks for checking up on me though."

"Hold on, Pink," Lena held up a hand and used her affectionate nickname for Webby, "You were having a nightmare, weren't you?"

"No, just a bad dream," Webby answered.

"Is there a difference?" Lena inquired, "I was always under the impression that they were the same thing."

"Well, nightmares are dreams where horrible things happen to you – like torture, death, or being cryogenically frozen," stated Webby earnestly, "Bad dreams are when unlucky or sad stuff happens to ya."

"Oh," said Lena simply.

An awkward moment of silence passed between the two girls.

Then Lena continued.

"Do you still want to talk about it?"

"Well, I think it would help if I did," shrugged Webby as she pulled her legs out from under the covers. Lena crawled on the bed next to her.

The younger duckling began describing her dream.

"Well, it was about my parents. Like my Granny, they were spies, and, well, they were on their final mission. But this time, I was there – with them. We fought together. We came so close to getting out alive…"

Webby hesitated, almost unable to go on.

"But I couldn't save them. They got captured, but I couldn't save them. Even Granny couldn't. It's not fair," the younger girl moaned, "It's not fair! They – they were amazing spies! They were heroes… but they still couldn't save themselves."

Lena crawled over to Webby and enveloped her in a hug. The two girls stayed like that for several minutes, the younger one letting out her heart's grief while the older one held her close. At last, Lena found her voice.

"I never knew my Mom. She disappeared soon after I was born. I was mostly raised by my Dad," the teenaged duckling recalled, her own eyes starting to build up tears, "Then one day, he was gone. I couldn't have been more than 3 at the time. I still think my Aunt had something to do with it."

Lena remembered all those years she had lived under her aunt's metaphorical iron grip. She had been too young and naïve to question her cruddy lifestyle then, but now – now she had realized everything that had happened, and she hated her aunt for it. How could a family member abuse a child like that?

"Every now and then, I still wish upon a star that my parents would come back to me one day," Lena continued, "But if I have to accept things the way they are, then there's little chance of that."

It was Webby's turn to hug Lena close as the older duckling let out her sobs.

"But there's always hope," she said to Lena.

Lena reigned her grief in.

"But… I'd totally accept my parents not coming back. You know why, Webbster?"

"Why?"

"Because when I had no one to turn to, you came into my life. You welcomed me into your family. And now, that hole in my heart where my parents used to be has now been filled," answered Lena, rubbing a sleeve on her eyes to get rid of the droplets of tears.

Webby preferred using her own hands to rub her eyes. The moonlight seemed to have illuminated what once was an overwhelming darkness, and the two ducklings could now see each other crisp and clear in a pale chiaroscuro.

Darkness countered by Light.

Webby threw herself against Lena's chest for another hug.

"You know," she said to the older girl, "I've always wanted a sister."

"So have I," replied Lena, hugging Webby close to her heart.

"So have I."

Fingers crossed that Lena does become one of the family in the future!