Lena lived just fine on her own.

Correction, she survived just fine on her own.

Granted, a different type of survival than in the wilderness. But it was still survival. As a matter of fact, it was a little something Lena liked to call 'urban survival'. It wasn't hard to find food or shelter when you knew where to go and what to do. She'd scrape up a few bucks made mostly of nickels and torn dollars and then find a cheap fast food restaurant nearby, and boom - you'd have your meal of the day.

She tried to avoid going to the same circle of fast food restaurants too frequently. It was when they saw a grubby teenager wearing the same set of clothes walk in nearly every other day that they got suspicious.

She pickpocketed, yeah, but she wasn't a monster - she tried to avoid pickpocketing overly valuable stuff like phones, watches, jewelry. But if someone just had a few spare bucks lying around in their purse or wallet, she couldn't imagine them missing it more than she would. Besides, it was certainly better than scrounging around in a garbage can for food like she's had to do a few more times than she'd prefer to say.

Thankfully, most of that stuff changed when she moved into the mansion. The transition from being Webby's shadow to now part of the McDuck family felt almost seamless. She recalled back to when Scrooge saw Lena for the first time since the Shadow War he had expressed a face of surprise before concealing it with a sly, knowing grin. He had promised her a place in his family, and with a simple tip of the hat to her, he walked away with his end of the deal kept. And hey, who was she to object? She got free shelter, free food, even free television. Compared to her living circumstances before, this was like heaven on earth.

But if she were honest, she also suspected it was Webby's grandmother who had a hand in all of it. There was no possible way to escape that lady's all-knowing gaze. Most of the times it would send chills down her spine, but other times it was... oddly comforting, in a weird old-lady kind of way. She could see why Webby looked up to her, aside from the obvious fact that Beakley was, well, her grandmother.

But even despite all the newly-gained luxuries the McDuck Manor had to offer, Lena still found a part of herself... discontent.

She admitted it felt selfish to be, of all things, discontent once you've gained a literal family and home above all else, but there was a constant sensation the manor gave that living on her own did not. She couldn't rightly describe what it was, but ultimately she found herself... craving the solitude.

The manor was large, that was no question. Lena had been visiting the place for over a year and living in it consistently for about a month now, and she still got lost from time to time. But in spite of its massive proportions, Lena still found that she felt overwhelmed by everything. The socializing, the adventures, the excitement that four other kids living in the same household gave. For Lena's entire life she'd been alone. The presence of so many others made her almost feel, in a mental sense, claustrophobic. She didn't want to go off on Webby or anyone else, but yeesh she just needed some breathing room. And unfortunately, that was a luxury the mansion didn't seem able to offer.

But there was a boat. Of all things, there was a boat, in a mansion on a hill, inside a pool. Now, Lena was no idiot. She made that blatantly clear to anyone who looked down upon her as nothing more than a 'kid'. She knew who owned the strange boat; that headache-inducing sailor duck who Webby liked to fangirl over every now and again. Donald was his name, she knew this, but didn't really care to call him by name. If anyone were to ask, she'd just say she barely knew him, because... well, she did barely know him. But the boat piqued her interest. Virtually nobody bothered with it except for the sailor himself. Lena didn't spare much attention to the drama within the family, but every now and again when she saw the duck get overly irritated, she watched him go to that boat and throw a couple of storming fits, trashing furniture, objects, kicking something and hurting his foot. Lena thought he was nuts. But what made her curious was the way he managed himself when something overwhelmed him. When something didn't fit his fancy, he'd go to that boat and cool himself off there.

It caused a curious sensation to arise in Lena that drew her to that boat. There was something about it that she just couldn't describe. But when she stared at it from the window, sailor being present or otherwise, she was both puzzled and interested. She wouldn't say it was some outward force drawing her to that boat, but... it sure felt like it.

One day, when the McDuck family was off on some grand new adventure, that familiar inquisitive sensation became too much. And being the smart girl she was, she decided to remedy that by going to the exact place the feeling arose.

She stood on the makeshift platform that led to the boat. She was sure there was probably a weird boaty word for it, but she didn't ponder on it long enough to remember. She stepped onto the deck and looked around. It was a bit of a mess, but nothing compared to some of her previous living arrangements. There were tools scattered about, mostly for repairs, she figured. A decorational wall art with the quote "Get It Done" on it was hanging cockeyed above a door that led down to what Lena presumed was the living quarters.

All in all, it was... underwhelming. Safe to say, Lena felt just a tad ridiculous for technically trespassing. She sighed and flicked her hair lightly to the side, before turning around and stepping off the boat to find something else remedy her boredom.

It was about a month later that Lena finally returned there.

It was a particularly stressful weak for the teenager, to say the least. It was as though Lena couldn't get a minute to herself. She felt drained, constantly tired, and frequently snapped at anyone if they so much as glanced at her the wrong way. She had felt bad when Webby tried to convince her to go on a new 'family trip' and ended up having Lena shut a door in her face just to get some time away. When Webby got back from said trip Lena had apologized, but she could tell the pink-clad duck was still hurt by her action. Lena made note to never do that again.

But ultimately the desire to get away was still there. So, a while passed as she intentionally waited until most of the McDuck family was gone, and returned to that strange houseboat floating in the pool. Things were... largely the same visually speaking, except the place had been tidied up a bit. Most of the tools were put away and it appeared a fair amount of repairs had been finished. It still needed a fresh coat of paint and some tweaking here and there, but it wasn't a half bad job for an unemployed duck.

Guess that's what happens when you have a lot of time on your hands.

She leaned herself on the railing and tapped her feathers across the wooden top, watching as a leaf fell off a tree and glided itself down to land in the water. She looked down at her shadow the sun had cast and the edges of her beak curled into an unenthusiastic smile as she closed her eyes and let loose a sigh of reprieve. Now, this - this is exactly what she needed. The ambience, environment, it felt similar to the amphitheater. A place she could get away purely to forget all her worries and cares. She may have moved into the mansion, but she could never rid herself of that longing for solitude. And now, it was strange, to be so close to a place you wanted to escape from and yet feel so far away from it at the same time.

Her eyes cracked opened for a brief moment before they shot wide once she heard some distant, yet approaching footsteps. She turned her head around to be greeted with the sailor-duck, who didn't seem to notice her and was instead staring down at his phone as he walked, holding a single grocery bag in his other hand. He paused in his step once Lena's presence finally caught his attention, and stood a few feet away from the platform leading up to the boat, confusion written on his face.

He blinked. "What are you doing here...?"

"Uh..." Lena swallowed hard and looked around for an excuse, desperately trying to shake off her suspicious appearance. "Looking for, uh - you, actually!" Her beak curled into a characteristic grin and she seamlessly slid into character. "Yeah, Moneybags wanted to talk to you, said you should come with the family on their adventure. But - welp, looks like I'm too late, they already left. Sorry about that. Maybe next time."

Without missing a beat or allowing him a word in edgewise, she shuffled past him as fast as she could without arising suspicion. In spite of her efforts, he still gave her a raised eyebrow and watched her as she went past, but didn't pursue her further.

Shutting the door behind her as she entered the manor once again, she slid herself down the wooden door to the flooring with a massive groan. She knew there was no real problem she'd have to suffer other than embarrassment from the ordeal, and she was lucky the only witness was the boring sailor, but she couldn't help but imagine the amount of mocking she'd get from the blue or green kid if they knew. It was enough for her to gain an instant headache.

With a sigh, she pushed herself up from the floor to go to the kitchen for a quick relief snack.

She knew she was never stepping on that boat again if she could help it.

Oof, sorry about the lack of dialogue in this one, guys. It's mostly just Lena and her feelings right now. Don't worry, we'll get on to more interaction between the two... hopefully. Not sure how long this fic is going to be, but I'm expecting at least one to two more chapters at the most. I'm not very good at large fics, (or fics at all tbh) so don't expect more than that.

I spent way too long trying to figure out the word for amphitheater.

Also, happy birthday to Donald and Della! Come home soon, Donnie. We miss you :')