Shelter from the Rain

Rating: PG

Author's Notes: Okay, I'm really amazing myself with this story. It isn't a lengthy epic like The Realms of Chaos, and it isn't filled with insane humor like Valentine's Day Blues. Instead, it's just the regular romance between Sheila...and Moneybags. Take a good hard look, because this is the only story of its kind because not only is Moneybags a main star without bashing, but he gets a girl too! Oo

Notes2: I'm one of those people who believes that the Forgotten Worlds are a part of the world of Avalar, maybe as a separate continent on the other side of the planet.

Anyone who flames this story is going to suffer at the hands of the Turquoise Phoenix. And, Da Dark One, piss off.

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The Forgotten Worlds were drenched in rain. The biggest storm of the century has finally hit this normally fair weather land.

Dark and heavy clouds filled with rain, thunder, and lightning showered down on the lands, causing everyone that lives in the area to flee to shelter. Creatures of every shape and size fled to their homes and sought warmth from their roaring fires. Fodder of all types scurried into their burrows, guarding their precious butterflies from an untimely death at the hands of a storm instead of a dragon. The weathermen of the Forgotten Worlds all predicted that the squall would last a few weeks. Nobody would be caught dead in a storm like this.

Nobody, that is, except for Sheila.

Sheila the kangaroo, heroine to the folks of the Forgotten Worlds, was hopelessly lost. She hopped through the stormy weather in search of her home, only to end up walking in completely unrecognizable territory altogether. She could distinguish anything from the sea of darkness in front of her face. There was no doubt about it. Sheila had found herself hopelessly lost in the storm.

'This was such a bad idea. I should've listened to Spyro...' Sheila thought to herself. In her mind, she conjured a picture of the dragon saying his last words to Sheila before she left into the seemingly calm rains. "Be careful out there, Sheila!" Spyro had said. "Sparx predicted that these rains are only going to get worse!" At that time, the kangaroo had only shrugged off the words as a subtle way of saying "Don't get too wet out there!", but now she was mentally kicking herself for ever doubting her friend.

The rain came down in buckets, drenching her brown-colored fur and spreading an unforgiving cold throughout her body. Sheila wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to keep body heat as a large gust of wind blew against her, threatening to knock her over. Shivering violently, the kangaroo shouted for help against the wind and rain.

"Help me!" She shouted, trying desperately to attract the attention of anyone. Only the wind greeted her. She shouted again at the top of her lungs. All she got from that was a sore throat. She lowered her head to her chest as she realized the truth. No one was out in the storm except for her, and even if there happened to be anyone out here, nobody could hear over the roaring monster that was the rainstorm.

Sheila hopped uncertainly in one direction, never seeing anywhere farther then three inches in front of her snout in the dark, wet storm. The ground underneath her soon turned into a sticky, icy slush that threatened to suck her down with each hop.

Then, she saw lights in front of her. Sheila made a wordless cry of happiness as she saw shelter from the rain. She will finally be away from this godforsaken storm! The kangaroo started to hop faster, her hopes raised by this stroke of good luck. She will make sure not to overstay her welcome as she warms up, dries her fur, and waits out the storm inside. She promised to herself that she'd pay the owner of the house back when the storm ends and the sun shines again on the Forgotten Worlds. Sheila hopped towards the light...

The ground disappeared underneath her. She found herself falling straight down. Sheila had unknowingly hopped off a large cliff in her excitement. As she found herself nearing the bottom, she thought to herself, 'It can't get any worse then this. I'll just land in the mud, pull myself out, and then near the house.'

But instead of hitting soft mud, Sheila crashed on a large boulder that was waiting for her at the bottom of the cliff.

CRACK!

Her left leg shattered on impact and left her immobile in the muck. The brutal, unforgiving storm blocked out her scream of pain and distress as it continued to shower large amounts of ice cold water down onto the world. Sheila whimpered as she tried to drag herself through the icy sludge towards the brightly-lit house in front of her. Daggers of pain drove themselves up from her broken leg and into her entire body, making even the simplest movement almost impossible.

'So this is how it ends. I'm to die in the mud all because I didn't listen to Spyro.' Sheila thought morbidly as she found herself too exhausted to move anymore. She lay in the mud, her fur matted down by rain and dirt, her left leg twisted into a shape that was unnatural. Tears flowed down her eyes as she realized that she was going to die here, a place of mud, rain, and pain, away from all her friends. She raised her head slowly to look at the light ahead of her, it's tantalizing warmth and shelter taunting her current position.

"Forgive me, Spyro..." Sheila said to no one in particular. As soon as the words left her lips, she closed her eyes and lapsed into darkness...

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When Sheila woke from her very short coma, the first thing she noticed was the warmth. Without opening her eyes, she could feel the faux fur blankets wrapped around her, shutting out the cold. The warm touch of a distant fire seeped through her bones and banished the ice that the storm threatened to kill her with. Her right leg was submerged in warm liquid, while her left leg was forgivingly numb.

The kangaroo slowly opened her eyes, and was greeted by the most lavish lodgings she could imagine. She was in a mansion, complete with all the furnishings only a billionaire could afford. She strained her neck to see the beautiful tapestries of dragons and knights on horseback fighting off demons from the Forgotten Worlds hanging on the walls. An opulent chandelier hung from the ceiling, sending light everywhere with its beautiful glass fixings. The walls were encrusted with gold, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and other beautiful stones. It was like she had woken up in a fairy tale.

Sheila sitting in a plush chair, a blanket wrapped around her, her right leg in a hot tub, and her left leg in a cast that was suspended by a crutch. She never felt snugger in her life. She turned her head to look at a painted picture of a yeti being hunted for its fur when she noticed that she wasn't alone in the room.

"Oh, I see you're awake." A maid said. She was a female rhynoc wearing the traditional black and white maid's uniform. She was pleasantly plump, and she nearly radiated the aura that marked her as a caring, loving, mother-type figure. In one hand, she held a feather duster made from the feathers of a swan. In the other, she held a teapot. She rushed over to Sheila to pour more warm water into the foot soak.

"Heavens to Betsy, you sure recovered quickly. We all thought you'd be asleep for weeks, but instead you're awake in barely over two days!" The maid tittered as she filled the tub almost to the brim with warm water. Despite the fact that Sheila did her share of rhynoc-exterminating in the past, she felt humbled by this motherly worker.

"Where am I?" Sheila said, and she was surprised at how quiet and raspy her voice came out to be. She couldn't even raise her voice louder then a whisper after all the screaming she did out in the rain. The maid didn't seem to notice, as she quickly blurted out the answer.

"You're in my master's mansion, my dear. He owns the biggest estate this side of Avalar!" The maid answered. Sheila found the story somewhat funny. What she had mistaken as a normal house in the storm was really a lavish mansion that some rich nobleman owned. Either she was extremely lucky to have fallen off that cliff and onto that boulder, or the storm made her so disorientated that she ended up walking in territory she wasn't familiar with. Sheila then concluded it as a mixture of both instances.

"Did you save me?" Sheila rasped. The maid didn't even look up from her dusting as she answered her.

"No, my master did. He was eating dinner when all of the sudden, he rushed out of the mansion and into the harsh and brutal storm. At first we thought he had gone mad, since he went outside in that dreadful storm without even a raincoat, so we were ready to rush out after him when he rushed back in. He was fine, but he wasn't alone. He was carrying you, my darling, and from the looks of it, he had rescued you in time. Your leg was twisted so badly that the bone protruded from the skin! After he carried you in, he ordered for all of us to heat some water as he took care of you."

"Who's your master?" Sheila asked. The story warmed her heart. She imagined a tall, dark prince with a rich heritage stomping out of the rain and rescuing her from an untimely death facedown in the icy mud. He must've been a prince of some sort, seeing as she didn't know anybody who would have all this wealth.

But the answer that the maid gave her chilled her to the bone, despite all the blankets wrapped around her.

"My master is Moneybags, my dear."

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'Why did I save that marsupial?'

Moneybags paced back and forth in his room, still wearing his cotton pajamas. He didn't feel in the mood for drinking his hot cocoa as the storm raged outside the mansion that he had bought from all the money he scammed off the good folks of Avalar. He was well aware of the fact that one of Spyro's friends was residing in his mansion in the guestroom, and without paying him a small fee either! He sat down on his lavish double-decker bed with a huff, absent-mindedly taking a sip from his mug.

What had possessed him from dashing from his cozy warm mansion and into the icy wet storm just to save a kangaroo with a broken leg? To him, Sheila was just another cuddly creature that he scammed from time to time. After all, when they first met, he was paid to make sure that she didn't escape from the Sorceress's cage. Moneybags didn't care that Sheila had an execution on the following Tuesday of her imprisonment; business was business after all. Sure, he ended up freeing her, but only because Spyro was a better provider of money then what the Sorceress could ever be. And even after he freed her, she gave him a good kick in the butt to show him whose boss.

'But then why did I save her? Am I going soft?' he thought to himself. He turned to look at the left wall of his room, where the guestroom was just on the other side. This was the second time the guestroom's ever been occupied. The first time was when his nephew Minibags had to stay over for the weekend, and Moneybags was more then happy to boot the little brat out when he overstayed his welcome.

"Sir?" The maid that was helping Sheila now appeared at his doorway. With a sigh, Moneybags set down his empty mug and addressed his servant.

"Martha, you're supposed to be taking care of Sheila! What's the problem?" Moneybags asked. He didn't notice that he had referred to Sheila by her real name instead of "the kangaroo", "the marsupial", or "that flea-bitten mongrel". Martha coughed hesitantly into her hand before stating the problem.

"Well, the kangaroo you saved is awake and seems to be demanding that you see her. She doesn't seem that all happy that she's lodging with you, " Martha said, none of her motherly charm showing when speaking to her employer. Moneybags wasn't all that surprised to hear that Sheila was displeased to be trapped in his mansion for the duration of the storm. After all, Spyro's friends did share the same hatred for his "work". Finally, the bear rose from his seat on his bed and told Martha to wait outside his door as he got dressed.

A few minutes later, Moneybags dressed in his normal business clothes stepped out of his room to see to his guest. Despite the fact that it went with the costume, Moneybags decided that, just for once, his trademark bag of gems should remain in his bedroom.

'What's wrong with me? That kangaroo is no different than the rest of them!' Moneybags shouted inwardly to himself. He took a deep breath. Considering the fact that the storm and the break in her leg were going to last for a few weeks, he was going to have to live with a little generosity. There was also the nasty little voice in his head telling him that he should get rid of his problem right now by just tossing her out into the storm. Listening to his "conscience" would save him a couple gems in food, first aid, and other trinkets like that, but he quickly dismissed it.

'I'll handle her company for a few weeks. It's the least I can do for our 'loving hero'.' And with that, Moneybags headed towards the guestroom.

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Sheila couldn't believe it. Her entire body was still numb from the shock.

'I owe my life to Moneybags.'

That thought kept rushing through her mind like a virus. Her gaze kept straying back to the beautiful works of art hanging on the walls, now ugly with their buyer's deceit. This entire mansion and all its glory was paid for by the money cheated from her friends. What had seemed to be a somewhat fortunate accident was now very unfortunate indeed. She had half the mind of tearing off the blanket that was wrapped around her, taking her good foot out of the soak, and limping into the storm to brave the elements without owing anyone anything.

'I owe my life to Moneybags.'

She heard the door open. Sheila didn't realize that she was still staring at one of the tapestries as the visitor stepped into the guestroom. When she turned her head, she saw the owner of the mansion in all his infamous "wonder" as he took a seat in a chair opposite to hers. Sheila didn't notice that Moneybags no longer carried his trademark gem bag, nor did she care. She could only glare with him in raw hatred as he broke the deafening silence that he brought with his arrival.

"So...Are you comfortable?" Moneybags said awkwardly in an attempt of starting out on good terms. Sheila's glare didn't waver.

"I'm not paying you any stupid fees." Sheila hoarsely demanded, sounding very hostile despite the fact that Moneybags had to strain to hear. She was wrapped in a blanket and one of her deadly legs was wrapped in a cast, but the bear was still afraid that the kangaroo would try to attack him.

"What fees?" Moneybags asked. "I never said anything about fees..." Sheila could see right through him. He was considering the new option that she had made present, and she didn't like it one bit.

"Whenever we do so much as breathe in a place where you can see us, you demand for us to pay a 'small fee'. This mansion, your servants, and every last trinket you own were all from your small fees. Well, I'm not paying. I'd rather die in the rain outside then sit here any longer and owe you any gems for my unfortunate accident." She said coldly. In the background, Martha, trying to make herself as inconscpicious as possible, dusted a statue that was free of dirt so that she can hear in on their conversation without looking like she was eavesdropping.

"Look, just because I happened to be the one to save you doesn't mean that I'm going to charge you for my rescue!" Moneybags shouted loud enough for several servants outside the door to hear. Sheila could hear the shuffling of their feet against the carpet as they pressed their ears against the door, anxious to hear their boss chew out someone that wasn't them. She shook her head.

"So unlike you, Moneybags. I bet once I'm back on my feet, you'll keep me imprisoned in your ill-got mansion until I cough up my live savings. I know how you think. You didn't care that I was going to be executed by the Sorceress; you just stood by my cage shaking that blasted gem bag!" Sheila hissed.

Moneybags flinched inwardly when Sheila brought up their less-then-fortunate meeting. He felt something in his mind snap. 'I bring her hospitality, and she's bringing up the fact that I was once employed by the Sorceress?' Then, without warning, he yelled at Sheila with a voice that even the deceased could've heard.

"Look, Sheila! If it wasn't for me, you'd be dead! I risked my fur going out into that storm to save you, kept you warm when your body temperature was dropping below its normal region, bandaged your broken leg, and made sure that you recovered, and what do you do once you regain consciousness? You start talking about how I'm going to suck all the money out of your wallet because of my good deed. Unless you're willing to brave the elements with that leg of yours, you're to stay at my mansion as a guest until the storm dies, and you're going to accept the fact that for once in my life, I can be GENEROUS!"

The only sound that filled the room afterwards was the sound of the rain pounding against the roof. Despite himself, Moneybags could feel a tinge of guilt for yelling at someone in a cast. 'First generosity, then guilt. This isn't like me...'

Sheila shook her head, not comprehending why such a speech of caring and generosity came from the mouth of Moneybags. "So...That means-"

"-No small fees." Moneybags finished for her. He took a deep breath and absent-mindedly rubbed the back of his furry neck. "Look, I'm sorry that I yelled at you, and I'm sorry for being the one that saved you. I give my word that I won't charge you a single gem for your unfortunate accident..."

"Your word?" Sheila asked. She still didn't trust him, but all the hatred had disappeared from her. Just for this moment of time, they were at peace with each other. Maybe the weeks that will pass with her inhibited won't be so horrible. She watched as Moneybags raised his left hand and placed his right hand on his heart. 'If he has one...' A snide voice in her head hissed to her.

"My word. If I back down on my word, you can give me a good wallop with your feet. I'll even have Martha hold me down!" Martha looked up from her mindless dusting, surprised to hear her name. "So, what do you say? Will you keep all your hatred towards me and my business bottled up inside for a least the few weeks we're to spend together?" Moneybags was surprised to hear the pleading tone to his voice. Was he...begging to this marsupial?

Sheila rubbed her chin in thought. He did save her life, and he was promising a wallop if he backed down on his promise, so she guessed that giving him a chance couldn't hurt. She smiled sweetly and said, "You have a deal."

The deal was made, and Moneybags left the room with a clear conscience. Sheila watched him leave, the ever-annoying thought still itching in her mind as she settled herself into the warm blanket wrapped around her and fell asleep.

'I owe my life to Moneybags.'

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End of Chapter 1

I'm the weirdest person alive. After writing a large 15-chapter behemoth of a fanfic, I go and write a romantic story between a bear and a kangaroo. One ticket to the loony bin please!

I guess I didn't make Sheila and Moneybags TOO out of character. I think Moneybags is more in character in here then he was in Spyro Orange, where he PAID you gems if you happened to win his mini-games (Which are pretty easy.) and he flaunted around in gypsy clothes. Oo

I own only my computer, Martha, and the storm. (Which I named it the pet-name Andrew)