Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

The One, The Only

I can feel my heart beat in my throat. It pounds quick as a hummingbird's wing, pumping nerves throughout my entire body. Charlie gives my hand a squeeze, sensing my anxiety. I take a calming deep breath and focus on the snowflakes falling in front of me. What if Wonka's not everything Charlie expects him to be? What if he's not a real chocolate genius? What if Charlie's expectations are thoroughly crushed? What if he turns out to be a psycho? I mean, he's lived alone for so long, there's no way he hasn't been affected somehow. What if-

Small, warm arms wrap around my torso. I open my eyes and look at Charlie. "You were muttering again."

"Oh," is all I manage to get out. I put a protective arm around Charlie and hold him to me tightly.

The rich little girl, Veruca, I remember, gives a disgusted look at Charlie and me before inching closer to her father and muttering, "They smell funny, Daddy. I want to go in!"

He wrinkles his nose up at us as well and hugs his daughter to him. "It's 9:59, sweetheart. We're almost there."

"Make time go faster!" the spoiled brat whines. Charlie and I scrubbed ourselves for an hour each yesterday. Mother even let me put on some of her vanilla perfume as well this morning. There's no way we actually smell bad, I think it's a visual/nasal input mix up.

I look around and see the glutton stuffing large chunks of chocolate into his mouth, and the rude little boy staring bored at the gates. The violent gum girl is snapping her gum obnoxiously as always and gives a menacing glare down the line at the other kids.

"Eyes on the prize, Violet, eyes on the prize," her voracious mother says. I'm reminded of the special prize at the end, and wonder what could be better than getting to see the factory and meet Mr. Wonka. I hear the church-tower bells chime the hour and my eyes widen expectantly.

The gates begin to creak open on their own and Charlie starts upright under my arm. "Please enter." A voice demands out of no where. It echoes somewhat and the other children grab their parents and bolt toward the opening. I let Charlie lead and make sure I get a good look at the gate before estimating how hard it would be to climb, if the need arose. I face the factory as the gates creak ominously closed behind us. Everyone is stopped, taking in the ocult factory and dumb founded at the sheer size.

"Come forward." The voice booms from some loud speaker. It's intimidating, and I clutch Charlie's hand for his benefit as much as my own. The commanding tone and expected obedience throws me into terrifying memories of Nigel and I nearly vomit. A chocolatey breeze kisses my face and I take a deep breath. Charlie has gotten ahead of me slightly and turns with a smile reflecting his excitement. He beckons me forward and I hurry to catch up.

The other children and their parents have formed somewhat of a line in front of the doors, waiting to be invited inside. I take my place next to Charlie just as the voice starts again. "Dear visitors, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to my humble factory. Who am I? Well..."

Humble my buttock! This factory is worth millions, but I appreciate the effort. The doors open slowly and a tinny musical sound starts coming from the darkness. Lights turn on and little animatronic puppets begin moving and singing. They spin and bend and their little jaws even move. I start to cringe around the middle of the song, until sparks start flying and puppets catch fire. The faces begin to melt and I have the strangest urge to laugh. Everyone else is frozen in shock and horror, Charlie has a little confused smile on his face, and I'm close to smiling at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. It has a catchy tune, I will admit. It's basically a song about how wonderful Willy Wonka is, and I laugh out loud when I realize he must have been the one to write it and orchestrate the failed fireworks.

All too late, I realize I had laughed just as the song ended and everyone moved to look at me. I hate being the center of attention. I blush and hunch down, trying to make myself small. They keep staring until another figure distracts them, giving an odd laugh and clapping their hands. "Wasn't that magnificent? I was getting a little worried it was getting sort of dodgy in that middle part, but then, that finale! Wow!"

I thought the same thing! I look down the line to see which of the contestants I had horribly misjudged and am startled to see another man had appeared next to Mr. Salt. He nods enthusiastically with a hint of sarcasm and a crazed look in his eye and I giggle at the odd man who I assume is the Willy Wonka. I clamp a hand over my mouth at the sounds rolling easily off of my tongue. I haven't laughed in well over as long as I haven't smiled, but I don't think I have ever giggled before. What is happening to me? The man steps forward and I get a good look at him.

He is wearing a dark maroon and purple suit with a matching top hat. He has white rimmed goggles on, not unlike mine that are on my forehead, holding my hair out of my face. I can just see dark slightly curled whisps of hair poking out from under the hat. He has pale skin with a warm glow, just like me, and a bright smile.

"Who are you?" the gum chewer asks. Her voice is like nails scrapped across a chalkboard and being drowned at the same time. I can't help but glare in her direction.

"He's Mr. Willy Wonka!" Charlie exclaims from my side, having figured it out as well.

The man in question ascends the steps quickly and scans the row of guests as he throws his arms out and says "Good morning..." I swear he just gave me a doubletake when his gaze passed over me. The smile slips from his face and he takes a shakey breath. "...starshine," he murmurs mostly to himself, eyes trained on me. I blush hard and stare at the snow in front of me. "The earth says hello," he finishes, having lost his previous train of thought and saying the first things that come to mind. He looks around self consciously and I look up shyly through lowered eyelashes.

I don't know what I was expecting him to be like, but it wasn't this. I was expecting to be amazed, but not at my newfound ability to giggle. I was expecting to be excited, not giddy with delight at this uncanny reflection of me in male form. I was expecting to learn about chocolate, not about the bubbly feeling that my stomach can apparently make. I was expecting happiness, not a complete and utter state of radiant glee.

This is everything and more than I was expecting...and it's only been five minutes.

What is up my dudes! Finally Wonka! I know, I'm excited to. I should note, that I'm not a fan of his hair in the 2005 film, so I'm making it much shorter and a little spikey, same color though. Like this -

Shout out to whoever made this!

Anyway, thanks for reading! Keep being amazing!
xoxo, Tilly