Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

Bird's Eye View

Will narrows his eyes at me. "Ok...and you would tell me if something was wrong?"

"I think you would know before I had to tell you." He gives me a look. "But, yes. I would tell you if something was wrong." I'm not lying. Nothing's wrong, I just have a puzzle to solve. I'm ok. Will's ok. Charlie's ok. Nothing's wrong.

"Alright, in that case, on with the tour! So much more to see!" He holds a hand out for Charlie's goggles and puts them and his own in a receptacle bin. I push mine up as we exit the room and Will heads for the elevator. We hear the chocolate river from a distance and Charlie shivers, no doubt thinking of Augustus. He takes my hand and squeezes. "Now, how many children are left?"

"It's just me, Mr. Wonka," Charlie responds in a quiet voice. As his voice fills the small space, for the first time I notice how very few of us there are. Will stops walking, his back still to us.

He turns his head to look at us out of the corner of his eye. "Is that so?" Charlie nods. "What happened to the others?"

I smirk, "Well, the first one, you-"

"Alright!" he cuts me off and gives me a knowing look. I laugh. We have a secret! Why does that make me so happy? Will comes over to us and puts a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "My dear boy, that means you've won! Oh, I do congratulate you, I really do! I am absolutely delighted." He looks up at me with excited eyes. "I knew it would be you, right from the beginning, I did!" He turns again and starts walking, a peculiar levity in his step. "Now we mustn't dilly, or dally, because we have an enormous number of things to do before the day's out!" His pace quickens toward the elevator, but he looks over his shoulder. "But luckily for us, we have the great glass elevator to speed things-"

"Oh!" I exclaim, flinging out a hand too late as Will walks into the elevator. I cover my mouth trying to stifle the shocked laughter rising in me.

He steps back and shakes his head as the doors open and Charlie and I follow. "-speed things along. Come on!"

He beckons us in and presses the button marked "Up and Out." The elevator immediately begins to rise. Out and up? Does he mean...? Charlie grips my hand and practically shouts over the sounds of the elevator, "Up and out? What kind of room is that?"

Will looks up and warns, "Hold on..."

I look up as well and see a glass skylight above us. We're going to go through the window! I laugh a panicked laugh, that's it. Will's gone mad. We're going to die. It's not like I had a whole lot going for me anyway. I do have a family to take care of though.

Charlie wraps his arms around me, and shouts over the growing rumbling, "But it's made of glass! The elevator or the window'll be smashed to bits!"

"And we're going to get sliced to ribbons," I add. Will quirks one eyebrow mysteriously and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think it was a little hot. His mouth twitches and he points upward. I look up and see the ceiling growing closer. My heartrate picks up. I wrap my arms around Charlie and stumble into Will. He wraps his arms around me happily and gives me an assured smile. I look up and see the point of the glass elevator make contact with the glass as it shatters into a million small pieces. The pieces fly into the air above and around us, and for a split second, I feel like I am in the middle of the most beautiful rain storm. The shards reflect the light of the sun, and seem to still in the air around us. A thousand tiny, white lights hover around us, glittering and spinning creating a beautiful feeling. Like stars.

The next second, the tiny stars fall, looking like real rain, and sounding like it too. I hear the musical sound of glass shards hitting the roof and our impervious box. It's like a thousand small voices offering up a chorus of shrill tinkling that is quiet, soft, and yet still finds a way into my very soul.

"Seven nuclear explosions," Will whispers.

I gasp for breath and pat my hair down looking up at Will. He smiles and brushes a strand away before gesturing with his head to the side. My stomach flips, and I feel an odd excitement in being this high off the ground. I look straight down and see the window we smashed through, then I see the other children and their parents making their way to the gate. They've all changed in one way or another, Augustus is stained with chocolate, Violet is blue and unnaturally flexible, Veruca is covered in garbage and pouting, and Mike is extremely tall and extremely thin.

They've all lost apparently, and Charlie's won. I couldn't possibly fathom what Charlie has won though. What could be better than experiencing all of what we did today? Well, maybe experiencing it everyday, but that's ridiculous. I lift my gaze to the city beyond the gates and my breath catches in my throat at the sight. It's beautiful and quite literally breathtaking. There're hundreds of buildings lit up by streets of lamps and cars, casting a hazy glow over the city. It's a very dim day because the sun is hiding behind thick layers of clouds.

"Where do you live?" Will asks. I can't tell who the question was directed at, so I let Charlie point and answer. Will pulls out his little magenta tablet and directs the elevator to the house, if you can call it that. He lowers the elevator, accidentally hitting the roof and opening a gaping hole that I had patched a while ago. I wince and he moves the elevator away and down gently, mumbling, "Sorry."

The door opens and Charlie bolts inside shouting for Mum and our grandparents. Will motions for me to go first and I do, following Charlie. I hold the door open for Will who trails me somewhat timidly into the confined space. The second I step inside, I smell home. It's definitely not as good as chocolate. It smells of stale bread and old people, and I love them but my grandparents haven't left that bed for twenty years. There's a mess on the counter, Mum must have left it for me to clean up when I got back. I roll my eyes and frown, then look at the bed that's falling through the floor above. That's new. I don't know what's happened, but Charlie's bed is half through the ceiling. I huff exasperatedly and look at Will to see if he is repulsed by it all. Instead I see his eyes roving the space and the people as if he's seen it all before.

Charlie grabs my hand and pulls me toward Mum. I give her a little hug as Charlie continues, "-and then she turned blue. Her whole body! Tell her, Dawn!" Charlie's excited eyes fall on Will, who he had almost forgotten was there. "Oh, Mum! This is-"

"Little Willy Wonka," she finishes with a kind smile at him.

"Mrs. Bucket," Will says with a nod. He smiles shyly.

"All grown up I see." Mum gives him a hug which he returns readily. She pulls back. "It's been ages since I've seen you."

Sorry this chapter's kind of short, I couldn't resist that cliffhanger. Thank you for reading! Vote if you liked it and tell a friend. Let's see how fast we can get this story to 200 votes! How do you think Dawn's mum knows Will? Leave a comment. Thanks again!
xoxo, Tilly