I have to say, I'm much more proud of this chapter than the last two! Fun in the factory, Oompa Loompas singing, and learning to get right back up on your feet!
BETA By: Zalexiya & xxbutterflypunkbellexx
Caramel Carlotta Queen
The only words that could come out of his mouth as she gazed at him with glassy eyes were, "Good morning Starshine! The world says hello!" His smile couldn't hold in a small giggle. She looked very groggy, but smiled sweetly at his outburst. He couldn't believe it had worked! There before him stood the most beautiful woman he had laid eyes on. His girl, all his own!
"Who…where…?" she said faintly; it was as if she was learning to use her voice for the first time. "Are you…?" He nodded giddily.
"Willy Wonka, the greatest chocolatier, at your service!" he beamed at her. She slowly moved her eyes around to take in the room. "Amazing isn't it?" He was still using his high pitched flighty voice. "Just had this added on for the testing of my new Shock Tarts."
"But…" She was still confused by what had happened. She didn't remember anything. It was as if she just woke up for the first time. She did wake up for the first time. She bolted up into a sitting position. Was this all real? What happened to her?
"I know you're a bit befuddled, but not to worry! All in due time you will understand everything!" He stepped back to admire her from afar. Her pink dress looked so much better on her when she was alive and active. She looked around once more, only this time using the function of her neck. Wonka noticed right away her movements were smooth like that of a human's. A good thing in his opinion; he didn't want some stiff, robotic woman marching through his factory. Though the thought of it was rather amusing…
"I-I don't know what to say," she stammered, still unaccustomed to the concept of speaking. It was really strange to her. This felt like her first time talking, but she knew exactly how and what to say; she could understand this Willy Wonka who looked at her with such admiring eyes.
"That's okay; you don't have to say anything! Come, my dear! Allow me to give you a tour." He helped her swing her legs over the table's edge and she looked down anxiously. It was like peering over the ledge of a high cliff. She took a deep breath and hopped off the table.
It's so weird! he thought, as he looked at her stumbling to get her balance. It was like watching a baby take its first step. She had fallen to the ground at once as if loosing all of the power in her legs. He helped her stand up once more and saw her face was reddening with embarrassment. He giggled a little which caught her attention. She gazed up at him once more with those dark chocolate eyes, but with a look of hurt. He didn't understand why until she said something.
"Could you please not laugh at me?" she asked timidly. She really was a child herself. His laugh faded and the smile followed suit.
"Oh my dear bonbon, I'm not laughing at you. Why, you should be laughing along with me!" he continued when seeing her confused, yet still pained expression. "We all must learn to do new things. And granted we won't get it right the first time. So why frown about it, when you can just as easily laugh?" What he had just said, she didn't realize would stick with her to heart. After a moment of thought, the smile re-entered her face and a small bubbly giggle followed. It was just like a child's laugh: so innocent.
"The reason we fall is to learn to get right back up," he quoted one of the very few things he remembered his father saying, "Now, if you feel ready again, we'll just take one little baby step at a time." He supported one of her arms as she lifted a foot and put it in front of the other. She felt a little off balance, but quickly gained it once more with the help of Willy. She looked into his deep, violet eyes with anxiety, but also excitement. Before she knew it, the both of them were at the door leading to the glass elevator. It was very dark inside and eerie when you look down at the floor to see nothing below you. Before she could say anything about this, Willy had pushed a button and they shot up like a rocket.
He noticed her crumple to the floor with an 'oomph' and tried desperately to stand once more; but the jerky movements of the elevator changing its direction sideways, upways and every which ways would send her back to the floor.
"You may want to stay down there the rest of the trip; you'll just keep getting knocked down." he told her, contradictory to what he had just taught her, but he meant to say she would get use to it in time.
"Oh, but I'll just keep getting up again; or trying," she said, the last part to herself. "Because you're never going to keep me down." He gave her a grin filled with pride. That was exactly as he wanted her to be. "But I have to ask: where are we going?"
"Well first things first, I want you to know you're in a factory." She gazed up in surprise.
"A-a… f-f-factory?" was all she could stumble out of her mouth, fighting to get back on her feet.
"Yes, my chocolate factory to be exact. And you are my wife." When he had said to her previously she would know everything all in good time, he wasn't thinking of how soon or far in the future it would be. Right then and there was perfect timing to him, but apparently not for her.
His small smile and hesitant laugh didn't help her to comprehend this any better. She had a mixture of being sick and about to faint written on her face. What little blush had come to her cheeks when being awoken completely vanished. "Come again?"
"You're…my…wife," he said slowly to her, thinking she couldn't understand him. Her face had become paler, if that were possible. He gave a small giggle at the thought of him, Mr. Willy Wonka, actually having a spouse. He was talking to himself now more than her. "My spouse…my dear bonbon!"
"But-but how? I don't even remember you!" she exclaimed, a bit harsh. She couldn't help it though. If you woke up to find you don't remember a thing that has happened in your life, you can barely walk, and you're married to a total stranger, wouldn't you be a bit shocked and confused? She was on the verge of hyperventilating. "And why do you keep calling me bonbon?" she shouted at him this time. He frowned at the outburst.
"No need to yell; you do have control over your voice." He looked at her a bit hurt himself.
"But, that doesn't answer my question. Why can I not remember you?" She forced herself to calm down.
"Of course you can't remember me!" He smacked his head. "I made you!" He laughed a bit more. She looked at him, reading his face carefully. Then it snapped in her; she came to grips with the idea. Her eyes unfocused and she slumped down into a corner of the glass elevator which still zoomed to their destination.
She gazed out to nothing and looked like a shell of a person to him. It was kind of bumming him out. He thought she would take it a little better than she was. "Is there really any need to pout?" He put his hands on his hips. She looked up at him with deranged eyes. Was there? She looked back out through the elevator where they now passed several Oompa Loompas using oversized candies as ammunition to fire off spectacular fireworks. It was incredible in her eyes; actually everything to her now was incredible in some sense.
"It's just so new. Actually it's―," she was cut off.
"Really weird." She looked up to his face which told her everything. "Yeah," they both said in accord. The elevator had finally stopped it speedy trek through the factory. The doors opened out to a dark hallway, but the girl wasn't paying attention. She was still gazing into the eyes of her supposed husband. He helped her to her feet, not breaking eye contact. The doors were just about to close when Mr. Wonka snapped out of his enchanted trance. "Shall we go then?" he said a bit timid, and she nodded slightly in response. Like a lost puppy dog.
She was beginning to get the hang of walking already, but every now and then as she looked around she would loose balance and catch a hold of Willy's jacket sleeve for stability. Still a bit embarrassed on the inside she would give a nervous laugh and continue on.
When exiting the corridor, they moved into sight of a tunnel—no a river! But the water was a thick brown substance. "Second best transportation in the factory is my chocolate river. The boat should be arriving any time now." She could hear his words in the back of her mind. This is all far too much! A glass elevator; a river of chocolate, a candy factory! It still didn't seem to make sense to her. If she were in a candy factory, and this man made her, does that mean she's…?
"Made of chocolate," she whispered. He seemed to have heard her for he leaned over in her direction.
"You mustn't mumble; I couldn't hear a word you said." he declared as if this was very important.
"I'm made of chocolate," she repeated as if stating the most obvious thing in the world. She looked down at her white hands.
"Well, not necessarily. Your hair is licorice," he said, trying to make it sound like a good thing. "Didn't want you having a big head of chocolate; would've made you look like one of those Barbie dolls girls rave about nowadays, and we couldn't have that now could we?" She glanced up from her hands to see that smile of his plastered back on his face.
"Oh, no, I guess." Her eyes bugged out a bit, but she nodded her head in agreement, like talking about the substance of her hair was a normal every day thing. Everything was just getting to be more curious to her.
The sound of a drum beat could be heard from far off, and not much later, she saw a large pink dragon headed boat rowing towards them. Little men in blue shiny uniforms were rowing the boat as one, while the one in the front pounded a rhythmic beat with a giant skin drum. It quite startled her to see something as odd as this. Well, so far everything she had seen has been quite peculiar in a sense, but this topped everything off at the moment.
"All aboard," the chocolatier beamed as he helped her in. As the boat began moving once more, she almost fell back from the motion, but caught herself in time. Willy didn't seem to notice this, and continued to sway with the pulse of the drum. The boat picked up speed, which was a bit unsettling to her. All thought left her mind as they whizzed past different rooms which interested her immensely. Whipped cream—seeing a cow being whipped and milked by little men who looked oddly similar to the ones in the boat—Ice Cream—Hair cream (she had to think on that one for a bit), and…
It must have been entirely coincidental that Willy Wonka said, "You know my dear, we need to find a good name for you," as soon as her eyes passed over the door that said 'Caramel Room' over top of it. Caramel; she let the word roll off her tongue. She turned to Wonka who was on her left. "Caramel," she said eagerly. He looked at her and then at the caramel room.
"Yes, that says caramel," he said as if she was a small child. She gave him a stern 'oh-please' look.
"No, Caramel; for my name; how would that sound?" She looked eagerly into his eyes for approval. He rubbed his chin in a very pondering sort of way, and looked over to his left. He saw his 'Colatta' room pass by and a light bulb went on in his head.
"As long as Carlotta is involved somehow," he replied. "We have a deal." He shook her hand animatedly and smiled. She turned her head to gaze out at the amazing rooms, not wanting to miss a thing. My sweet Caramel Carlotta, he thought admiringly. This wife business was sticking to his mind worse than everlasting gum in hair.
As they came to a halt, she saw a door labeled 'Inventing Room', and she looked to him curiously. He only smiled back at her with that pride-filled smile.
It was an amazing place, with so many sounds and things going on all at once. Those little men (she did not know who they were) worked on all sorts of things, not paying any attention to the two newcomers. "What are they?" she whispered to Willy, hoping none of them would hear her.
"They're Oompa Lompas," he stated briefly. "Excellent workers, but can be quite mischievous." As he finished his sentence the little Oompa Loompas began humming a tune which grew louder and louder until they almost broke out into song. "And it seems they're going to treat us to a little something." He bopped to their tune as they began.
Sorry if we've taken you by surprise,
Welcome to the candy land paradise!
Much to do and things to see,
Inside this wonderful factory!
Their dancing looked quite rehearsed, as if they worked on it night and day just to welcome her. It brought a smile to her face as she began to move her head to the music along with Willy.
Our Caramel Carlotta Queen
Brings great news to the confection scene!
Your presence no doubt is a delight
But nevertheless we'll give you some insight,
The outside world is harmful to you
So don't wander off whatever you do
Until then, let yourself be enticed
By Willy Wonka's paradise!
As they sang the chorus, she thought of what their last words meant. An outside world? So there was more outside of this factory? But before she could ponder anymore she was startled by Willy clapping enthusiastically. "Bravo! Well done!" She didn't know what to say; a feeling she was becoming accustomed to. She looked up to him as he finished his clapping and gave a brief sigh. "Wasn't that grand?" He cocked his head to the side a bit as she arched her brow.
"Definitely something I've never seen before." She mentally smacked herself for saying something so stupid. Of course she would have never seen it before! But he didn't seem to care or even notice. He just smiled all the same; he sure liked to do that a lot. Caramel had wanted to ask him what they meant by an outside world and that it could do harm, but she kept her mouth closed.
"Well, if we can continue…" He walked ahead, letting his cane click loudly on the floor as he went. She sighed, preparing herself for more of the queerness that was to come.
A/N: I know the first bit was real unoriginal, but I just love that quote and it will always bring back memories of the first time I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I must have looked the fool being the only one to laugh after he said this line…As Melantha Nocturne has suggested I used the name Caramel; I give her credit for that in my story. Thank you for your idea! And quite sorry if the Oompa Loompa song sucked…I just made it for foreshadowing. Also, see if you can find the play-on-words to a great 90's song! If you do, maybe I'll let you slip a kiss to Mr. Wonka!
Thank you to, snufflesgal, No One Mourns the Wicked, BrokenSong (your story is beautiful!), Wicked Seraphina, thepumpkinqueen, doctress, freddylover5, Faerie in Combat Boots, Vicangel, Super Lizard, vampan, Your Worshipfulness, Willy Wonka Obsession, Dragon Jester Princess Persephone, and Spooky's Angel for all of your wonderful comments! They are greatly appreciated!