The shadowed figure approached her almost as soon as she had closed the gate behind her.
"Hello Veronica. What have you got for me?"
"You know damn well I have nothing for you." She spat into the darkness, not looking at her newfound companion.
"That's really a shame." Veronica heard him snap his fingers and before she knew what was going on, two pairs of extremely strong arms were muscling her off her intended path.
"What're you—" She began, and then shrieked. "Willy!"
"He can't hear you, child, and even if he can, do you expect him to come valiantly to your rescue? I think not." Slugworth was grinning into the darkness, his beetle-black eyes glinting in the pale moonlight. As the two mysterious pairs of arms held her, he came forward, pulling out a handkerchief.
"Ether really is a primitive way to knock one out… but it's so much more civilized than a blow to the head, isn't it darling?" And he stuffed the handkerchief over Veronica's face. She fought for a moment, then slumped, unconscious. No one had bothered to look back toward the factory gates. If they would have, they would have seen a tall, thin figure with a top hat and cane, lurking in the shadows just beyond his own front door, too afraid to go further, but knowing he couldn't just turn back.
When Veronica came to, she found herself blindfolded, her hands tied behind her back, in a drafty space. She had no idea how she had gotten there, or even where "there" was. She heard footsteps, and a voice spoke out of the darkness.
"I'm very sorry to have to spoil your holiday like this, darling, but you really weren't being cooperative." Veronica could hear a hint of amusement in his voice.
"If you cared about me at all, you wouldn't do this." Veronica said harshly, but there was fear behind her voice, and Slugworth knew it.
"But I do care about you. You're my only child. It's Wonka I can't stand. Besides, I can't have him make the same mistakes I did. No one will treat my little girl that way." His tone was mocking, and if Veronica could have slapped him, she would have done so, then and there. As it was, she could do nothing but sit and seethe, blinded to the world around her.
"I'll leave you to think about your decision. If you suddenly remember anything you've thus far neglected to tell me… I'll be around." And Veronica could hear Slugworth's footsteps fading away.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier...
Wonka spent most of that night pacing the front foyer of the chocolate factory. Who would take Veronica like that? Well, Slugworth, for one… But where would he keep her? Wonka had to do something, he had seen them drug her and drag her off, too petrified by the scene and those two big, burly accomplices to act. He could call the police… but that would attract too much attention. He could send the Oompa Loompas out to search for her… but that would mean sacrificing a month's worth of chocolate to augment their salaries…What to do?
He didn't dare enter the factory, even to go up to his own room to sleep. The great glass elevator would pass the Hall of Holidays, and his mood right now was enough to wilt the chocolate rosebushes and set the Christmas tree afire like a Yule log. So, finally, with a resigned sigh, he curled in the very front corner of the foyer, near the front doors, and fell asleep with his hat over his face. And for the first time in ages out of mind, he actually dreamed.
He was walking the factory alone, when something pulled him off on a detour he had never taken before. He was led, almost as if by guiding hands, down a long, mirrored hall. At the end of the hall, the boardroom gleamed, resplendent and new, its black licorice table gleaming in the firelight, the tall head seat with it's embellished W's standing proudly at the table's head. Something guided him into that seat, and as he took it, all the confused and hidden emotions of the past fifteen years swept over him, like a fierce wind, the loneliness, the confusion, the emptiness of staring at an empty factory. Charlie, the Buckets, the Oompa Loompas, they may still have been there, but as far as Wonka was concerned anymore, the factory may as well be empty without Veronica. And as he sat there in silence, he heard a whisper in his ear.
"You have to go on, Will."
He turned abruptly, and standing behind him, spun sugar dress and wings gleaming in the firelight, stood the Queen of the Sugar Plum Faeries. She extended a hand and brushed the hair back from his face. She was smiling a smile quite reminiscent of Veronica.
"I am proud of what you have done here. But you must still go on. There is more yet to do. Have the courage to seek her out, and I will be with you all the way."
Wonka's eyes were as wide as a child's, as he gazed on her. For all those long years she had been his guiding light, his goddess, the reason and the inspiration for his greatness. He remembered the first time he had dreamed of her, that first night he had tasted chocolate. She had been so fuzzy and unfocused then, little more than a gleaming star in the heavens. Now she was growing clearer all the time. He watched her stand, swirled in a breeze he couldn't feel, and saw that her face, her entire being was slowly and continually changing, so smoothly it was as if it hadn't changed at all, but giving the impression of a multi-faceted jewel. She looked away for a moment.
"Even when you have felt you were alone completely, I was with you. But can't you see me now?" And when she brought her eyes back to his, they were storm grey. Standing in the firelight, bearing the wings and gown of a goddess, was Veronica, and when she spoke next, it was not the ethereal voice of the goddess, but Veronica's own.
"I will be with you… even if you cannot see that now. Seek me, the Faerie Queen, no longer, for you know my true name now."
"Veronica…"
The Oompa Loompas all watched as he mumbled in his sleep, and then relaxed once more. As the dream faded, he crossed into undisturbed, innocent sleep.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier...
Veronica had no sense of the passing of days and nights. She was unblindfolded and untied for meals, and kept under heavy guard. She had found herself in a windowless room, a basement or storehouse, it was cold, it was drafty, and it smelled faintly of mildew and newspaper. In that first shock of knowing she was in a strange place, she had attempted to take in all she could of the room, where her guard was placed, the location of stairs or vents. She even scanned the ceiling for cameras. Seeing none, and facing threatening looks from her guard, she ate quickly. So quickly, she would have made Wonka jealous of her speed. Wonka… Would he even know she was missing? She had been gone days, weeks at a time. By then all his secrets could be tortured out of her. No one had made a move to harm her, but she knew all too well that the worst kind of torture was time. And she had plenty of that.
Once a day, her father would pay her a short visit, only to ask if she was ready to spill her guts and divulge Wonka's most precious secrets. Every day she refused. Every day she spent in blind darkness, slumped against packing crates in this miserable place. And then one day…
She had heard no approaching footsteps, so when she was tapped on the nose, she sat up at once, startled.
"Willy?" She hissed.
"Shh." A finger was pressed to her lips. It couldn't possibly be Wonka, this was a ruse. The finger bore no glove. She had to play along.
"Willy, get me out of here!"
"I can't. Did you tell them anything?"
"No." A pause, then, "How did you get in here without anybody seeing? And where am I?"
"You are presently in my company!" The whisper said cheerfully. It was definitely Wonka. "And I got in with a nifty little invention of mine from the Unmarketables Room."
"What?"
"Shh. The Unmarketables Room. Unfortunately, I think Hair Toffee's gonna be the next addition…"
"Well, are you gonna tell me how you got in, or not?"
"Oh, right. Well, a few years back, I invented a candy that could make you invisible, unfortunately, in all our test subjects, we found a corresponding raise in crime rate. Go figure! So, we couldn't sell this little beauty. But, once I figured out where they were hiding you, I figured it would be a snap for me to come in unannounced-like and scope out a rescue plan. And no one will even know I'm here!" Wonka giggled "Of course, I've only got two hours before the candy wears off, and I have to be safely back home by then. Can't have anyone out on the street spying me when this little bugger wears off, no sir."
"And why's that? People are getting used to seeing you on little excursions, I think."
"The invisibility effect of the candy doesn't affect your clothes. And I couldn't just walk in here like the invisible man, could I? Floating top hat and cane and all?"
"So you're…" Veronica tried very hard not to think of what she was missing, were her blindfold off.
"Silly, you couldn't see me anyway!" Wonka grinned, apparently reading her mind yet again. "Besides, why would you want to? That's just… weird."
"…Lovely. Well, I hope this is helping you formulate a rescue plan."
"Oh, it is indeed, don't you worry your little noggin…" But Wonka had spied the clock on the far wall. "Oh dear. Sorry to leave you like this, but I've got to go, no time to waste, no siree!" And with another tap on the nose, he was gone.
Willy Wonka, Willy Wonka, the amazing Chocolatier...
Veronica began to receive regular visits from an invisible Wonka. This was a little odd, considering the circumstances under which he became invisible, but he was there. Of course, he had yet to attempt to spring her from her prison, and seemed to intend on having no purpose but moral support. She was still getting regular interrogations from her father, and he had begun to grow nastily impatient with her. Twice now she had gone without dinner, further skewing her sense of the passage of time. Wonka came regularly to tell Veronica that Charlie was bringing home letters from her captors that demanded a ransom to free her. He was beginning to contemplate which he would be willing to part with.
"You can't just do that! They'll have you forever then, and they'll know it!" Veronica hissed. "This is exactly why I didn't tell you earlier!"
"You knew?"
"Of course I knew, but I wasn't going to tell you. If you give them something, then everything I've been doing trying to protect you is for nothing. Do you think I like sitting here in the dark day after day?"
"Better than being stuck in an avalanche of chocolate eggs." Wonka giggled
"You know this is your fault, right? If you wouldn't have made me go home… we could be enjoying…I could be enjoying your ignoring me as you try to work." Veronica growled. "And yet here I am, still loyally defending your secrets. If my mother hadn't sold Slugworth's fudge recipe…"
"Fudge? What kind of fudge?"
"The most delicious strawberry flavored, chocolate covered fudge. My mother used to make it for me. But she sold the recipe… She told me my father died, but seeing as he isn't dead, I can see why he's bent on vengeance. Dunno why it's so directed at you though."
Wonka was very quiet for a long time, Veronica actually began to suspect that he had run off, that time was running out on the invisibility jellies, and that he had to dash back to the factory. Just on his last visit, he had cut the time so close that he had been seen dashing into his room by a passing Oompa Loompa… Needless to say, the Oompa Loompa in question was now Frank's most current patient.
"Your mother sold me that recipe… actually it's currently one of our biggest sellers!" Wonka added cheerfully, after a beat.
"You? That's… someone else's recipe? But it tastes nothing like what my mother used to make! What's your secret?"
"Oh, that's simple. Love!" Wonka beamed, though Veronica couldn't see it.
"…Love. That's all?"
"That's all!"
"Well then we should run upstairs and tell Slugworth and get me out of here!"
"No."
"Why? He can't duplicate it."
"Because it's my secret."
Veronica wanted to argue with this statement, but she could not. She understood why Wonka would want to guard this, the last of his great secrets, with such care. It was the only advantage he had over his competition after all. They could duplicate his recipes, but could never make them quite the way he did. And it was because he loved the candy, loved making the candy, loved it for the sake of loving it, not for the profits he would turn.
"Time's up. Gotta run!" He rumpled her hair and was gone before she could even say goodbye. She was left again with her thoughts, left to wonder whether he was actually going to attempt a rescue for her or not.