(Matilda's POV)

My heart is palpitating more and more as I'm being forced closer and closer to my fate. At the same time, my breathing becomes more shallow and light. The more it sets into me that this is really happening, the more I realize that Wonka is truly dangerous and insane.

"Keep moving, Sweet One," Dizzy Flower orders me condescendingly.
"We're nearly there, Sweet One."

I try to dig my feet into the ground so as to slow down and stall for time, but Dizzy Flower catches this and kicks at my heels.

"I suggest you simply accept this, Sweet One," she tells me.
"There's no getting out of it, Sweet One."

"There's no way you'll make me power this…..machine you have."

Glaring at me, she gives a malicious smirk and a villainous chuckle.

"The master has his ways of making you comply, Sweet One."

"And stop calling me that!"

"You'd best get used to hearing it, Sweet One," she hisses.
"That's what you are to Wonka, aside being his daughter, Sweet One."

"Now, Dizzy Flower," Daisy Bloom pipes up timidly.
"There's no need to be so malicious—."

"Shut it, softie!" she snaps as she whirls to face Daisy Bloom.
"If you don't have the guts to do things like this, you might end up dead. And all the better for us."

"Leave her alone," I hiss.

Dizzy Flower huffs before turning forward as herding me onward. Soon enough we end up at a set of double doors. Dizzy Flower goes over to a small box and scans her eye. We hear two beeps and the doors open to reveal a large throne-room-esque place.

"Well," one of the Oompa Loompas scoffs.
"Took you long enough."

"Wasn't my fault, Sunshine. Daisy Wimp here was too soft to bring the Sweet One herself."

Two Oompa Loompas dressed as guards lead me over to a door and hand me a dress covered in rainbow candy patterns. Alongside it are matching gloves, socks, hair bows, and black shoes.

"You're nuts if you think I'm gonna wear this," I laugh.

"You're nuts if you think you have a choice," one of the guards scoffs.

They prod me into the room and shut the door behind me, forcing me to face a full-length mirror. Wanting to escape, I test the handle only to feel a jolt of electricity coarse through me, causing me to pull back. With a huff, I take off my shirt and jeans and pull on the dress, socks, shoes, hair bows, and gloves. Once that's done, I apprehensively reach for the doorknob. Fortunately, when I touch it, I don't feel any electricity this time.

"Must be the gloves," I figure.

All of a sudden, I feel my hair tighten up. I turn around to face the mirror and nearly gag at the sight. My dirty blonde hair is now done up in a cross between tight Southern Belle curls and Shirley Temple ringlets and put into pig tails. I look like I'm six years old, though I suppose that's the point, considering that's when Wonka first found out about me.

Not wanting to look any longer, I put my hand back on the doorknob and turn it. Peeking through a small crack, I see Wonka walking slowly and forebodingly towards the door.

"Matilda," he says in a sort of crazed, yet suave, sing-song voice.
"Come out, come out wherever you are."

Let's just get this over with, I think.

I open the door and bow my head. I hear Wonka gasp.

"Oh, she's adorable. But I can't see her face."

I hear him walk towards me. A hand reaches underneath my chin. I try to back away, but he keeps ahold of my chin before pulling it up, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"Oh," he whispers adoringly.
"My sweet, little girl. You look like a precious doll. MY precious doll."

I feel too paralyzed to do anything as he reaches for my ringleted/curled hair and caressing it as well as my face. I know he's doing it to further disarm me, and it's working. A shiver rushes through me.

"It'll be as if you never left."

"I was never here before this in the first place."

"Oh yes you were," he hisses insanely.
"You are a spitting personality of your father and he's been loyal to me since the start. What's his is mine and you are his daughter, which in turn makes you MY daughter."

"I'll never be your daughter."

"Oh, oh, oh, I think that very soon, you'll be calling me Father."

He lets go of my face and takes ahold of my hand. I pull away.

"I'll go up there on my own."

"What? You?" he chuckles maliciously.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're only a child."

"I'll take her up there," Daisy Bloom says as she walks over to us; her voice having a bit more courage than usual.

"You?" Wonka asks as he turns to her.

He gets down on her level and pats her head as he chuckles.

"You're too sweet to get her on the throne of the machine. You took even longer to get her here. You don't deserve to do this kind of work, Daisy Wimp."

I see it on her face. Her heart is breaking into pieces, and her eyes are tearing up. Seeing that Wonka is near my level, and without thinking, I give him a right hook to the cheek, and a left hook to the chest, knocking him to the ground.

"Don't you DARE talk about Daisy Bloom like that!" I snap at him.
"She's the only one who's shown me any sort of kindness in this factory. She's the only one who calls me by my first name out of kindness. And you have the AUDACITY to speak to her like that? You disgust me!"

Wonka looks up at me and my stomach kinda flips. I can see his eyes kinda glow red. He gives me a malicious grin.

"That's my girl," he says low as he wipes the blood from his nose.
"Fierce and fiery. Sunshine, get me a candy tissue and then bring the Sweet One to her throne. Dizzy Flower, take care of the cutie."

He puts emphasis on the phrase "take care" and instinctually I grab and hold Daisy Bloom really tightly.

"Come now, Sweet One," Dizzy Flower hisses as she approaches me.
"Put her down, Sweet One. I need to take care of her, Sweet One."

"Daisy Bloom is the sweetest and kindest person in this room, and over my dead body is she gonna die. I will NOT let you kill her. If you do, I will destroy the machine. If I'm going to be Wonka's daughter and the energy source for this machine, Daisy Bloom stays alive and you all show her some respect from now on. These are my terms. I will accept no other."

I can hear Daisy Bloom whimpering quietly in my arms. There's a moment of silence, save for Wonka panting. After a few moments, I hear him sigh.

"Fine," he agrees.
"Dizzy Flower, leave her be."

"But master—"

"I said," he tells her firmly.

"Leave her be. If my little princess says it must be, it shall be."

Dizzy Flower backs away. I slowly put Daisy Bloom back down. She takes ahold of my gloved hand and leads me to the throne. Or rather to the large white steps leading up to the throne. Once we get up there, I sit down on the throne as she straps in my ankles, wrists, and torso.

"I'm so sorry to have to do this, Matilda," she whispers ruefully.
"I truly am."

"It's okay," I assure her.

She gives me a hug before descending the steps. Wonka comes by her with a malicious grin on his face. I see he's gotten rid of the blood.

"Well, well, well," he purrs slowly.
"Are you ready, my dear?"

"Not really," I say stoically.

"Well, there's one more thing."

I feel something press against my head.

"A tiara," he says lovingly, and slowly, yet insanely.
"For my little princess."

"I'm not a princess," I growl back.

"Oh, oh, oh, but you will be. Very, very, very, soon, soon, soon."

"Why are you repeating things three times?"

"You didn't know? Trouble always comes in threes, threes, threes."

He takes out a remote and presses a button. I feel the tiara cling onto my head. I swear I even feel it drilling holes into my head and hooking up with my brain.

A surge of electricity powers through a machine. At the same time, i feel a cold cloth wiping one arm and then the other. I then feel a pinch in both of them. I look down to find that I have two IVs in my arms, which makes me nearly panic; I really don't like one needle as it is. Two needles are even worse.

"What in the name of sanity are these for?"

"One is to give you that everlasting candy elixir I told you about earlier. Though only a small amount needs to get into you before I switch to the next elixir, which will make you compliant."

"And the other one?"

"That taps into your creativity, causing endless streams of ideas.. I can't have my Sweet Princess becoming useless, like her former father."

"Don't you dare talk about my father like that!" I spit.

"I'll talk about anyone anyway I choose," he hisses.
"It also enhances your powers."

I gasp in shock.

"How did you—?"

"The CCIIQ readings indicated you had some kind of mind magic. I wasn't sure what, though."

"How is this going to help you take over the world?"

He gives a villainous chuckle.

"You'll see."

He flips a switch and the elixir in my left arm flows through the tube into my body. It feels cold as it hits my nervous system, but suddenly a stream of endless ideas are pouring into my mind, and it feels euphoric. I feel slightly addicted to it, and that scares me.

"It feels wonderful, doesn't it, my dear?" he whispers into my left ear as I face forward.
"All of these ideas and creativity, all of this inspiration to help me recreate the world into something wonderful."

"Something wonderful," I repeat as I feel the right tube begin to pump things into me, causing me to feel relaxed, almost as if I'm in a dream of some sorts.

"The outside world doesn't appreciate people like us."

"Doesn't appreciate. People like us."

"Yes, people who think not just outside the box, but can turn the box into a lollipop. They call us insane. They call us mad. But we'll show them, my sweet. Won't we?"

"Yes, we will."

I look up at him and smile.

"Father."