Deliquesce

Chapter 26: Impossible

Rated: M

Warnings: 2spooky4you

A/N: Turrislucidus: Funny, almost every time I go to spell alive I spell Alice instead. At this point, it's just getting ridiculous. I'd like to say a huge thank you to you for introducing me to Sam Dew. I am currently jamming to 'Desperately'.

Consciousness came back to me in little flickers of confusion.

I felt light flood into my eyes, felt the ground shake again. I started screaming. My fingers clutched at my neck. Fire ran through my veins. My head threatened to explode and it seemed like I was only capable of one intelligible thought.

I'm dying.

Another shake, and my ears were ringing. My eyes flashed open, but my vision was blurry, unfocused. There was red snow all around me. I was on the ground. Corpses next to me. And then it was black again.

The sweet scent of candy filled my nostrils and my pain disappeared. I opened my eyes and I was sitting in a room. A pair of comforting hands rested gently on my shoulders. I smiled, and sank deeper into the chair.

"Oh, Ember." I heard Wonka whisper from behind me, his breath warm against my neck and his face oh so close to mine. It was warm in here. I felt sleepy. "Don't you dare."

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Don't you dare." He repeated with more urgency. His hands began to shake my shoulders violently. My whole body was shaking, jolting.

"Don't you dare. You can't die. Not yet. Just a little while longer, 'kay? Just a little bit." There were tears in his voice. I was being carried. He was running. Every step he took shook through my entire body, making it difficult to see. My brain shook around in my skull and I closed my eyes. My tongue was too heavy to scream anymore. My limbs were heavy.

"Willy.."

"Ember."

"I'm so angry at you." My voice was slurred.

"Huh?" He asked, breathless and surprised. The running continued.

"Why… why the hell would you leave me with no choice back there. I had no choice." I wondered if he could understand what I was saying. Did I understand what I was saying? I felt latex gloves against my hair, pulling slightly as he stroked me.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. Keep talking. Stay awake, no matter what. We're almost there. 'Kay?"

"Mmh.."

"Ember?" There was a note of panic in his voice. "Do you remember what you told me before you left back there? Hm?" His voice hitched in places. I didn't know if it was from the running or emotion.

"Yeah.. if you made it out alive I'd give you my reply."

"And what's that?"

"That I love you."

I heard a breathless giggle, but I felt too weak to open my eyes and look at his smile.

"Where-th everyone? Stop running.. I feel sick."

"They're safe, don't you worry. I got a bit behind, you see. Just a little while longer and I'll stop, kay? They're up ahead. I think they're over the barriers by now."

"Hmm." I replied without opening my mouth. I couldn't move it anymore. It went black again.

"She's basically dead now… Oh god." Sob. "Why did you bring her back here. Now we have to watch another one us die. No, worse, we'll have to kill her ourselves."

Those arms were still wrapped around me. I smelled candy. There was no more shaking. There was no more pain. There was no more feeling at all, really. I think my body had gone into shock, or maybe it was a part of the virus.

"It's okay." Wonka said in a calm, quiet voice. I felt the deep vibrations of voice against my cheek pressed up to his chest. He walked off with me.

Where was I? I couldn't feel my body.

Where was my body, for that matter? I was floating, fleeting, feeling nothing. Being nothing but a mere thought. A string of consciousness with no end and no beginning, no future and no past. What defined me as a being in that moment was a thought. I was only a thought. Everything else ceased to exist.

What was my name? I didn't know.

Who am I? I am someone.

Someone. I am someone. What is a someone? A someone is a human being. A human being is someone that has a body. Someone that experiences, that senses and sees, that creates thoughts and feelings. Someone that moves and cries and laughs.

I am a human being so it would make sense that I have a body. Where was it, though? Why couldn't I feel it? Was it possible that I didn't have one? Was I even human at all? Was I alive? No, I must be human. I must be alive. Humans think, I'm thinking right now. Silly me. I wanted to laugh.

Laughing. Remember what laughing feels like. It feels like… repetitive bursts of pressure on your throat. Right! A throat. I must have a throat. I must have eyes to see and a nose to smell. I must have hands to feel and feet to walk. I have a body, but I can't feel it. I imagined the sensation of laughing, repeated it in my mind as if it were real.

I have eyes, so I can see. I just can't open my eyes. I imagined I was waking up from sleep. I remembered the feeling of opening my eyes in the morning. I remembered the harsh morning light hitting them painfully.

And then they opened, and my existence as a person came back to me in an exhilarating rush. I was alive.

The light streamed in, hitting my pupils. I couldn't make out anything. Ringing filled my ears and faded into soft clinking sounds and quiet rips. I felt my lungs expand and contract within my chest.

"Sh…" Wonka said, and everything flooded back to me. My eyes rolled around in their sockets, and I willed them to look down where my body should be. There was a sheet covering it, I could see tubes hooked up to my arms. I was lying on a slab, the slab that Wonka had conducted his experiments on.

A mask came down onto my face. I saw it, but I didn't feel it come into contact with my skin. I wanted to struggle. I wanted to stay awake. I wanted to keep my eyes open, keep that light on my pupils, but after a mere few seconds, I just stopped struggling.

Willy stepped out of the elevator, steps echoing throughout the silent room where grim faces turned toward him.

He swallowed, his throat was dry.

"Did you kill her?" Daniel asked. "Did you tie her to a slab and inject her with chemicals, or did you shoot her head off when she turned?"

Wonka didn't reply, and the dryness in the back off his throat was getting worse.

"Daniel. Have some respect." Jackson hissed. "What happened?"

"I…" He faltered. "My previous experiments on the other subjects were not successful. The results were too unpredictable. She died on the table. I put her in ice to keep her organs alive, injected her with anything I could to combat it. After vigorous efforts, I revived her into a comatose state. Her heart is beating and her lungs are breathing with the aid of a ventilator. At this point, the most I can do is keep the virus just at bay. It'll kick in eventually, a few days absolutely max. I just… I don't have enough time."

There was a scream, followed by sobs and the rustling of fabric as Spencer held Briley against his chest. She pushed him away and stood up, walked over to the man who towered over her and hit him. Hit him again. And again. And again. He stood there, making no move to stop her.

"Why. You're Willy Wonka. You make the impossible possible. Why can't you help her."

The great chocolatier dropped to his knees, grabbed her hands and lowered his head. She stared, shocked.

"They were simple tricks. Illusions, even. I'm a cheat. I'm a swindler. Everlasting gobstoppers only lasted two months straight. Ice cream that doesn't melt isn't even ice cream at all. Exploding candy is basically just a slightly altered version of pop rocks. I only make take the impossible and replace it with a possible substitute. The impossible stays impossible."