Chapter Text
Thump
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Thump Thump Thump
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Thump Thump Thump
The beat of the music continued to repeat in Charlie’s ears, drowning out the sound of the rest of the world. A gentle breeze ruffled his hair. He leaned forward against the railing and closed his eyes to take in the sensation. The weather is perfect; not too hot and not too cold.
When he opened them again he was greeted with the same view. The city below him, damp from the recent passing shower and as busy as it usually gets around 5 PM.
This is one of Charlie’s favorite past times. Standing on one of the numerous roofs of the factory, listening to music, and taking time to gather inspiration.
The current song faded and a new one started to play. The beat is slower and the tone is more melancholy. When a song like this plays, Charlie can’t help but glance over the mass of buildings and towards the hills behind them. His childhood home still sits condemned there.
A few years ago he would stand up here with Mr. Wonka beside him and felt embarrassed looking at it. He had no real reason to, and Mr. Wonka never brought up his old living conditions, but it would still make him feel ashamed. Charlie wouldn’t usually dwell on it for too long, instead glancing at the breathtaking scenery away from it.
Now, he felt a mixture of different emotions. Nostalgia for the good times, pride at how well he is doing now, and sadness for his deceased grandparents and how long his family has struggled.
Charlie bit his lip in thought. He wanted to gather inspiration for which flavors he wanted to put in the new mixture for Laffy Taffy - Now it will actually make you giggle uncontrollably -, but it looked like he was going to need to change gears. Mixed emotions, especially for a candy that was supposed to make you laugh, doesn’t usually have good results.
Well, his imagination in this current state can still be productive. He has an assignment for one of his drawing classes coming up. He can turn these feelings into something aesthetically pleasing, he has done it many times in the past.
He pulled his phone out of the pocket of his long, elegant, dark blue coat. The headphones were still connected to his ears as he did so, and he opened the notes app. He didn’t have his sketchpad with him so he had to resort to marking down ideas for later. He typed a couple that already started to bubble up.
Mr. Wonka wasn’t a fan of Charlie doing schoolwork in the factory. He wasn’t a fan of Charlie going to school, period. He was visibly (and vocally) annoyed when Charlie’s mother convinced him to enroll in university.
“Charlie has already graduated high school, that makes him more than qualified to help me with the factory! More school would teach him nothing but to stop being creative. That would technically make him less qualified, if you take the time to think about it,” Mr. Wonka said when they broke the news to him.
The Buckets remained unconvinced.
Charlie didn’t think university made him less creative. It inspired him a lot actually. Their Pepper-Up Peppermint Flavored Chocolate-Coated Coffee Beans came from Charlie experiencing the exhaustion of studying for finals. The beans make you feel wide awake for up to twelve hours after just having a handful, not to mention they taste great too.
Mr. Wonka would scoff and roll his eyes when Charlie was studying. He’s been doing that a lot less lately now that Charlie changed his major to art. This had been the fourth time he changed majors in just as many years. Charlie liked to learn a variety of different things.
Now when he passes by Charlie sketching, he’ll stop and observe it for a moment before going about what he was doing before. No displeased reaction. Sometimes he’ll even follow it up with an “I like that, my dear boy”.
Charlie would smile and say his thanks while also ignoring the urge to tease the fellow chocolatier for liking one of his “useless” school assignments.
He smiled at the memory and revised one of the ideas he had typed on the phone.
A new song started to play and brought the energy back up. The beat felt like an erratic heartbeat taking over Charlie’s eardrums.
Then one of his ears suddenly went deaf. Charlie’s body jumped in surprise.
A voice rang out in the ear that was now missing an earbud.
“My dear Charlie, I have been looking everywhere for you!” Said the voice of Mr. Wonka.
Charlie looked towards the voice to see Mr. Wonka holding the earbud in his gloved hand with a big smile on his face. He usually had the same look after some sort of big accomplishment. Charlie wondered what the excitement was about.
Charlie returned the smile and took the other earbud out of his ear. He stopped the music on his phone. Mr. Wonka dropped the other half of his headphones onto Charlie’s open hand to let him put them away in one of his many coat pockets.
Mr. Wonka cleared his throat overdramatically.
“Yes, Mr. Wonka?” Charlie replied patiently.
He continued to fiddle with his pocket while replying, tearing his eyes away from his friend and mentor.
“I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” He repeated.
Charlie finally fixed his pocket and looked back at Mr. Wonka. A small smile adorned his features.
“You mentioned.”
He wouldn’t have to look everywhere for Charlie if he just got himself a cell phone. He always refused to get one though, saying that he doesn’t need to dull his senses by staring at a small screen all day. Charlie knew it was just an excuse for Mr. Wonka to stay either old fashioned, isolated, or both. Probably the same reason why he won’t let Charlie make a social media page for their brand.
“Yes, well I have something to show you that I think you’ll enjoy,” Mr. Wonka said.
He said it with a look of pride on his face and anticipation in his tone. Then he grasped Charlie by the wrist and began to drag him towards the factory. His pace was brisk and Charlie couldn’t help the joyful laughter that fell out of him. He put up no fight and let his mentor lead him. His schoolwork will wait, the factory will always come first for Charlie.
They go through the doors into one of the factory’s numerous corridors. At the end of the hallway is the entrance to the magnificent glass elevator.
As they strode down the corridor, thoughts flew through Charlie's head as he wondered what would await him. With Mr. Wonka, it could be literally anything. The man always knew how to keep Charlie feeling that same childlike wonder at 21 years old as he did when he was 11.
The two entered the elevator and Mr. Wonka pressed a button obscured from Charlie’s view. The elevator jerked to life and began to whirl them down the rails. Mr. Wonka released Charlie’s wrist and placed both hands atop his cane. Various colorful rooms passed by quickly.
“Which room are we heading to, Mr. Wonka?” Charlie questioned with an encouraging smile.
Mr. Wonka looked at him with a mischievous twinkle in his eye and a knowing smirk.
“A room you haven’t been to before. It’s a recent addition,” He said and looked forward, signaling that was the only hint he’ll give Charlie.
It’s amazing to Charlie that with how huge the factory is, Mr. Wonka still found space to put additional rooms.
Charlie took note of each room they were passing. He could tell the general direction they were heading in. They were definitely not going towards the chocolate room or the cocoa bean forest. Probably not going to the inventing room either, which was Charlie’s first guess. It looked like they might be going towards the television room and that surrounding area, which had a lot of projects related to public relations. Maybe Mr. Wonka was finally doing something with one of Charlie’s social media ideas. He doubted it.
Hopefully whatever Mr. Wonka is showing him doesn’t have anything to do with the documentary Netflix is making about the golden ticket event. Charlie has had to turn down numerous offers to be interviewed. They tried to reach out to him through email, phone calls, and even in person at his university. Luckily they haven’t been able to contact Mr. Wonka at all to pester him about it. Charlie is sure the man would deal with them in some sort of creative way.
Charlie had surprisingly kept in touch with the other children, now adults, that had found a golden ticket. Each one of them, including Charlie, has grown since they had all met each other in person a little over 10 years ago. He sees them all as very good friends and even has a group chat that they are all in. They’re nice to Charlie, but most feel incredibly bitter at what had happened at the factory. Except Augustus. He loves having a lifetime’s worth of Chocolate.
None of them accepted the interview offer either. Even Mike, who still actively tries to anger Mr. Wonka whenever he can. One day, Charlie brought up that he doesn’t know how old Mr. Wonka is to the group after the man was being especially coy about it. Mike decided to spend a week of his time digging around until he somehow got ahold of Mr. Wonka’s birth certificate. He was excited to share with the group that Mr. Wonka is 56 years old and his legal full name is “William Wilbur Wonka”.
Charlie silently laughed to himself at the memory of him being cheeky and calling Mr. Wonka “William” to his face once. The man frowned harshly, turned around on his heels, and didn’t speak to Charlie for two weeks. When he did, he pretended it never happened.
The elevator abruptly stopped and cut Charlie off from his thoughts. Charlie was correct about the location, they were in a room near the television room. The room was dimly lit and had a blue tint to it. Oompa Loompas greeted the two as they exited the elevator. They all had goggles and shiny silver jumpsuits.
In the center of the room was a giant platform with a large piece of machinery pointing at it from above. It looked a little menacing to Charlie as he eyed it cautiously. Mr. Wonka wasn’t shoving protective eyewear on either of their faces so Charlie assumed it wasn't dangerous to glance at.
Mr. Wonka looked at him with an expectant grin. He motioned to Charlie to follow him with his hand.
“Come on!” He said while hurriedly making his way over to a large console.
Charlie followed a little slower and stopped beside the taller man.
“What is that big machine? It looks kind of… scary,” Charlie said.
Mr. Wonka huffed a laugh next to him.
“You bet it’s scary. That right there is a time machine, my dear Charlie,” He said and then paused to look at Charlie’s reaction.
Charlie’s jaw dropped. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought Mr. Wonka was joking. He does know better, so he knows that a real and possibly functioning time machine is really in front of him.
Mr. Wonka seemed pleased at his awe and smirked.
“Now, you might ask, “Mr. Wonka, what does time travel have to do with the wonderful and spectacular world of making candy?””
Charlie nodded. That was his thought exactly.
“Well, I’m glad you hypothetically asked, my dear boy! Imagine the distant past, a time where the only candy was dried fruit and gross chewing gum made of cocaine,” Mr. Wonka began to colorfully explain.
His hands moved hypnotically as he talked.
“Then out of nowhere, a package arrives in the middle of the dust bowl of a town. It’s a big box filled with the most amazing flavors anyone could only dream of tasting. Wonka bars! Their entire outlook on life has changed from just one taste. With the package will be a note. The note will read: “Wonka’s delicious chocolate bars are a gift from the future; your great-grandchildren will never be able to get enough”. Then, years later, they tell their children about the deliciousness they experienced, and their children tell their children and so on. From the moment in time I created our chocolate, we would have many many loyal customers.”
Mr. Wonka met Charlie’s eyes and gave him a nod to signal Charlie to give him his thoughts. His smile was wide and he was obviously very proud of himself.
Charlie took in the other man’s words for a moment. So, Mr. Wonka wanted to send a bunch of their chocolate to people from the past who probably won’t live long enough to be able to buy their chocolate. He should probably have some sort of problem with that idea, but he can’t bring himself to. Everyone deserves that little bit of the magic that their candy makes people feel. He doesn’t dwell too much on the complicated science of time travel. Mr. Wonka usually has a good comprehension of things before he presents them.
He gave Mr. Wonka a bright smile, the kind he knows makes the other man return an equally sincere smile.
“It sounds amazing! Does it work?”
Mr. Wonka beams like Charlie knew he would.
“Of course it works. We’ve successfully sent a couple Oompa Loompas back in time. Only problem is we don’t know how to pinpoint the certain time we sent them to. They could be with dinosaurs right now, or in space before the planet was ever formed!” He replied with enthusiasm.
Charlie’s smile faltered a tad.
“How do you know they were sent back in time? They could have just been teleported somewhere else… or disintegrated” Charlie couldn’t help but ask.
Mr. Wonka tsked, “Because it’s a time machine, duh. It isn’t a teleporter or a disintegrator.”
Charlie huffed a laugh and shook his head. He didn’t ask Mr. Wonka to elaborate.
The two of them silently looked at the machine for a brief moment.
“So… Why did you choose to show it to me now instead of when it’s fully functional?” Charlie asked gently.
Charlie had a feeling he knew the answer, but was curious to see what Mr. Wonka would say.
The other man’s smile remained, but his eyes slightly widened; a sign that he wasn’t fully comfortable with the question.
“We’re business partners. It’s only fair that you get the chance to be involved in such a project,” He smoothly replied.
Charlie nodded. It wasn’t a truthful answer. Mr. Wonka loved to surprise Charlie with projects he already finished. He always told his mentor that he wants to be involved with every new project. He never truly did involve Charlie with every new project. Mr. Wonka loved the praise more than the pushback Charlie would show sometimes during the brainstorming process.
Charlie knew that he hadn't spent too much time with his best friend and mentor these past couple of days. He had been too occupied with taking his parents on a nice holiday to Paris for their anniversary. Mr. Wonka had most likely craved Charlie’s attention and knew the time machine would give it to him. The man didn’t know how to simply ask Charlie to spend time with him. How he went years without talking to anyone who wasn’t an Oompa Loompa was a mystery to Charlie.
Mr. Wonka seemed to sense that Charlie wasn’t satisfied with the answer. He opened his mouth and closed it again. He didn’t say whatever was on his mind and instead pointed at the machine with one of his gloved hands.
“Would you like to see how it works?” Mr. Wonka said quickly.
Charlie turned his attention back to the machine. He did want to see how it worked. He’s a little wary of where in time they’re going to send one of their workers. He hoped they weren't going to send them to a time where they’ll instantly die.
Wait.
“I would, but… why are we sending Oompa Loompas back in time if the idea is to send chocolate?” Charlie asked.
His fellow chocolatier just looked at him.
“Huh?”
Charlie elaborated, “We could just send the chocolate back in time and not Oompa Loompas. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about where they’re going.”
Mr. Wonka was silent for a beat. He looked conflicted. He probably just realized he made a dumb mistake. He gripped his cane a little harder.
“Well, then we would just worry about where our chocolate is going,” He eventually said.
Charlie frowned. Mr. Wonka smiled innocently. He did this sometimes. His mistakes were uncommon, but when they happened he would rarely own up to them.
“I would rather lose a little extra chocolate, which we were going to anyway, than lose one of our workers,” Charlie replied curtly.
Mr. Wonka scoffed. Then he gestured around the room.
“Our Oompa Loompas love testing out our new inventions, look at them go!”
Charlie looked around. The Oompa Loompas gave no indication as to whether or not they agreed with that statement.
Charlie rolled his eyes. He knew his arguments would go nowhere with Mr. Wonka. They have butted heads many times in the past. It takes a lot of time and energy for Charlie to come out on top when he’s against the man. His mentor is stubborn and can resort to childish tactics to get his way.
Silently, he decided to stop before this turned into something bigger than it needed to be. Especially since their workers were in the middle of it.
“Fine, show me how it works then,” Charlie said with a huff.
Mr. Wonka triumphantly smiled and bent down to speak to the Oompa Loompa closest to them.
“I’d like you to show our dear Charlie here how the time machine works, okay? Just… send whatever you’d like.”
The Oompa Loompa bowed and began to press some buttons on the console.
Charlie was pleasantly surprised Mr. Wonka wasn’t going to make them send another worker through time. He listens to Charlie sometimes after all. Charlie smiled towards his mentor to show how pleased he was, but the other man refused to look in his direction.
Other Oompa Loompas began working together in sync. It’s amazing that they can wordlessly do that. One of them placed a cardboard box on the center of the platform and then stepped away. That proved to Charlie that they didn’t really want to be time travelers.
The machine lit up and it sounded like an engine kicked on. The top of the machine began to spin. The tip pointing towards the platform began to glow and vibrate. Charlie gripped the edge of the console in anticipation.
The engine roared louder, the lights shined brighter, and the top spun faster. Everything felt like it was approaching a crescendo. The wind from the giant spinning parts blew through his hair. From the corner of his eye he could see Mr. Wonka holding onto his top hat.
There was an electric crackle feeling in the air. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure this was safe anymore.
Suddenly…
The machine stopped.
Everything was silent once more and the air was still.
The box was still on the platform.
Nothing happened for a beat and then…
“Huh,” Charlie heard beside him.
He looked over to see Mr. Wonka with confusion littering his face.
“Did it stop working?” Charlie asked.
Mr. Wonka started to make his way to the stairs to descend towards the machine. That made Charlie nervous. He followed to make sure the man didn’t hurt himself.
“It seems so. That hasn’t happened before,” Mr. Wonka said.
His voice dripped with contemplation and slight alarm. That didn’t make Charlie any less nervous.
The Oompa Loompas seemed equally confused in their own way. One put on their gloves and began to prod at the platform. Mr. Wonka watched them curiously.
“The machine won’t explode or anything because of the malfunction right, Mr. Wonka?” Charlie asked a little desperately.
The other chocolatier kept his facial expressions even for Charlie’s sake.
“It’ll probably be fine. Worst thing that could happen is we have scrap metal instead of a time machine. No need to look so… uptight,” Mr. Wonka said with a wave of his hand.
Charlie knew that wasn’t true, but he appreciated the reassurance nonetheless.
“Thank you,” He said genuinely.
The other man pretended to not know what Charlie was thanking him for.
As Charlie eyed the Oompa Loompas moving about and trying to figure out what was wrong, he noticed something shine in the corner of his vision. He moved his head to get a better look.
On the outer rim of the platform, Charlie could see what looked to be a small, twinkling, crack. That could possibly be an explanation for the malfunction. Charlie let out a sigh of relief. A crack in a metal plate that’s not directly connected to the machine most likely wouldn’t cause catastrophic damage.
Charlie stepped towards the platform, feeling more grounded.
“Umm, Charlie? I’d actually prefer it if you kept your distance,” Mr. Wonka said, now behind him.
Charlie stopped at the platform. He leant down and pointed at the crack.
“There's a fissure here on the platform. It could be what’s wrong with it.”
He kept his hand pointing to the machine and turned his head to look at Mr. Wonka.
He went through a couple different emotions in a few seconds. Anxiety, then befuddlement, and finally he grinned again.
“Oh my! Good find, my dear boy!”
His mentor clapped out of joy and then motioned for one of the Oompa Loompas to join Charlie at the platform.
Charlie returned the grin and moved to stand.
Then he heard a high pitched whirring noise and froze. His expression dropped and he looked above him. The tip of the Machine was glowing again and the lights flickered on.
He heard a shout and turned to look back at Mr. Wonka. He felt frozen in place.
“Charlie, your foot!”
Charlie looked down to see his foot still on the rim of the platform. He willed his body to begin to move. His body began to tingle like electricity had just shot through him.
“Charlie!” His mentor shouted again.
He looked up to see the man scrambling towards him, all fronts the man regularly puts up have been dropped. There was pure panic radiating from his eyes.
Charlie reached out towards him but it felt like his foot was glued to the platform.
“Mr. Wonka!” Charlie returned, equally panicked.
Then it looked like the lights in the room turned off. The whirring noise stopped, the tingling feeling went away, and his foot was unstuck.
Charlie stumbled forward and fell. He caught himself with his hands on the solid metal floor. He couldn’t see anything.
He breathed in and out quickly. He tried to stop himself from getting a panic attack. Tears formed in his eyes.
“Mr. Wonka?” He pleaded shakily.
He expected hands to grab him and pull him into an embrace. He expected an anxious reassurance. He expected a response.
He got none of those.
Shapes began to form in the room as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He could see machinery, not the time machine, but production lines. Machines that were supposed to be making candy.
They weren’t. They were shut down. That was weird. They never had the machines shut down.
Charlie felt himself calm after seeing his surroundings, despite the weirdness. It seems like the time machine could be a teleporter after all. He was just zapped into one of the production rooms.
Still shaking, Charlie stood up on his feet.
He took some steps towards the red flood light at the end of the room where the doors were. He was going to go find Mr. Wonka, he was surely worried sick about him.