Who You Share it With (Willy Wonka x reader)

25. What Choice Do I Have?

"And that, I believe, is the end of Wonka's Chocolate Shop."

~•~

Willy stared at the charred debris that was once the physical embodiment of his only dream. Stripped of everything but its scaffolding and lying dead before him. The place smelt rancid and the lingering hint of smoke seeped from the blackened floorboards. The shattered glass that Y/n was sweeping up dotted the perimeter of the shop along with fallen candies and burnt sugar.

Both he and Y/n—he knew—were valiantly fighting back tears. As he set eyes on the massive tree that had taken hours upon hours of careful work, it was difficult for the thought of it having been scorched not to be too much to bear.

"I don't understand... what..." Lottie, the chatterbox herself, was at a loss for words.

"What happened?" Piper finished for her.

Before Willy could get a word in, Y/n attempted to defend him, "These chocolates were the most carefully crafted ones Willy has ever made! If anything... it was probably me! Or—or some sick heist! It wasn't his fault!"

"Y/n, it's no use. This was obviously the work of the chocolate cartel," Abacus sighed.

"It's okay, Willy. We can rebuild," Noodle said in an attempt to brighten up the poor dejected chocolatier. "We can start again."

He just shook his head in return, "There's no point, Noodle. It didn't work." Of course, it didn't. An entire day of wonder and yet she didn't show up once.

"What do you mean?"

"She promised she would be here," he clarified, "She wasn't"

Noodle looked as if she were concerned for his sanity, "You didn't actually think that—"

"No, I did." He looked down in shame, "Stupid dream."

"That's not true, Willy!" Y/n spoke up, stepping up to him and holding him by the shoulders. He looked up for a moment before his head drifted downwards once more. "Don't ever say that," she continued, tightening her grip on him. He stayed still. "Your dreams are beautiful, they—"

"Y/n, I think Mr. Wonka needs to be alone for a moment," Abacus said calmly.

Y/n's fingers clenched around his shoulders—as if she were about to snap at the man for speaking to her like a child—before her grip faltered. He watched as a single one of her teardrops found its way to the ground. He couldn't think straight. If given just another second he would've begged for Y/n to stay and hold him in her arms, but before he knew it she turned and left with the others.

As if it were a reflex, as soon as the last person left his peripheral, he reached into his coat pocket. Thanking whatever lord up there after feeling the familiar lump in it, he pulled out the block of chocolate that had begun this mess of a fantasy.

He couldn't stay irate very long after setting eyes on it though. Just like clockwork, as soon as he ran his thumb across the faded parchment, his mother's words went through his head, "Every good thing in this world started with a dream." Her gentle voice brought back memories of the joy she'd shared with him.

Willy stood up, stepping towards the blackened platform in the center of the room. He could barely stand with the amount of grief coursing through him, but the faint memory of his mother seemed to lift him towards it, "So, you hold onto yours. And when you do share chocolate with the world, oh..."

He stared down at what seemed to be the chocolate flower Y/n had been holding before the chaos. Cautiously, he picked it up out of the debris. It was burnt and deformed, and he could barely hold back tears watching its petals slowly fall as dust into the ashes.