Who You Share it With (Willy Wonka x reader)

27. Bound by Broken Hope

"Willy," you called out quietly after gently opening the door to your room and closing it promptly. The lamplight was still on, but Willy was nowhere in sight so you tip-toed across the room. You inwardly gasped as your foot tapped a bucket on the ground. It overflowed as you did so and you wondered why Willy hadn't emptied it.

You didn't wonder for very long though.

The bed was empty and his suitcase was missing. You ducked underneath the mattress merely to find his boots gone as well. "Willy?" you spoke to the empty room, half expecting him to jump out of a corner or peek out from the door with a silly grin. Nothing.

"Is he still in the shop?" you muttered to yourself, leaning on the old oakwood desk. As your hand drifted to the deep grooves in the timber, you felt an out-of-place sheet of paper. Picking it up, you could have never foreseen what lay on it. In large letters resembling your handwriting, it read, 'I'm sorry, Y/n.' signed 'I hope you'll forgive me one day, Willy Wonka,' at the bottom.

Usually, you would have gushed about how he'd remembered to add an apostrophe in 'I'm' or poured out about how he'd managed to get your name spelled right, but reading the simple note you could only think one simple thing.

"He left."

You collapsed on the bed, the lamp shuddering and flickering to black just as you did. Your mind was meandering with reasons to explain his sudden disappearance. He may have left because he decided the remnants of the last vacant building in the Galleries Gourmet were unsuitable for reestablishing the shop. Maybe he decided the overarching malevolence of the Chocolate Cartel was too formidable to oppose. Perhaps he settled his debts using the remaining earnings from the shop and left for good. He may have sought to create a better life for himself and distance himself from this whole affair. Or, maybe his feelings for you were just a fallacy you'd created out of loneliness and desperation for love...

It was a tangled mess of 'maybes' and your train of thought became a twisting downward spiral. Suddenly, all the events of the day caught up to you and the reality of the situation was put into perspective.

Your words poured out in a sorrowful melody,

"For a moment,
Life didn't seem quite so bad.
For a moment,
I almost forgot to be sad."

You reminisced on the times Willy had left your heart fluttering. Times it felt like the world was just the two of you in each other's arms.

"I thought we were friends,
But see how it always ends."

In all honesty, your hope was pitiful. Why did you ever dare to dream?

"When will you ever learn,
That you always get burned?"

Willy took advantage of you and then left.

"If you drop your defense,
If it stops making sense,
If you let down your guard,
Let them into your heart,
For a moment..."

As if you were a well-oiled machine, he tended to your needs with the utmost precision, displaying magic your little tin-head couldn't comprehend. You'd dutifully aid him in his journeys, but he was always the one calling the shots. As time passed, you'd rusted, and as quickly as you couldn't perform your singular duty, he'd thrown you out. That's all you were to him. A tool meant to serve its purpose.

"For a moment..."

You turned in bed, shuffling to the wall. Burying yourself in your blanket, you wept in the hopes that crying would overwhelm the need to think. While your sobs went unnoticed, it felt as though it were hours before your tears ran dry. You shifted in bed—ready to torture yourself with more thoughts—before you heard a snap.

Reaching into your pocket, you pushed out the crushed chocolate Willy had offered you earlier that day. It may have been broken, and caramel was oozing from its cracks, but nonetheless, you carefully tore the cellophane and popped half into your mouth.

You hated it.

You hated how the note of cherry lifted the burden of being forgotten off your shoulders. You despised how the sweet airy hint of marshmallow seemed to evoke a child-like sense of wonder. You couldn't stand the way that the chocolate sat perfectly on your tongue. And most of all, you loathed the perfectly salty caramel which practically sent you to the sea—

"The sea?" the only way out. "The port?" the only transportation out of here. "Willy!" you exclaimed, leaping off the bed with nothing but your nightgown, shoes, and your scarf. At the speed you acquired, you might as well have flown down the stairs. As you reached the lobby, you took the main entrance out of the guest home for the first time in your life, too quickly for anyone behind locked doors to witness your escape.

Only two things went through your mind: Willy had to leave somehow; a boat was the only option. Maybe you could convince him to stay with you.

It felt pitiful for a moment that you were chasing after him, but the adoration coursing through you gave you hope that he did feel the same way. Or, at least it demanded an explanation for his leave.

Your rusty wheels had aided him in every trial and tribulation he had ever encountered; what gave him the right not to do the same?

Your feet must've been blistered after all the ground you'd cleared in a few minutes flat, but either the frosty winter numbed them, or the sheer adrenaline covered the pain up enough for you to keep in your descent. As you sprinted across the winding pathway to the end of the docks, slipping and death by the shore were the last of your worries. You paused suddenly at the unexpected sight.

The figures. One short and round, one tall and twisted, and one fierce and demanding. Of all the chocolatiers you'd see at the dock, these three were the last ones you expected.

"What are you three doing here?" you snapped, immediately shifting their attention to you.

Slugworth, as usual, was the first to speak, "Ah, Miss Y/n, I was wondering when you'd show up—"

"Where's Willy?" you pointed, demanding answers.

Fickelgruber answered this time, "He settled his debts and packed up for the other side of the world," he explained.

"What?" you barely breathed out.

"He paid for his stay and went to the North Pole," Prodnose reiterated.

"No..." you mumbled. Willy wouldn't leave without a reason, and besides, he had better places to go than the North Pole. "No, this isn't like him! You had something to do with it, didn't you?" you seethed.

"Well, we may have enticed him to stop making chocolate."

"What do you mean enticed?"

Slugworth chuckled, "Oh, believe me, he's going to stop doing much more than just making chocolate."

You were too late.

The three gave you malicious stares before you pushed past them to the very end of the dock. 'What do they mean?' you asked yourself, watching painfully as the pale dot that was Willy's departing boat became smaller and smaller. For a moment, you found yourself staring at the dark waters and the star-dotted sky with almost as much love as Willy would have. Was that it? Would he go on to live a happy life with a family of his own? Would you go on to live a life full of longing for something that was never to be? Would you forever bear an aching void in your heart where Willy had been?

You watched sorrowfully as the ship continued.

And then the boat burst into flames.

And then your heart broke in two.

And then you fell to your knees.

And then Willy was dead.

~•~

1320 words

"Ba-bada-baaa, this chapter is early! [Insert confetti here] I know! It's absolutely serendipitous! Idk if this chapter hits the same as all the others because I've been staring at it for SO long, but I don't think any more editing from me would help. Was it good? Vote if you liked it, comment your thoughts, and I'll see you next chapter!"

- Coffee