A/N: I'd like to thank my beta-reader. If you recognize it from the Wonka community, I don't own it. I came up with a new idea and edited the first chapter accordingly. Just read the very last paragraph of it before you read this one.

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Her long tresses trapped by her helmet, Scarlett sped along the highway on her Harley-Davidson, enjoying the rush. She did have a car for other occasions, but to Scarlett, this was the best way to get around. There was nothing more exhilarating than letting the scenery fly by, while taking in all the sights, sounds, and scents of the route. With no windows or pillars blocking her view, the sky was the limit. Scarlett got so into her ride, she wasn't even paying attention to where she was going; it was as if the motorcycle were guiding her, and all she had to do was become one with it. Or it could be that she went to visit Willy's factory so often, she knew the route by heart.

Scarlett parked at the back of the factory, and knocked on the large door. She waited until the slit in front of her opened to reveal a pair of beady eyes staring back at her.

"I'm here to see the Wizard," Scarlett remarked.

The Oompa-Loompa closed the slit, and opened the door a few minutes later, revealing a long, dark red corridor, with a step ladder to the side. Scarlett turned around to see the Oompa-Loompa hanging in the air and holding the doorknob.

"Need any help getting down?" she asked.

The Oompa-Loompa shook his head and dropped on the ground, landing gracefully on his feet. Scarlett took her jacket and helmet off, threw them both on the floor, and continued down the corridor. With its long hallways and twists and turns, the place was a maze. Thankfully, Scarlett knew Willy's factory like the back of her hand, and easily made her way to the Chocolate Room.

Scarlett took in the sights of the room: the chocolate waterfall, with its flowing river; the grass that tasted of mint; the trees and bushes that were made out of pure candy. She closed her eyes and let her nose take in the intoxicating aroma. Maybe just one blade of swudge wouldn't hurt.

"Hi, Scarlett," a high voice Scarlett recognized as Willy's said, interrupting her thoughts.

Scarlett jolted back to reality and turned to face Willy. "How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

"Evidently, not enough times to make a difference," Willy said. "And walking is not sneaking."

"When you startle someone, it's sneaking," Scarlett stated.

"It's not my fault you're amazed every time you walk in here."

"You're the one who had to make the room so beautiful," Scarlett said, as she bent down and picked a blade of swudge. "You could've just settled for the chocolate waterfall, but no, you had to go all out."

Willy laughed gleefully. "Just the river by itself would be boring. You know that. And you'd think by now, you'd be used to it."

"And take you for granted?" Scarlett said in disbelief. "Not in this life."

As she sucked on the blade of swudge, savoring the minty taste in her mouth, Willy smiled at her.

"So, what did you call me here for?" Scarlett asked.

"Are you hungry?" Willy asked, as four Oompa-Loompas landed a small pink boat on the shore. It was only slightly larger than a canoe, with benches for the Oompa-Loompas rowing it, and two others, staggered in height.

"Considering that I didn't eat anything before coming here, yeah," Scarlett said, boarding the boat. "So, what's this about?"

"I'll tell you during breakfast, Lette. Let's go!" Willy said, using her childhood nickname.

"So, you wake me up at six in the morning, tell me to rush right over, and then make me wait for the news," Scarlett summarized, looking at her surroundings as the Oompa-Loompas' wooden oars dipped into the chocolate river. "If your factory wasn't so beautiful, I'd be really pis..." She caught herself. "Angry right now."

Willy just grinned.

As the Oompa-Loompas rowed, Scarlett relaxed on the bench above them and watched the scenery pass her by. The boat headed into a dark tunnel. Willy, from the top bench, immediately ordered the Oompa-Loompas to turn on the lights, as the ride became a roller coaster, and then the boat stopped at the Inventing Room.

In the room were the typical beakers and machines Scarlett expected to see, and something she didn't expect: a charred, deformed metal vat, surrounded by Oompa-Loompas holding fire extinguishers. There was also a not very nice smell.

"Ick! What's that horrid smell?" Scarlett wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"You noticed that?" Willy was moving toward the vat.

"Yeah," deadpanned Scarlett. "With my nose."

Willy sighed. "That's what left of the latest fat-burning chocolate batch."

Scarlett kept her distance. "The explosion I heard? Still not working, I take it?"

Willy shook his head. "The problem's not it's not not working. It's working too well. It burns the fat we put on top of it, and everything else to boot. Just look at my poor vat."

The Oompa-Loompas commiserated with him, as they all stood looking at the wreckage, dripping foam.

"Oh well," said Willy, turning away. "I'll get it yet. Just see if I don't. Come on!"

Willy led her to a door behind the great gum machine, and opened it to reveal a darkened corridor with a faint light at the end. They followed it to find an archway, leading to an indoor English garden, decorated with several exotic plants that gave off an intoxicating scent, that unlike the odor in the Inventing Room, Scarlett inhaled deeply. Despite their perfume, and Scarlett's hunger, she knew better than to pick the plants and start eating them.

In the corner were a few pink lights that reminded Scarlett of the Perry-Plum fairies. According to legend, Perry-Plum fairies were only seen by a lucky few, because they tended to appear only once a millennium, and, even then, only at night. At a distance, they looked like little balls of light, which reminded Scarlett of Tinkerbell, from Peter Pan, or Navi from Ocarina of Time.

Willy thought it would be fun to make glowing cotton candy figurines that resembled the mythical fairies, and put a few of them in the garden, because he thought they would be pretty. Scarlett, on the other hand, was inspired to paint pictures of what they might look like close up, and had done that.

In the middle of the garden was a table covered by a white, silk cloth. On the table were two plates, each with scrambled eggs, bacon, and chocolate chip pancakes; two cups, one with coffee, cream, and sugar, and the other with hot chocolate; and two glasses of orange juice. Several chairs surrounded the table, and Scarlett took one. Willy sat across from her.

"Willy, would you please pick a different seat?" Scarlett asked.

"Why?" Willy asked innocently.

Yeah, what was wrong with Willy sitting across from her she thought, as she gazed into his deep, almond-shaped, violet eyes, in his abnormally pale face, with a few strands of his chin length, chocolate-brown hair falling in the way of his cheek? That thought made Scarlett realize exactly what was wrong with it. It didn't help that his black shirt and pants, along with his red frock coat, black top hat, and black boots were a brilliant contrast to his pale skin and dark hair, or that his hands were covered in lilac gloves. The cotton candy fairy lights fluttering among the leaves certainly weren't helping matters.

"Nothing, never mind," Scarlett said, as she took a bite of her food. "Anyway, what did you call me here for?"

Scarlett continued staring at her food, while Willy answered. "Yesterday, when I was getting my hair cut, I found a silver hair."

Scarlett scoffed. "You called me all the way over here because you're having a mid-life crisis?"

"Says the pot, calling the kettle black,'" Willy said, with a hint of anger.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Scarlett said defensively.

"True or false, you bought a motorbike because you felt old."

Scarlett stabbed the eggs with her fork, and met Willy's eyes with a vicious glare. "I bought that because I like to go fast."

With a nervous smile, Willy looked away from Scarlett's eyes and gulped. "Well, anyway, in that silver hair, I saw my life's work. When I die, there will be no one left to make delicious candies, no one left to look after the Oompa-Loompas. The Factory will die with me."

"Then you'll just have to not die," Scarlett suggested.

"Scarlett, I'm talking about my life's work, and you're cracking jokes!"

"I'm serious," Scarlett said, taking a bite of her eggs. "There's always the Wonka-Vite."

Wonka-Vite was a pill that de-aged the taker twenty years. Willy came across it by accident a few years ago, but it took over a hundred tries to get the pill exactly right, and the Oompa-Loompas nearly paid a great price for it. At least, that's what Willy told her. Scarlett was back in Texas dealing with family issues. She shuddered as she thought about how Willy had gone alone to Minusland, to rescue over a hundred Oompa-Loompas before the Gnoolies bit them, risking being bitten himself. Scarlett still felt guilty about not being there.

"They are far too valuable to waste on me," Willy said, shaking his head and waving his finger.

"Well, you can waste them on me when I get old. In the meantime, you're talking about leaving a chocolate factory with no one to run it when you die," Scarlett said, taking a sip of hot coffee. "I don't know about you, but I'd call that a waste."

"Yeah, but I think it would be better to just find a hair," Willy said, taking a bite out of his scrambled eggs and giggling. "Oh wait. Scratch that. I already did that. I mean, I should just find an heir."

"Okay, that could work," Scarlett acknowledged. "How do you plan to go about finding one? Have kids all around the world send in applications and go through each one?"

"No way! Do you have any idea how many boring letters I'd have to read through? Paperwork is nightmare enough," Willy said, and then snapped his fingers. "Unless, I have you go through the applications. I'll invite the ones you pick to my Factory, with the promise of a lifetime's supply of chocolate!"

Scarlett paused.

"Well, what do you think?" Willy asked, taking a sip of his hot chocolate.

"Your plan is to make me go through all the boring applications, while you lure unsuspecting children to your factory with the promise of candy?" Scarlett said, taking a bite of her bacon. "Tell me, are you planning to pick up these children with a van?"

"Great idea!" Willy said gleefully. "No, I got better one!" Willy snapped his fingers. "I'll have a worldwide contest, and let the winners come to the Factory! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"With their parents?" Scarlett asked hopefully.

"Why would they need their p-p-," Willy began, gagging on the word "parents" the way Scarlett gagged on her Prairie Oyster.

"Because no parent would want their kids traveling to a strange location without adult supervision," Scarlett explained, taking another bite of her eggs. "Well, some parents would, but not very good ones."

"Are you saying my Factory is a strange location?"

"To them it is. You're not arguing about the adult supervision?"

"Naw. Thinking about it, I'm darn sure not gonna do it. So all right... but only one!" Willy said firmly, then changed his tone. "We'll pick the winners by putting a prize inside the chocolate bars for the children to find."

"What kind of prize?" Scarlett asked, taking a bite of her pancakes.

"Uh-uh-uh," Willy said, shaking his finger. "First, we figure out how many children. I was thinking ten."

"Ten?" Scarlett said confused. "I think seven might be better."

"Why seven?" Willy asked.

"Because seven's a lucky number," Scarlett explained. "There will be seven Harry Potter books—"

"How do you know?" Willy cut in.

"Pretty much everyone knows that. In the very first book, they said that Hogwarts has a seven year program, so—"

"So you don't know," Willy cut in.

"Will you stop interrupting, please? Forget I mentioned Harry Potter. We can count them up when the series ends, and see who's right. Now where was I—"

"Hogwarts," laughed Willy.

Scarlett brushed the comment aside, and plowed on, "The Star Trek spinoffs usually last seven seasons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer lasted that long ... according to Christian belief, the Earth was created in six days and God rested on the seventh ... Then they're the seven deadly sins, and that creepy girl in Ringu gave—,"

"Did you just say, 'the seven deadly sins'?" Willy said, as he jolted up.

Scarlett laughed nervously. "Yeah, that probably ain't the best argument for that number."

"I don't want the seven deadly sins in my Factory!" Willy exclaimed.

"Don't worry, there's only a ninety-nine percent chance of that happening," Scarlett said absentmindedly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willy said, alarmed.

"I'm saying that ninety-nine percent of people are rotten," Scarlett said, confused. "I thought you knew that."

"Well," Willy said, laughing nervously. "Five isn't seven, so we'll go with five children. Whichever one's the least rotten, will be the winner."

"So, what do you want me to do?" Scarlett asked, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Right now, I want you to spread the word. Tell them the great Willy Wonka is planning something, but don't say what. It'll drive the public crazy!" Willy exclaimed. "And you can design the prize I'll put in the chocolate bars."

"I don't know how all this is going to play out, but I do know one thing," Scarlett said, taking the last bite of her breakfast. "If y'all plan on inviting people here, you're gonna need a bigger boat."

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A/N: What did you think? The line about the boat came from Jaws and the thing about the van was inspired by The Big Bang Theory. The Wonka-vite was a reference to Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, Roald Dalh's little known sequel to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The Perry Plum Garden came from Jimmy-C-Lombardo from deviantart, who I'd like to thank for letting me use his idea, and the nickname for Scarlett came from PinkPrincessTaylor from deviantart.  This will be edited when it gets back from my beta-reader, so be on the lookout for it.