A/N - I don't own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Please let me know what you think.


Five Children.

I can't believe I'm doing this. I never imagined doing something like this, never during the course of my career…

As he stood in the packaging room with the five golden tickets he'd had made specially using a large chunk of gold, Willy Wonka thought long and hard about what he was about to do, but ever since he had realised and accepted the fact he would one day have to retire after spending a lifetime experimenting with chocolate and pushing the realms of the confectionary business into something more magical, which was his raisin d'être, Willy had also come to the realisation if he left and retired, there would be some uncomfortable issues.

Who would look after the Oompa-Loompas when he left?

Who would keep running the business when he couldn't?

In the end, Willy had realised he wanted an heir to take over, and he had also come to the realisation he would need to find a child, a good and imaginative child, someone who was passionate and alive, someone who would take over the business and take it to the next level. It was Willy's plan to send out five golden tickets inviting five children to the factory, and when they arrived he would give them a tour to see which one of them would meet his criteria. He had everything sorted out and the preparations were already underway; by the time the big day came, Willy would be more than ready. He was taking an entire day out of the normal day-to-day running of the factory to meet five children and their parents, and he would see which one of them would be taking over the running of the factory.

A part of him was dreading the thought of just handing over his beloved factory, his home, to a stranger, but it had to be done. But what he was really worried about was how the child would react when they learnt what the true reason behind the visit and tour of the factory was. On the one hand, if things went the way he hoped the child would accept the offer and come willingly to him.

Willy waited until the next bars of chocolate were laid bare on the paper and foil wrappings of the classic Wonka bars before he made his move towards them. He could have chosen any of his products, but he had opted to go for the simplest he had to offer.

He watched as one of the bars arrived on the conveyor belt - he had ordered the Oompa-Loompas in charge in this part of the process to temporary stop the wrapping so he could do this - and he slipped the ticket onto the bar.

He repeated the action with the next four bars of chocolate, slipping the tickets on them. When he tapped the final golden ticket, the Oompa-Loompas restarted the line; he was eternally grateful he had ventured to Loompa-land and picked them up, and brought them to work in his factory.

Willy closed his eyes as he remembered those days. He had been reeling from the betrayal of so many of his workers that in the end, he'd had no choice but to close down the factory for a few years just to protect so many of his recipes because he couldn't take the risk of any more of his secrets going to his competitors.

Willy had spent the time in those years travelling and gathering ingredients that he could safely use in his products, new flavours for new lines similar to the time when he had visited India when that ridiculous prince had called him out to construct a chocolate palace; one of the reasons he had visited was because Pondicherry had offered to give him access to Indian recipes and spices so he could come up with something for his lines.

Granted, while it hadn't worked as well as he would have wished, the experience had opened up his mind.

Willy pushed those thoughts aside. They weren't relevant right now.

There was still much for him to do. It would take a while for this latest batch of chocolate bars to be delivered; Willy genuinely did not know and frankly it didn't really matter much to him where the golden tickets would go to before they were unveiled, all he knew was he would have plenty of time before the news of the tickets was unveiled. The leaflets and the statement to the press was prepared. He would wait for a day or two before he had them released, just to give the chocolate bars time to arrive. This was the international conveyor, and it would take time before they arrived in various cities, such as Tokyo, New York, etc.

Wonka left the wrapping room and he walked out. There was still much to be done before the big day came, and the factory did not run itself.