Hello there everybody! Welcome to my very first fanfiction for the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fandom. Since I am a bit new to writing, please go a little easy when reviewing, although some tips would be greatly appreciated. :)

I DO NOT own Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in any way, any shape, or any form. Credit belongs to Roald Dahl, Tim Burton, Warner Bros. Pictures, and everyone else involved in the book and 2005 movie. I am also giving heavy credit to "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- Next Generation of Winners (SYOC)" by IndianaGamerGirl1201, since it helped me in determining the amount of Golden Ticket winners as well as inspiring the idea of killing off a certain character you will read about shortly (if the summary wasn't a dead giveaway.) I was also inspired by the many "Second Generation" fanfictions I have read on this website, since they're all really good, and you can easily access these from the favorites tab on my profile.

Without any further ado, I hope everyone reading this will enjoy my very first fanfiction! Let's begin! :D

Imagination. What is imagination? Is it a figment of someone's subconsciousness? Something abstract? Resourceful? Creative? Something detached from the horrors of the real world? How do you earn it? How do you lose it? Imagination is something nobody can define. It can be used for good, evil, or just for amusement. It can manifest itself into the minds of people, and mold them into the way they are now. This story is all about imagination, and how differently its powers are used. But what it can delve into is up to individual interpretations, and therefore, nobody's imagination can be identical to another's.

But what we can all agree on is that Charlie Bucket is one of the most beautiful, kind, and loving children to ever grace the Earth, despite being born in rather horrific poverty. Despite his situation, he was still supported greatly by a nice and loving family consisting of his parents and grandparents. He deeply loved his family, and his family deeply loved him back.

Charlie's greatest role model was an eccentric and brilliant candyman known as Willy Wonka. Willy Wonka could simply be described as the very manifestation of imagination and creativity itself, making the most delectable sweets one could ever imagine. But despite his supernatural talents, he was only human and knew that he couldn't live forever, so he needed to find an heir to the factory. But not just any heir, but a heir that was a child, since children, he felt, were the very best at expressing their imagination and creativity without any negative influence from the adult world, which were the things that Mr. Wonka valued the most.

So, Willy Wonka devised a contest of sorts, where five children (who were lucky enough to find a Golden Ticket placed inside of five lucky Wonka Bars) would be selected as candidates for heirs to the factory if they showed great behavior in a tour of the factory. Although the first four Golden Tickets were found by very repulsive and obnoxious brats, the final Golden Ticket fell into the hands of Charlie Bucket himself. On the tour, the four brats got into terrible accidents brought on by their flaws, and thus had to be removed from the tour. While the four rotten children fell prey to their temptations, Charlie managed to outlast them all, and was officially selected as an heir after sorting out some family issues with Willy Wonka. Charlie's family then moved into the factory, and enjoyed the various wonders of the factory while continuing its general prosperity for all to enjoy.

Willy Wonka's factory could easily be seen as one of the most creative and spectacular places in the whole wide world; with a chocolate waterfall and river, mysterious machines that made the most creative candies, a hundred trained squirrels who shelled nuts in a very efficient manner, and a television transporter that could be used to send chocolate and candy from the factory to television sets from all around the world. The small-sized workers, known as the Oompa-Loompas, were taken in from a hostile place known as Loompaland. They were a responsible and jolly folk who contributed heavily to the progress of the factory, and helped in keeping it running. But that was only a tiny piece of Willy Wonka's factory, not even a billionth of what the factory had inside. And every day, even more creative ideas were born right inside the walls of the factory.

After settling into the factory, Charlie and his family brought great prosperity for the factory, as previously stated. They brung all new ideas and creative candies which benefited the factory greatly, and considering how sheltered Mr. Wonka was, the Buckets encouraged Willy Wonka to go outside more, whether for the purposes of fostering healthy public relations or for simply taking a well-deserved vacation. Business grew tremendously despite no new workers coming into the factory. Charlie improved every room in the factory with more imagination, and helped it prosper even more. Charlie thought that his life couldn't get any sweeter. Unfortunately, he was right...

On one fateful day, tragedy struck the factory. His tour chaperone and grandfather, Grandpa Joe, had passed away from old age around ten years after settling into the factory. He lived a long life of 106 years old. Grandpa Joe's death marked a horrible day for everyone to the point of barely any candies being produced that day. Grandpa Joe was buried in a simple, but beautiful coffin made out of materials that came straight from the Buckets' house. The coffin was buried deep underneath the Chocolate Room. Charlie and his family were completely buried in grief for the next few weeks as he felt a hole in his heart that he couldn't replace.

(It was also worth noting that a type of vitamin created by Mr. Wonka known as Wonka-Vite could decrease age, hypothetically enabling immortality. Unfortunately, due to a few misadventures with the vitamins, the grandparents decided not to use it ever again. Nobody really did since they felt that the vitamin was like cheating the purpose of life, so instead, it was used as the basis for scientific research that took place within the factory.)

The next death (around five years later) was Wilbur Wonka, Willy Wonka's father that had been his only parental guardian. Despite having conflicting views on candy, Wilbur still loved Mr. Wonka, but wasn't very good at expressing it, which coerced his son into running away from him. When Charlie helped the two get along and put aside their differences, Mr. Wonka appreciated Charlie even more as Wilbur moved into the factory. Just like Grandpa Joe, Wilbur Wonka peacefully died of old age. Wilbur was buried deep underneath Mr. Wonka's very own room in the factory. The entire factory was deeply upset during the whole ordeal. Charlie tried his best to comfort Willy Wonka, but Charlie knew that it would take a long time for Willy Wonka to recover from his grief.

If that wasn't enough, every one of Charlie's remaining grandparents had passed away from old age ten years later over the course of weeks. More sadness shook the factory as all of the grandparents were buried underneath the Chocolate Room with Grandpa Joe. The chief of the Oompa-Loompas also passed away from old age, and while a few elderly Oompa-Loompas had also died, this death impacted the Oompa-Loompas the most. Every Oompa-Loompa was granted the right to refuse their work for the day in honor of their chief, nicknamed Sweet Koko, who helped them so much in surviving in Loompaland before coming to the factory. He was buried underneath the new Oompa-Loompa village in the factory, also known as New Loompaland.

It was so sudden, yet so impacting. It had happened before, but this particular moment hit the hardest of them all.

Willy Wonka himself had passed away from growing too old, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Thankfully, he passed away peacefully, in his sleep, and even spoke a few last words and used a tape recorder to record his will the night before he died.

The news of his death had worst reaction of them all. The amount of sadness and shock that occurred throughout the factory, and throughout the whole entire world, was immeasurable. If you took the word sadness, and printed the word onto every atom in the world, that amount of sadness wouldn't even be a billionth of what the entire world felt at that moment.

For the funeral, Willy Wonka's body was displayed in a beautiful glass case in New Loompaland. A few Oompa-Loompas plus Mr. and Mrs. Bucket read Mr. Wonka's eulogy, describing his life in great detail. Then, it was Charlie's turn to speak.

"Today my friends, I regret to inform you that our leader, our hope, and our imagination has sadly passed away. He wrote me a small letter, and told me these exact same words before his death. He even recorded it while he was speaking." Charlie said while holding a chocolate brown tape recorder. "For his honor, let's listen to it."

Charlie then pressed the play button, and in an instant, Willy Wonka's voice resonated throughout the entirety of New Loompaland.

"Continue the legacy of the factory, Charlie Bucket. You've grown so much, and I feel one-hundred and one percent confident that your training to becoming my official heir has paid off well. I'm going to miss you the most, you know. Your love, your creativity, and your imagination has influenced me and this factory so much, and for that, I can only thank you. Please, don't stress too much about my absence, and let my spirit and your values lead you to the road of eternal happiness, and be sure to expect many surprises along the way. That is the best kind of prize of course! Well, I guess this is it. Goodbye, Charlie Bucket. Please give what the world needs the most. Pure imagination!" Mr. Wonka said before the tape recording stopped.

After a brief moment of silence, Charlie continued speaking.

"This is the factory's darkest hour, a time of loss, grief, and despair. But yet, we must make sure that we fulfill Willy Wonka's dreams. We must continue his beautiful work, in giving the world the purest form of imagination, to ensure that his efforts don't go to waste. So now, before we proceed with his burial, all I can say is thank you. Thank you for remaining loyal to the factory, and thank you for contributing to the magnificent wonders of the factory. Thank you." Charlie said to the crowd.

When the burial begun, Mr. Wonka was gently placed in his beautiful coffin, made out of solid forms of his favorite sweets constructed in the most brilliant manner. Tears filled every room in factory as the outside world mourned his death. The smokestacks let out a white smoke in memorial of the occasion, as everybody outside the gates mourned his death when Mr. Wonka's last recorded words and Charlie's funeral speech were coming out of the speakers. Mr. Wonka was carried deep underground in the factory courtyard so that his soul can still see his factory's wonders. After the Bucket family and many Oompa-Loompas buried Mr. Wonka, Charlie and his family had dinner together, consisting of Willy Wonka's favorite foods, and cried with grief, trying his absolute best to cope. Charlie was hit particularly hard by Mr. Wonka's death, since Willy Wonka was one of his favorite childhood role-models, not to mention the person who lifted him out of poverty. Now that Willy Wonka was gone, Charlie was hit with a grim reminder of his future, and that he too could not live forever.

The only people left with Charlie were his elderly mother and father, along with the rest of the Oompa-Loompas. After Willy Wonka's death, the Oompa-Loompas had elected a new chief who was unanimously decided to be the most responsible of the bunch, being a personal advisor to Sweet Koko. His name was Dakarai Bivv, his first name meaning "happiness" in Zimbabwe. Loompaland could be considered to be a melting pot of cultures from all around the globe, although humorously, the Oompa-Loompas made absolutely no contact with outside cultures, so how they got this "diffusion" is unknown. It was all merely a coincidence.

Charlie Bucket was fifty-five years old when this event happened, although he did look younger for his age. His hair grew longer and shaggier (assisted with small doses of hair toffee), turning a darker shade of brown. On his chin was a neatly trimmed goatee he grew in his twenties, which he thought looked good on him. Even with all of the seven tragic deaths that had been forced onto his life, Charlie tried his best to think of the positives of the deceased, and did his absolute best to remember them as well as mourn them. The rooms in the factory were all resuming back to work later in the evening, with memorials for Willy Wonka becoming more festive and vivacious to remember his accomplishments in a more positive light. In short, the factory tried very hard to not let grief overcome it despite what happened. After a long day of busy work, Charlie then went to sleep in his house in the Chocolate Room, which he saved for special and personal occasions. He went to sleep rather easily with the peaceful sounds of the river and waterfall, with no dreams that he could remember.

After a good night's rest, Charlie woke up to start a brand new day. Although deeply saddened by the horrific events yesterday, he had to think think positively. He could not let Willy Wonka's legacy disappear in grief, so he had to get to work on helping the factory overcome the intense emotions it had received. Charlie noticed that his parents were awake, and they had prepared a healthy breakfast for the family to enjoy.

After a healthy breakfast, Charlie dressed himself in a more sizable version of the clothes he wore on the tour fourty-five years ago. He went to the bathroom and groomed himself a little bit. As he was brushing his hair, a strand of his hair fell of, but not just any hair. A silver hair. It was an unpleasant reminder of Charlie's age, and he held it right in his hands. Charlie looked at it in absolute horror as if he was holding a ticking time bomb.

"No, this can't be. Am I already growing old? Is it time already?" Charlie asked to himself in panic.

Charlie, in fear, stopped what he was doing and ran to his parents, holding his silver hair carefully in his hands.

"Mother. Father. I have some important news to share with you. I don't know how to explain this, but please take a look."

Charlie then showed his silver hair to his parents, as they looked at it in shock and horror.

"I-I can't believe it! Is it already time to find a new heir to the factory?" Mr. Bucket anxiously said while his wife was too shocked to even speak.

"Yes, father. The time has come. This needs to be dealt with this instant. There's no time for me to lose. I'll have to go to New Loompaland this instant for what I have to do next. I don't want to stress you two out at this moment, so you can stay. I'll tell you the results when I'm done."

"Good luck!" Mrs. Bucket replied firmly.

"We wish you the best, Charlie!" Mr. Bucket said.

"Thanks! I love you! I'll see you two soon! Until then, take care!" Charlie replied.

Charlie then sprinted out of the house as he took the nearest Great Glass Elevator in the Chocolate Room to travel to New Loompaland. There, he would discuss plans with Dakarai on what was needed to be done about the situation. Charlie's dilemma was like a box of chocolates, because he didn't know what he was going to get out of it. Will solving it be easy or will it not? Only time would tell...

And that's chapter one! I hope you lovely readers have enjoyed my fanfiction so far. Sorry for the overuse of recaps in this chapter. I did this to add a bit more drama and tension to the story's introduction. But anyways, thanks a lot for reading this, and stay tuned for more! :D