Descent to Madness

By Pixielit

Chapter One

Aerith Gainsborough walked through the revolving doors and resisted the urge to go through again just for the fun of it. She walked up to the front desk, where a brunette with pretty eyes the color of dark chocolate stood looking through a stack of papers. "Hi, I'm Aerith. I have an interview with Dr. Hollander."

The girl looked up and smiled. "Hey, Aerith. I'm Tifa. I don't actually work the front desk, but I can show you where Dr. Hollander's office is." She set down the stack of papers and looked around. After a moment of searching, her eyes lit up. "Zack! Come work the desk, I have to take Aerith to see Dr. Hollander."

"Where's Elena?" The man grumbled.

"Lunch break," Tifa said quickly. "Aerith, this is Zack Fair. Zack, this is Aerith. She's got an interview with Dr. Hollander."

The man gave Aerith a long, appreciative look. She blushed as his bright blue eyes met hers again. "Nice to meet you, Aerith." He turned to Tifa. "I got the desk, Teef. Hey, why don't you go check on Cloud while you're headed that way? He's asking for you."

Tifa's tan cheeks turned slightly pink. "That's a good sign, if he's asking for people."

"Don't get your hopes up just yet," Zack warned. Tifa nodded.

"Come on, Aerith. Dr. Hollander's office is this way."


Tifa pushed open the door slowly, trying not to make too much noise. "Cloud? I brought you some food."

"Tifa," Cloud said. She smiled at him and set the tray down next to his bed.

"Are you hungry, Cloud?"

"That's not my name."

"Okay." Tifa nodded. "What's your name?"

"Tifa."

Her heart gave a painful lurch but she gave him an indulgent smile. "No, Cloud. My name is Tifa. Remember? Tifa Lockhart. We talked about this yesterday."

Cloud's lips pulled down at the corners. "No."

Tifa sighed. "Okay. Well, eat up. I have to get back to work." She started toward the door.

"Tifa." She turned.

"Yes, Cloud?"

But he didn't say anything more. She sighed again and left the room, making sure to close the door completely. She started down the stairs, feeling as drained as if she had already worked a full shift.

"Teef?"

She looked up to see Zack, who was standing in front of her on the stairs, and jumped. Come on, Lockhart, you can't let this get you down. She smiled. "Hey, Zack."

"You okay?" She nodded. "It's hard seeing him like that, isn't it?" Another nod. Zack put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Teef. We'll get him back eventually."

Another heart lurch, another forced smile. Eventually was not what she wanted to hear. "Thanks, Zack." She slipped out from under his hand.

"Hey, you want to come with me to check on Yuffie?"

Tifa shook her head. "I'm going to get some lunch. Is Elena at the front desk again?"

"Yep. Got back about two minutes ago." Zack leaned against the rail. "Hey, if you wait about ten minutes, I'll come with you."

She hesitated.

"I need to talk about it too, Tifa."

She nodded. "Ten minutes."


"Thank you, Miss Gainsborough. I think you will be the perfect addition to our staff. How soon can you start?"

"As soon as you need me to," Aerith said readily.

"After lunch?"

"Of course."

"Fantastic. For today, Miss Lockhart will help you. Go out and get some lunch, and then return here by one o'clock, okay?"

She nodded. "Thank you, Dr. Hollander." She shook his hand and left the office. Who is Miss Lockhart?

"Aerith! Hey, how did it go?"

"I got the job," Aerith said, grinning at Tifa. "I start after lunch."

"That's great!" Tifa smiled. Aerith nodded, and then bit her lip.

"Um... who's Miss Lockhart? I'm supposed to ... why are you laughing?"

"That's me," Tifa laughed. "Tifa Lockhart, at your service."

Aerith blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry!"

"Don't worry about it." Tifa smiled again. "Hey, I was just getting ready to go out to lunch; do you want to come with me?"

"Sure."

"We just have to wait for Zack. He's checking on one of the other patients... hey, why don't we get you a uniform while we wait?" Tifa started down a hallway. "This is the break room. We keep the extra uniforms in here." She pulled open a cupboard. "Let's see... you look like a size 4..." She pulled out a uniform and held it up in front of Aerith with a critical eye. "Try it on."

"H-here?"

"Bathroom's that way." Tifa motioned with her head to one side. Aerith looked and saw a door marked 'bathroom'. She took the uniform and went into the bathroom.

She changed quickly. The uniform was a perfect fit, just a tad long on the sleeves. She dusted off the black pants and finished buttoning up the white jacket, then went out to see Tifa.

Aerith did a tiny pirouette, showing off the uniform.

Tifa grinned. "Perfect fit! I am good. Let's just tie your hair back..." She snatched up a white ribbon and tied it into Aerith's hair.

"Are you and Zack dating?" Aerith asked curiously as Tifa pulled her own hair back into a loose ponytail.

Tifa laughed. "No. Zack is just a friend."

"Are you close?"

"We've been friends for a while. We have a mutual friend... He's a patient here, now."

"What happened to him?" Aerith's voice was muted.

Tifa shrugged. "A bad fall." Aerith could tell that the topic pained the other girl and let it drop.

"Teef! Ready to – oh, hey, Aerith, right?" Zack grinned at the two girls. "Lucky me."

"Zack," Tifa sighed, shaking her head. A moment later she smiled, giving up on chiding the man. "How was Yuffie?"

Zack shrugged and pulled off the white jacket, revealing a black shirt underneath. He opened the locked cabinet and pulled out a black coat. "She's Yuffie. Still insanely cheerful. You know, she found a mouse this morning. Killed it."

Aerith shuddered. "And then," Zack continued, turning to Tifa with a raised eyebrows.

"She didn't," Tifa groaned.

Zack nodded in confirmation. "She laughed. She was still laughing when I went in there."

"Poor girl," Tifa sighed. "I wish Dr. Hollander could figure out what's wrong with her."

Silence lasted for a few seconds. Then Zack grinned. "All right, let's go. I'm starving."


Author's Note:

Wow, not bad if I do say so myself. I have another story I'll upload when I'm actually back at my own computer and have access to the file… Haha. Okay, now go hit that little button that says 'Review' and tell me what you think! Or keep reading. Doesn't much matter to me :P