#in episode 14 of kamen rider kuuga (2000)

[5mind]

[ cw for body horror, corpses, faked suicide ]

It was not unheard of for a newcomer, especially those who showed much promise, to get their corpse done. Sometimes, a simple dissapearance wasn't enough. For some, 'proof' of their death was necessary to sell the act.

But really, Antares suspected that more than anything it was just an extension of the rite of passage that was casting aside one's old life. He never had his corpse done though. He used to be a promising agent but not that promising. Plus, he didn't need to. By the time he decided to fully commit to being Antares, he had already tied up any loose ends.

In his opinion, it was enough to be considered legally dead.

All that aside, there's a reason he's at the mortician's right now. And that reason was in the bright blue ice box he was carrying.

He stopped at a nondescript door with labelled 'Prep Room'. Beneath the sign stating its designation was another one that read 'Unauthorized access not allowed'. Quite frankly, he doubted even someone with authorized access would willingly go in there. Aside from one person, that is. And that person was not him.

Antares knocked on the door. No respone. He knocked again.

"Come in." The voice was barely audible from outside. "It's not locked."

Antares sighed deeply and stepped into a room uniformly flooded with ankle-deep water. Humidity hung thick in the stagnant air. In the middle of the room, stood an autopsy table. And by that table, stood Chimaere.

'Mortician' was a loose term to describe what Chimaere did. He certainly was preparing corpses, alright. Specifically, he altered corpses no one would miss (be it parts of them or whole bodies) into looking like whoever his current client was. Often in varying stages of decomposition and/or physical damage.

Antares glanced at the body on the table. He recognised that face - he'd walked right past it just 15 minutes ago. He's pretty sure Chimaere had collaborated for this.

The next thing he noticed was that the corpse was entirely intact.

"Requested cause of death?" He couldn't help but ask as he set down the ice box he had been carrying on a relatively dry counter. Whatever it was he had been tasked with delivering was not needed for the procedure.

It was payment.

"Asphyxiation. Suicide." The mortician finally turned to look at Antares. Or was he looking at the ice box? Hard to tell through the moisture that had settled on his glasses (how was he even seeing through that?!). He smiled. Antares didn't feel like smiling back but by god did he try.

Unlike the bodies he often had to put together, the handiwork of Chimaere's body was less than perfect. In fact, it was distractingly clear that he was almost entirely composed of different bits and pieces fused into each other. And yes that included the cloak of flesh that hung off his shoulders like a quilt blanket. Assimilation was what they called Chimaere's ability. And the mortician was obsessed with it.

Antares supposed whatever was in the icebox would eventually be a part of the mortician. Thank god he didn't open to take a peek. He had no interest in the details.

Okay, he did. He just didn't want to look into it.

"Uh...right. I'll just leave this here then. The rest of the payment will be sent to your account once you're done." Without the helmet on, it was clear that Antares was trying to look at anywhere except the man he was talking to.

Chimaere nodded.

"So...uh...I'll leave you to your work?"

Chimaere opened his mouth as if to speak but did not so Antares turned to leave.

"Can you stay?"

"What?" Antares turned back.

"The body..is going to be difficult to move on my own." A transparent lie. Antares had seen the other man haul bodies like they were nothing.

"Uh huh...I'm kinda in a hurry though." Yeah, in a hurry to get out of here before the smell of chemicals and milddew sticks to his clothes for good. "Sorry. Maybe next time."

Maybe if they were somewhere else. Maybe. Just not in here. He could feel water seep into a hole in his boot that he never realised was there. Gross.