I closed my eyes as the dragon's soul poured through my body. I could almost feel its soul curling up beside mine and falling asleep, as if that makes any sense. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw the dragon we had just slayed, nothing more then bones, and the only one I truly trusted in this world, Cicero. Sure, putting my trust in a murderous, less-than-sane jester wasn't the wisest life decision I had ever made, but I was almost a personal deity to him, and you just can't buy loyalty like that.
"Stupid lizard." Cicero muttered, clutching his waist, "Cicero showed you…"
"Cicero," I said slowly, the realization taking too much time to take hold, "You're bleeding."
"No, no Listener! Cicero is fine, never worry about faithful old Cicero!" he cried out in his typical jovial manner. He stumbled four steps forward, and collapsed.
"Cicero!" I yelled, running towards him, dropping on my knees and sliding to his side. So much blood. I had seen more red than this before, but to see it gushing from… dare I say it? A friend… it made me want to puke. I lifted his head and desperately tried to stem the bleeding. It escaped through my fingers and stained the grass.
"No, no…" I said, refusing to believe it. I picked him up and carried him, Whiterun was not far off, if I could just get him there… I cursed myself for leaving Shadowmere at Whiterun's stables.
Cicero was not too heavy, and I had been wiry ever since I was a pickpocket on the streets of Cyrodiil. How far I had come from that dirty little urchin no one ever spared a second look for! Dragonborn, slayer of Alduin, Listener, in service to the Dread Father! Young me would have looked on in awe. But what would I think of myself now? Scurrying across the plain with a dying man in my arms… I think I might have laughed.
The city was in sight, the walls rising from the relatively flat surrounding land, the forbidding mountains looming beside me.
"Coming… Mother." Cicero muttered.
"No, not yet! Not yet!" I pleaded, looking down at his face. His normally pale face was almost paper white. He had lost too much blood. I knew this, but I didn't want to give up. I couldn't. I had to.
I slumped to my knees and lay him down. My shrouded armor was covered in his blood, already drying into a dark red stain.
"Cicero." I muttered quietly. "Dearest Cicero. Sweet, sweet Cicero."
"One last contract… one last kill for poor Cicero…" He mumbled. Then he was gone.
I didn't cry when my father died. I wasn't there for it. I didn't cry when my mother died. I didn't have the time. I never cried as I grew up alone on the streets. But I cried now.
It took until nightfall to dig a shallow grave. I didn't look up until I was done. When I did, the sky dazzled me with thousands of stars, and a blue and green aurora borealis. I had seen it before, but I never really looked at it. It was beautiful. I wondered what the Void was like. Cicero had once wondered if there was singing or dancing there. Surely the Dread Lord would allow Cicero to caper, he had said.
I lifted him, stiff and cold, into the grave. I placed a knife I had made at Skyforge in his hand, closing his fist around the hilt. I had planned to give it to him. I filled in the grave and found a large, soft rock. Using a horker tusk as a makeshift chisel, I scratched in CICERO, FOOL OF HEARTS. I could not make the lines very deep, and I knew that it would be illegible in just a few months. It didn't matter. It was all I could do.
Maybe I was stupid for caring so much for a madman. Maybe I was an idiot for thinking he was my friend. But, I think, under slightly different circumstances, I would have become just as mad as he was. Maybe he wasn't so mad, either. Maybe….
I haven't spoken to Mother in months. This is ridicules, I should go, get a contract, and do what I'm good at. Instead, I've been studying restoration. Restoration! Me, of all people! Still, if I knew one restoration spell then, I could have saved him…. Oh, Sithis, is that why I'm doing this? Ugh! When did I become so soft? I'm going home, to my family, to the Brotherhood. To Mother. Fulfill a few contracts, clear my head. But still, I almost dread returning…..
Honestly, it's not that I don't like Cicero, it's that my Dragonborn hates the Dark Brotherhood. Cicero is an awesome character, well thought out and well voice acted.