Flames festered inside the Bruma Sanctuary, surrounding Cicero as he stood in fear. The air reeked of burning flesh and carried the voices of the dead as they screeched for mercy. The Night Mother's rotting corpse appeared beneath the flames and floated towards him.

"Cicero.." a distorted female voice cooed.

Cicero stood up as if he wanted to leave a good impression. "Mother, Is that you? Have you finally chosen to speak to Cicero?" He asked, clasping his hands due to the excitement.

The voice laughed "You are not worthy to hear from your mother, you pathetic fool!" She hissed; the flames seemed to be closing in on Cicero.

"B-but Mother, Cicero has done everything you say. Cicero oils you, takes care-"

"Silence!" the voice interrupts with a shriek. "You are just a fool."

The flames start to melt away her preserved flesh, her mouth widens and she begins to shriek in a mixture of anger and agony.

"YOU"

"ARE"

"NOTHING!"

Cicero awoke with a cold sweat in an unfamiliar room. He gasped in pain and clutches his side, now covered in bandages. Where was he and why was his side hurting him so much? What was that dream about, or was it a dream at all? His head was spinning, memories of the night before were flooding back to him. He had attacked members of the brotherhood after Astrid challenged The Night Mother's authority and fled to the Dawnstar Sanctuary. Arnbjorn, Astrid's husband, followed him and once he arrived at the sanctuary, he stabbed and badly wounded Cicero. Cicero crawled to a back room of the sanctuary, awaiting someone to kill him. But instead, the Listener came, helped him out of the sanctuary and then... and then.. the rest is a blur.

"Cicero." A voice called from outside the bedroom door. It was Virieti, the woman who saved his life and his former comrade in the Dark Brotherhood. She was tall and had dark brown hair, an average but curvy figure and soft blue eyes. Her body was covered with a silk robe, she must have just woken up.
Cicero sat up and smiled, forgetting the stinging sensation in his side. "Oh, Listener! Thank you so much for saving me! I am sure Mother will be very pleased to hear you saved her very own Cicero!"
Virieti smiled, despite how insane Cicero is, she found some of his babbling to be entertaining. "Where is Cicero?" He asked, lifting his head around the room. Virieti came out from the doorway and into Cicero's room. "This is my home, Lakeview Manor. Me and my follower Talvas built it. There is plenty of space here, I figured it would be a good place for you to stay since no one else ever comes here."
Cicero's smirk widened "Oh so Cicero gets to be Keeper of Listener's house? Not only Keeper of the Night Mother but Keeper of the Listener's humble abode? What an honor!" He said excitedly. That's not at all what Virieti meant, but she decided to humor him anyway, he is known as a skilled Assassin after all; better not get on his bad side. Suddenly Cicero groaned and caressed his stomach. His stomach was growling. "Cicero is hungry, Cicero needs a sweetroll... or a carrot" he whined. Despite Cicero being an insane cold-blooded killer, he still is very much a child in some ways. "Do you think you are able to get up? I can make you some breakfast if you'd like!" Virieti offered, kneeling down at the edge of the bed to help Cicero if he needed to get up. He got up out of bed, struggling to keep his own balance before finding it again. He was half naked, only wearing his dirty pants from the day before and bandages that went around his midsection. He had several bruises on his skin, possibly from fighting or falling down on his side when he was wounded. Virieti stared at him in awe of his figure. You wouldn't expect a man in a jesters outfit to look so ridged, so... beaten. "I'll need to change your bandages after breakfast" she sighed, noticing the dried blood on his dressings. Cicero looked down and observed his wound. "Listener did an awfully good job at wrapping Cicero. Cicero looks as if he belongs in his own coffin!" Cicero declared excitedly. Virieti huffed, what madness had she gotten herself into?

After stumbling towards the Kitchen, Cicero was greeted with warm porridge and a small sweetroll. Once Cicero ate, he was instructed to stand still in the washroom so Virieti could change his bandages. "Oh, that Sweetroll was absolutely splendid!" Cicero said in his sing-song voice as Virieti began to unwrap his bandages. "I am glad you liked it." She mumbled quietly, focusing on the task at hand. There was an awkward silence between the two before Cicero spoke up. "Listener?" He cooed. Virieti lifted her head and looked up at Cicero who was giving her a strange look. He no longer had that mischievous look in his eye, but rather a soft and gentle one, one she had never seen in him before in the month she had already known him. "What will become of us? Surely Listener and Cicero can never go back to the Brotherhood. Who will take care of Mother?" Cicero asked. "I don't know" Virieti paused to gather her thoughts. "But as Listener, Mother will surely speak to me if she needs tending too! As for the Brotherhood, if we lay low for a while they should assume we are dead. Then we can go back to our normal lives before all of this!" Truth be told Virieti had no idea what would happen to them either, but she wanted to comfort Cicero the best she could, she knew how important being Keeper was to him.
She felt Cicero's body tense as he started to speak. "Cicero can't go back. Cicero can't ever go back." He said in an unusually low voice. "Old Cicero is dead. Rotting beneath Bruma Sanctuary like so many of my brothers and sisters." The change in Cicero's tone caught Virieti off guard, she looked up at him with worry and confusion. What was he talking about? Was he talking about the people killed in the Bruma Sanctuary during an attack years ago? "Oh, but that was long ago, and this is now! Cicero is here and better than ever!" He said, suddenly switching to his normal tone again.

"By the gods, I hope so."