A/N: This chapter takes place within Chapter 2 of Bound Beyond Death!

The Name - Cicero's POV

Oooooo, Cicero knew he should've worked his blade into that slimy, snake-tongued breton's gut when he heard the name. Selfish, careless Cicero! I was only trying to serve you, mother - serve you by escorting you to our long-awaited new home and fulfill the long-neglected part of my duty as your Keeper. Cicero couldn't be helped alone, no, and grouchy Loreius wasn't very courteous... But in an odd twist I served myself, the fool, the jester, by sharing my humor and laughter, and jesting the sign you gave me!

Please forgive Cicero. Cicero had saw him along the road a few skips away from where Cicero's wagon wheel broke, knelt and hunched down like the rat he was and picking at flowers - ohh, but he wasn't a rat at that time, not that Cicero had known of, he was just a man. A stranger. A stranger that could be a friend and help poor Cicero fix his wagon wheel!

Help Cicero he did! He convinced Loreius to! After that we shared jokes and laughter and pleasantries - and then there came the name.

Mathieu Bellamont.

I shame myself to speak the name, for to speak the name is to shame the Night Mother, to utter a curse, to speak betrayal! Wretched, unheeded, unneeded betrayal!

Cicero had many chances to grab the rat. To crush the rat under his palm - or his sole. But a mere coincidence is all he thought of. After all, should the infamous traitor roam, he'd be nothing more than bone! Right?

Oh and the innocence! That joyous childlike innocence in those ratty eyes! It's as if he was a child, disguised as a man, playing along and giggling as a boy would at a sideshow performance. He would play alooong with Cicero when those ill-humored nords didn't! Denying a boy his laughter would be a disgrace - for I am the jester, laughter incarnate, fool of hearts -

And I am a fool. Fool of my own heart! Silly Cicero, you knew life's greatest illusion... Yet you let him get away.

You let Mathieu Bellamont get away.

The name is an omen, a clue of what's to come. Or what has already transpired? Perhaps it is both. There are many words to be said of it - words from the Dread Father? Or! Or! From the Night Mother herself! Cherished words without voice, and they've been bestowed unto me! Oh mother, I thank you for this. Is this my reward for my Keeping? Oh yes, it certainly is. I'll use your words well: I'll make a song out of it, and sing it all day... into deaf ears.

The name is truth! It must be, it just must! Astrid bore some bad news when she returned today. A contract botched - a dear sibling murdered! Oooo, but that's not the punchline! - it turns out that, a week after my exchange with him, Mathieu Bellamont was marked by Sithis! Ha! But, BUT, a scheming rat he was, and he countered his assassin - and severed their head and stuck it on a spire! He he he, I'm almost applauding him, sly, smart, Mathieu Bellamont. He left a message. A sign! And if it wasn't then I'd eat my own hat.

Oh, but they all laugh! Laugh about Cicero's words, your warnings! Does Cicero not get the joke? He so does love a good joke... But is it a joke that such a name appears before the Keeper in such a dire time? Where the Brotherhood is falling apart both inside and out like a mangled, gutted man?!

No. Cicero does not think so. Even if this Bellamont is not the Bellamont! It's in the name. And pretender Astrid pretends the name away with her loyals, so painfully expected of the leader with no regards to true leadership or true laws. Even the unchild and the wizard! They've all been so departed from the Old Ways for so long. No true discipline. No true Brotherhood. But there has to be. You'll choose a Listener soon, I hope?

...Ohh, what's this - a calling? Someone is speaking of Cicero! Is it you, mother?... No, no, I'm walking closer to it, it's the diviner and the redguard speaking at the dinner table...

"...And you know the stories about Bellamont, right? Sithis knows it's practically part of training, heh..."

Of course! Why, isn't it a fault in our history we should learn of and never repeat?

"Naturally. Which one, though? About how he tricked a Silencer into killing off Black Hand members, or how his mother was murdered?"

"Almost, sister. I'm talking about how he kept his mother's rotting head in a cellar and took care of the damn thing. Some say he even built a shrine around it? Doesn't it eerily remind you of the fool? How he's always around the Night Mother, preserving her corpse? Like that, with less singing and dancing..."

...What?

"Ah, yes, I remember that. It's quite an ironic detail isn't it? The guild who worships their mother be torn apart by a boy who worships his mother? With all due respect to the Night Mother, of course. But her Keeper is a bit... Obsessive. Much like Bellamont was, if the tales we hear are fact."

What!?

""Mother! Mother, oh mother dearest! I must keep oil her! I must serve her every whim!" - I swear if I hear that shrieking again I'm finding Bellamont myself and letting him behead me as a message to everyone - Hahahaha!"

"-haha!, but that wouldn't be advised. He might just say the same thing."

"You're right. If that is the Mathieu Bellamont. Which I severely, severely, doubt. Pfft. But I think him and Cicero would make great friends if they wouldn't kill each other first. They could even trade oiling secrets and rave about just how sweet their mothers are!"

Oooohh, Cicero has heard enough! Must be respectable, though - I'll just walk away. Walk away without a word, or a noise! Oh, but they just did something most unkind; they compared sweet, innocent Cicero to sour, blameful Mathieu Bellamont, they did! Grrr... Most unprovoked! - Cicero is no Mathieu! He is nothing like that traitor, that liar, that severer of Hands and deceiver of brotherly trust...

Please know I'm trying my damndest for you, mother! I try and trip but try again! To find you a listener and to show them the error of their New Ways. And the name...

The name is exactly why things must change. We live with the same ignorance, the same pretending, that we did two-hundred years ago! EVEN IF this rat is an imposter - someone else could be also. That someone else could be a traitor! Will we all risk it for one joke? Oh, don't get me wrong, Cicero loves his jokes. But he is also the bearer of bad news! Horrible, treacherous, news. And we both know it, don't we, mother?

The name will bring horrible, treacherous news.

A/N: Cicero was such a treat to write about! Hope I captured him right - it'd be a shame to botch his character. I like to think Astrid's group still knows the history of the Brotherhood, despite their disregard for the traditions. I forgot if that is contradicted by the lore, but oh well, I'm quite content with this chapter anyhow. Hope you enjoyed! Expect some more DB members' POVs in future chapters.