Chapter 652: Among Us (1)

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"He Walks Among Us."

"THE FUCK YOU MEAN WITH THAT? Who walks Among Us?"

"He whispers! He speaks to whom he chooses, and his choice is absolute, and his will is that of the Dread Father. The Will of Sithis."

"I'LL KILL THIS FUCKING CLOWN!"

"Stop it, Arnbjorn!" Festus Krex spoke as he tried to hold Arnbjorn's arm as 

The sight of Cicero dragging Serana into the Sanctuary brought disorder among the Assassins who failed to open the door after it was closed again.

"Fuck! It's not budging!" Veezara punched the Black Door with frustration.

Everyone was falling apart one way or another and Astrid was watching all of this from behind them all. She saw the spreading madness and couldn't endure it anymore.

"SILENCE!"

Her voice was strong enough to make all the assassins fall in line. They all looked at her and remembered who is the real authority around here.

"Carry the Listener inside." She spoke to Arnbjorn then turned to Veezara, "Apprehend Cicero."

"No! What are you doing? Madwoman! Mad and bad! You know who I am… what I am… I am the Keeper, the Keeper of the Night Mother!" Cicero squirmed but Veezara pressed him against the wall with a knife to his throat.

"Astrid, please act carefully." Festus Krex spoke to Astrid with a worried face.

"Take Cicero inside. I'll question him." Astrid said and the entire group moved to the Sanctuary's Hall in the center of the sanctuary.

Serana was laid on a table and Cicero was brought in while held by Veezara and Nazir.

"Speak, Clown. Where were you?" Astrid asked calmly.

"Me? I… Cicero went out to follow the Listener. Cicero was worried and had a feeling she would…"

*SLAP*

"Keep speaking like that and you will regret it." Astrid slapped Cicero hard and continued, "Where were you?"

Cicero had an unpleasant look in his eyes after having his face struck like that but under the grasps of Veezara and Nazir, he was helpless… for now.

"Cicero… went… to Solitude." Cicero replied.

"Insubordination! You acted against my commands." Astrid said.

"Cicero acted to be good for the Listener. Good for the Brotherhood. That's what we should do, follow the Listener, not send them out to die! It's the Listener… the LISTENER!"

*SLAP*

"Enough with your lies!" Astrid didn't accept to even hear him out, "You, vile Bastard, have done something to our Sanctuary! Fix it now or else."

"What? Done something? Cicero has done nothing! Cicero is innocent!" Cicero pleaded innocence but many judging looks were in the eyes of those around him.

Astrid didn't seem to be taking Cicero's answers even into consideration and had no intentions of believing him as she raised her hand to strike him once again.

"Astrid, enough." Babette stood in front of Astrid urging her to stop.

"You're taking it too far." Even Nazir, who was holding Cicero, had to intervene.

"What are you two doing?" Veezara looked at the two with anger, "This Clown is up to something and you're standing up for him against our Mistress?"

"Cicero was out there to retrieve the Listener, lizard." Festus argued with Veezara.

"She is the Listener and he is the Keeper. Please, don't you see you are making our problems worse." Even Gabriella stepped in.

"Astrid, listen please." Nazir spoke, "Don't antagonize him before we hear him out."

"You all have gone mad." Arnbjorn, on the other hand, seemed to be going to get aggressive now that the house is divided against his wife.

Seeing everything simply going to madness and all the Assassins reaching out for their blades, Astrid felt that everything would go south if she can't control the circus at such a moment.

"Fuck it! All of you, stand down." She shouted and walked between them all, "Gabriella, go deal with that Alchemy lab of yours. Babette, your spider is going crazy, kill it or calm it down. Husband, control that heat coming out of the forge. Veezara, do something about the Black Door. And Festus, just go fix the doors or something."

Astrid shouted at all of them and pushed them away. She then looked at Nazir, who kept his hand on Cicero's shoulder, and Serana, who was lying motionless.

"I am not sure what is going on here but you… don't speak to me like that ever again." Astrid warned Nazir.

"Yes, Mistress." Nazir said with a dejected look on his face.

"And you." She then looked at Cicero, "You will explain yourself from the beginning."

***

Astrid always suspected Cicero to be plotting against her and seeing how the others acted, her suspensions turned out to be true in her eyes.

She really wanted to incriminate Cicero somehow but the situation was against her since the Sanctuary was not functioning well.

As for Cicero's answers, they were indeed mad but they would make sense eventually. Cicero made it clear that he doesn't trust Astrid either since she is hijacking the position of the Leader from the Listener especially after sending Listener Serana to her death.

Cicero claimed that he went to Solitude and saved Serana before escaping together and heading back to the Sanctuary.

As for everything else that is happening, Cicero said that he has no idea what is what but what he is sure of is that they are not alone and the Whispers of Sithis are echoing in the Sanctuary.

It is as if the Sanctuary became haunted with the anger of Sithis, and who is to blame other than the one who drove the Listener to a corner?

"But how can he hear those supposed Whispers of Sithis when we can't?" Nazir asked.

"The question is, my dear manly Redguard friend, how can you not?" Cicero answered.

"Don't speak in circles, clown." Nazir said while aiming his blade at Cicero's nose, "I am warning you."

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"What… What do you want me to say?" Said Cicero looking at Nazir's blade without being really threatened, "As I said, once the Whispers of Sithis are heard… and Cicero has always been hearing them, Brother, always… those Whispers will never stop."

"He's a nutjob, Astrid." Nazir turned to Astrid and withdrew his blade from Cicero's face, "A nutjob that is the Keeper of the Night Mother. I advise you to be cautious but he wasn't here when it all happened."

"I don't want to deal with more nutjobs than what we already have." Astrid looked at Cicero fiercely, "Speak, Clown, how did you open the Black Door from the outside when no one can open it from the inside?"

"I… I don't really know. Cicero spoke the words and that's it. Opened. The Door… oh the Door… I am telling you, Astrid, it is not the problem here. Sithis walks and he is angry." Cicero said.

"I am done with him." Astrid turned away and left Cicero with Nazir.

"You believe Cicero, don't you, brother?" Cicero asked Nazir with broken expressions.

Nazir didn't reply until Astrid left off and looked around to make sure that nobody was hearing.

"I know there is something wrong." Nazir said, "I knew it was wrong long before either you or even the Listener would show up in here."

"Oh! The Redguard knows. The wise man of the desert." Cicero clapped, "Cicero is pleased, the Listener will be pleased too, and our Sweet Sweet Mother is surely pleased."

"Yeah? I argue otherwise." Nazir said and moved away.

Of course he was talking about the way Astrid managed the Brotherhood. She wanted to be the Leader of this Sanctuary and not answer to anyone be it a Listener or the Night Mother or even Sithis himself. This was clear especially when the Five Tenets of the Brotherhood were abolished by her not long after the fall of the last Listener, Alisanne Dupre.

But to Cicero, this situation was perfect and the plan laid down was in motion smoother than ever. He turned to the collapsed Serana and smiled.

"Rest well."

Cicero then left her unattended and hurried to the chamber where the Night Mother and her Coffin are. No one really noticed so far but the Coffin of the Night Mother was closed and sealed by powerful magic. No one would suspect this since Cicero would attend to the Coffin very zealously and go completely nuts if one was to approach the Night Mother when the Coffin is open.

As Cicero walked into the coffin's room, he smiled.

His smile was just thin, curving, and wide that his ecstasy was overflowing all over. Every fiber of his being was so joyous to the point where he couldn't help but sing as he took off his jester hat.

"Sneaky sneaky stabby stabby, the cat creeps through the abbey.

Cicero carries the sneaky cat, she tells him to raise his hat.

The cat walks out to start a slaughter, for she is the Listener's Daughter.

Yesss! How wonderful! Cicero is pleased. He he he he he he he!"

Nefertiti manifested through Cicero's hat and landed on the floor. She started licking her hand and cleaning her face before making sure everything was in order and moving out to do her tasks.

Cicero watched Nefertiti with absolute fascination and wonder before taking his notebook and scratching a few notes about her elegance and grace. He even tried to pat her head but she reacted badly.

"HISSS! Hands off, mortal." The Cat spoke and the mortal Jester was stunned, "Hooman said not to kill you but don't tempt meow."

"Yes, Cicero understands." Cicero replied and watched her set off.

In all his days, never was Cicero spoken to by a cat that is not a Khajiit.

But that was just a mere distraction from the original goal. Cicero remembered what he had to do and his thin, wide, and menacing smile curved his lips up again.

"Mother Mother in the Coffin, speak to the Listener some more often.

Make your whispers heard by all, and your children will heed your call.

HaHa… haha… hahahahahahaha!"

Cicero was finding it hard to contain his feelings as he slowly calmed down and dusted off his hat before putting it back. He then swiped his hands over his face and all his expressions turned to the utter sadness of the clown.

While he was busy fantasizing, the Sanctuary was going through one uproar after the other. The heat of the forge that Arnbjorn works was rising gradually and he had to maintain it every few minutes so it wouldn't cause a big fire. The Alchemy Lab was having a similar problem as residues of the poisons brewed by the Assassins were evaporating and causing the pet frostbite spider of Babette to act aggressively. The doors of the sanctuary would open and close themselves from time to time randomly and sometimes would lock people in if left unwatched. But most importantly was the Black Door that Veezara tried everything with and the Spectral Assassin who would show up and go away every once in a while with creepy laughter.

For the Assassins could think of, the Sanctuary was going through some setbacks that even their Magician Festus Krex was unable to fix.

"The Door is not budging!" Nazir said as he and Veezara tried all sorts of door-busting techniques with the Black Door.

"It won't work." Astrid joined them and commented on their pointless actions, "The Black Doors have powerful seals which only open when you answer their questions accordingly."

"There got to be something." Veezara said, "Could it be that someone has changed the word?"

"But Cicero said that he came in after saying the same words we say." Nazir argued, "It is something else, Astrid. Something far beyond us."

Astrid became burdened with more thoughts and seemed like waiting to retreat away from this disturbing reality.

"Tell Arnbjorn to try and deal with the door, Nazir. As for you, Veezara, go see if Cicero… no, never mind. Go see if Gabriella or Festus need help." Astrid said and walked back to her chambers.

Stunned as all the other Assassins are, the Matron of the Falkreath Sanctuary barely could put on a composed facade that crumbled right away as she closed the door behind her.

She couldn't help but feel burdened by something nobody else knows.

She had indeed sent Serana to an escapable situation up north in Solitude. She didn't just plan for Serana's demise but she reported the assassination attempt carried away by Serana to Commander Maro, meaning that the man was waiting for Serana from the start.

Yet seeing how she survived sent shivers down in Astrid's bones and caused her to feel like she was double-crossed by the commander who didn't seem to have killed Serana.

In her mind, Astrid understood the situation as follows. Serana went to Assassinate the Emperor and Commander Maro was expecting her. Fueled by his desire to protect the Emperor and avenge his Son, the Commander should have obliterated Serana the moment she walks into the city but somehow, Serana survived and returned back with Cicero, who secretly followed her as backup on his own initiative.

Things are fucked up in ways even Astrid can't dare to imagine. If Cicero wasn't careful, and that's a big if, he would have been followed by the Penitus Oculatus.

Now the Listener is lying down unconscious, the Sanctuary is going crazy, and the Assassins are split into three sides. Astrud, Veezara, and Arnbjorn on one side; Babette, Festus, and Gabriella on a neutral side; and now Cicero, Serana, and probably Nazir on the side that is questioning Astrid's actions.

"We need to evacuate the Sanctuary." Astrid spoke to herself, "There are many hideouts where the low-ranking recruits use."

That would be her plan until the situation is over, at least.

Still, it would have been a good plan if the following didn't happen. It all began when Astrid heard a high-pitched scream.

She took her blade and rushed out as well as all the Assassins in the Sanctuary. Astrid was the last to arrive as she had to go across the main hall where Serana was resting and arrived at the hallway between the main chambers and the Night Mother's chamber.

There, all the Assassins were gathered around something… or someone. That someone was lying down on their back in a puddle of their blood and a deep wound across their chest.

Veezara, the Argonian Assassin, was dead. One dead assassin between seven suspects in the inner sanctum of the Dark Brotherhood sanctuary.

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A/n: 13 Early Access Chapters on P4treon and MORE! ➡️ https://linktr.ee/donovel ⬅️

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