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"Heh, this is a bit personal, but could you tell me why you broke your oath?" Madeleine continues when the fallen royal looks at him. "I know you were never a paladin, but an oath to a country is not much different than an oath to justice." He pauses. "Besides. I've found that stories are rarely very truthful, especially when any corruption is involved."
Dark Choco regards him for several moments, then sighs. Their lips twitch a few times, part, then close again. A grimace flickers across scarred, mottled skin. The paladin bites down on his urge to speak and encourage the dark knight, instead waiting. His patience pays off after Dark Choco takes a long breath.
"I never thought I was breaking my oath to my kingdom... I thought my father was in the wrong." Madeleine turns to face them more as they continue. Their voice, already soft, grows quieter, forcing the knight to lean in.
"I never once considered betraying my kingdom. I wished only for prosperity, and I did not see that under my father's rule. I thought... I thought the sword would help save my people... That it would grant me that wish... I realized my folly too late." They fall silent.
Madeleine nods. He knows of the stories. Tales of the only heir of the Dark Cacao Kingdom turning suddenly on their father, eyes glowing ominously in the darkness of the night as they left the castle with blood on the legendary sword's unearthly blade. If the details of the story are wrong, so be it, he decides. It is not his place to learn of such pain.
The silence between the two swordsmen is tense now. Madeleine chews a bit on his lip, then catches himself and pulls out the tin of balm in his bag. He nearly caps it again after smearing some across his now-damaged lip, then thinks twice. He extends the tin to the fallen heir, a smile that's softer than his usual one on his face. Dark Choco blinks at him.
"It's lip balm! Just get a bit on your finger and rub it on. It feels weird at first, but it's helpful," and the paladin glances down at the little tin in encouragement.
The dark knight does as instructed, turning away slightly to apply the balm. Madeleine looks away out of courtesy, busy fumbling with the stubborn lid of the little container. He barely manages to not drop the now-sealed tin when Dark Choco clears their throat a bit, and turns back to face them. The paladin grins a bit at the swordsman's telltale signs of wearing balm after a long while of not doing so. The silence is now more comfortable, and Madeleine breaks it again.
“I never once thought you broke your oath,” and he raises his hands in defense against a sharp gaze. Dark Choco closes their mouth around an immediate rebuttal. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but I genuinely believe you never broke any oath at all while you were led astray.” He looks away, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t like admitting it, but I nearly fell off my current path in an irreversible way once. I was a very cocky and rude thing when I was young. Freshly graduated from the Academy with shining, clean armor and the Divine’s graces on my shoulders, heh, I was insufferable. I stopped listening as closely to the people’s pleas and listened more to the praises and higher ranks I earned.
“I was a fool for that reason. I thought that I was helping right any injustices, but truly I was bumbling about and causing more trouble than any Knight of the Republic should. I was nearly killed by it, as my ego swelled. I thought I was better than others, that I knew better than someone else did about the issues they faced. My patron rightfully smacked me across the head for it all after I woke up in the infirmary.” He laughs, and the dark knight notes that there’s someone far wiser than expected in the blue eyes that meet their own gaze.
“I sat down for a while after that and worked on myself. Confidence and humility both play important parts in upholding justice, and it was a hard lesson for me to learn. I very well may have broken away from the Knights with enough time down that path, convinced I was better at dealing with injustice than anyone else. Thankfully, I was realigned, but that process took a while. Regardless, though, I never gave up on my drive to bring justice to others while defending them. I had lost sight of it, but to give up entirely on it… I don’t think I ever could have broken my oath like that.”
Madeleine smiles, the trademark overconfident grin over his face gone and showing something much more nuanced. Dark Choco realizes with a jolt that the grin is a bit of a mask that he wears. They huff.
“I don’t think you ever gave up on your goals, even if you lost sight of them. You don’t seem like the kind of person to be an oathbreaker.”
“You haven’t seen many oathbreakers, then,” they retort, voice sharp. The rueful laugh the paladin lets out catches them off guard. Contempt looks strange on his face.
“I’ve met more than I ever wish to count. Not many Knights become paladins, and many who try fall off very early on while maintaining a charade. It’s laughable and upsetting.” He shakes his head. “I don’t see that in you. I see someone who is still fighting to see their goal clearly again, even if the details may have changed over time. For that reason, I don’t see you as an oathbreaker.”
Dark Choco sits in silence, looking down at the grass that moves a bit around their feet. Madeleine stands from the bench, stretching with several audible pops and a groan of protest. He laughs, lighter now.
“I sometimes wonder if I’m really the younger of us two with how loud my back is!” He extends a hand to the other knight. “I do mean my words.” They look up at him, and the smile he flashes is one of his usual ones: confident and hope-lifting. This one feels entirely genuine. Dark Choco thinks for a few moments. The wind gusts, then fades to a breeze around the two swordsmen. They take his hand and stand with his assistance, leaning on their cane once they are upright again.
“... Thank you.”
Madeleine grins. “You’re welcome! Helping others is what I do.”
The fallen heir nods slowly, a slight smile tugging at their lips.