The Duelist and the Forgotten

Down the rabbit hole of realization

Darkness. This is what he sees. Nothing. He was alone. Capolaz looked around but the only thing he found besides the darkness, was a mirror. He cautiously walked to it. He expected to see himself but he saw nothing.

"This is a reflection of a man who has nothing."
His voice, his inner thought. His mind is betraying him.
"Why would I care? Not like I can do anything about it."
He spoke to no one.
"You think that, yet you tried. Five hundred years of lonesome, and one girl scrambles our minds."
The reflection spoke to him, leaping out of the mirror and standing in front of him one-on-one copy of himself.
"That's it I officially lost it."
"Oh, we haven't lost anything. We are here to talk about our predicament."
That took Capolaz off guard.
"What's there to talk? I am turning into a monster and not much can be done."
The other him thought for a second.
"Is there? Or do we simply have to rediscover what we want?"
Capolaz sighed.
"What's there to discover?"
"Your desire betrays your need. What you want is not what you need."
The darkness filled with light, and when he was able to see he noticed something, he was in a room, one familiar to him. His room.
"Did my teachings and presentations lose their meaning to you?"
"Why you of all people would preach to me about meaning?" he looked at the shadow figure who had a known voice, how could he forget the voice of an academic scholar who tortured him in the name of Tsaritsa and knowledge?
"What if I don't want what I need?"
Capolaz spoke to the Doctor.
"You can't have what you want without what you need, you want to be with her, but to be with her you need to be one of them, which you are not."
"You tried to dig that into my head before and it stuck, I can't be with her because I am immortal slowly turning into Hilichur."
The doctor looked at him with a sinister smile.
"Aren't you a hilichur?"
Capolaz looked down at his hands. Both were black, he assumed the worst.
"You are running out of time you borrowed. Yet here you are trying for something you can't have."
A tear escaped Capolaz, he knew he was right, he couldn't be with her, he would outlive her or turn and die by her hand.
The world around him changed again, to that of a court, their first encounter. Same people, same scenery. Even her, same expression, same outfit, same beautiful purple eyes.
"Is this something you're willing to die for, lose your human side just because of what? Love?" Illusion of Clorinde spoke.
"You aren't real. Clorinde I know would care about me." She was circling him.
"Would I or is it simply because I want something you have?"
"Clorinde is caring, nice and living."
She aimed at Capolaz.
"Are you ready to take that risk?"
Capolaz looked at his arms.
"For you? It would be the best risk I would take."

With the ringing of a shot, the room got dark again. In front of him stood the mirror again. He looked into it but he was normal, without gloves, however, he was normal. He saw something pop up into it. A small girl with purple hair and star-shaped eyes. She climbed the reflection of him, he felt the weight of the girl. Then, Clorinde walked into the reflection of the mirror. She hugged his arm, holding it on her chest, and smiled at him. All three of them were smiling at him. All three were happy.
"This is what you want?" a voice similar to Clorinde was heard.
Capolaz smiled at the thought of it. He knew it would not happen but he could hope.
"I would not want anything else."
"Then you need to tell her everything."
"I can't."
"You can't or you don't want to in fear of rejection?"
"You are Capolaz, a man who survived the cataclysm, horrors of the fatui experiments, you are better than this."
Capolaz only nodded.
Then, a higher-pitched voice spoke, it was nice and adorable.
"You need to continue this journey to have what you want."
Capolaz looked at the little girl in the reflection.
"You are vise for a young kid."
The kid smiled at him.
"Well, I have a smart papa."
Capolaz chuckled a little.
"Of course, I would think that,  you're my imagination in response to a trauma."
Capolaz petted the imaginary girl, yet he felt he was petting something.
"It doesn't have to end papa, but it can start."
She lifted something in the mirror, his polearm. He picked it up in the reflection and then it was in his hand.
"Fight for their injustice, if not for yourself, then for her, for Mama."
Capolaz smiled at her.
"For mama Clorinde?"
The girl nodded.
"Very well, I'll fight, if not for me, then for her."
The girl hugged him in reflection, feeling the warmth of her hug.
"Now,hopefully  see you soon papa, but now you must wake up, and fulfill your promise okay?"
Capolaz gave her one final head pat.
"These people have a curse of a prophecy to die by Celestia, like my nation, they too are facing calamity, but not again. Enough with celestial tyranny, time to do something about it."
With that his vision was engulfed by light.