Her moment of sadness is brief, like before, and like the strong reliable judge she's become. Coral is quick to try and bury her feelings, even in times of trouble people can't be seeing their little sunshine Coral be sad. But as she's wiping away a tear or two, Ella approaches.
As Coral is in the midst of her words and thoughts, preparing to brush it all off as she normally would. As Ella's words of pain hit her, as her heart sinks a little more knowing that there must still be people who blame her for it all... or who at least ask the question, why her.. why did she survive and not the others.
Even as she prepares to stifle her own words and take this burden, those hands suddenly grasp her. She shivers for a second, slightly afraid of what might follow, yet she doesn't move. Another sensation that causes a sting to the heart, that even now she wouldn't flee or fight.
Had Ella's hands moved upwards, she might not even scream...
Yet instead her words shift away from the sorrow and anger, recounting their first meeting. How the city watch girl became a Judge in training, putting her skills of managing people and being fair to the test. How she had trouble eating for months after arriving, adjusting and feeling that guilt of being a survivor for something she at the time believed she had caused.
Maybe not directly, but that mirror...it was her safety, and their horror.
"But.. you should hate..." She can't even get her words out before Ella hugs her, her warm embrace squeezes her as tight as her family had once before. How people from home would hold her tight, telling her not to move away. Not to get in trouble, not to get in over her head.
"E-ella....but..." It's unmistakable, she can fell her tears, that strong girl letting even herself cry while Coral always bottles it up. She shoves it all deep down, deludes herself with work, with always putting herself in trouble just to help someone. Half her work is out of the kindness of her own heart, and the other half is her own selfish attempts to pay for her crime of surviving.
Maybe that's why only Yar....or maybe Yar and Ella are the only ones who see through it all. That even without feeling that need to pay for her crimes, she would still do all she does without question.
Her heart is in the right place, but it's been damaged and torn around just like the girl behind her.
A hand moves up, then the next. She clings to Ella's arms.
"I-I don.t...deserve it!" She breaks more, Coral can't stop the tears now. "I ran! I ran away from the scariest witch! I saw them all get turned into abominations, my friends and my family! They said run and all I could do was run, and I wanted to fight!"
She forces herself forward, for a moment it's like she wants to reject it all. But instead she turns and pathetically clings to Ella's clothes, grabbing onto her to bury her head forward into the stronger girl's embrace.
"I ran and ran into a mirror and then you lost it all, because I was weak! A coward! Because I was scared, and now..now I'm scared I don't deserve to cry for them...do they really want my tears... I don't get it. Everyone says it's not my fault, how can that be..."
She looks up barely, her eyes are red and stained by her tears. She's crying for them already, it's only her mouth that's spewing these foolish thoughts. The rest of her knows.
That like Ella, it's okay to cry. That they're allowed this kinship, that they're both allowed to cry for those taken from them, allowed to feel all the anger and sadness.
Her legs feel weak, emotions that have only surfaced in front of Yar, yet too complex to be tackled in a single moment. Are overflowing right now in front of someone just like her, and she's been too foolish to ever see it.
"W-will you forgive me.." Coral struggles to contain her crying.
"For being so blind to your pain, what you really felt.... not facing you like this sooner.."
