Noin remembers teaching recruits who had joined the Alliance Army merely because they had admired the uniform. Some thought that the uniform would attract the girls. Shops were kinder, and more willing to freely give refills and credit to an Alliance soldier. For someone poor, barely out of high school and with little prospects, the Army was very alluring.
Her father had been initially against her becoming a Cadet. His Alliance doubts had surfaced and Noin could feel her father's disapproval when she arrived home, her uniform fresh and new, her boots gleaming.
She regrets that they never discussed her decision, he died later that year of a heart attack. She was given special leave to return home, for his funeral. Her mother had cried and Noin went to the funeral in uniform, in her boots. It was part of her now.
Always taking care of her uniform, never being told to polish her boots or to adjust her collar, some at the Academy had regarded her as a brown noser. Friendship had been elusive, and Zechs still a distant dream.
Later they had become friends, but for the first few years at the Academy she had crushed on him. She wasn't alone, and in her foolish jealous youth had disliked her fellow female Cadets for being obsessive, when her own feelings mirrored theirs. It was only when she got to know Zechs, that she truly fell in love with him and felt worthy.
When she goes on her first battle, the uniform remains spotless. When she kills, she kills from within a mobile suit. It detaches her from reality and she loses herself in her work. She forgets to send her mother a birthday card.
It is Zechs that wakes her up from her self imposed sleep from reality. Noin begins to realise that her uniform needs replacing. It so incredibly stained with blood and dirt, that the shine and gloss, the blue and braiding, was gone.
Soon afterwards, Noin becomes an Academy instructor. She sees boys and girls, back straight with military pride march forward.
Soon afterwards, Zechs is promoted and the war starts. It passes by in a blur. That is how she remembers it, but, living it had been pausing for every moment. Every second was stretched for infinity and the battleground was the opposite. That went by too quickly.
The pretty Peacecraft Princess, Zechs's sister, sees past the distinctions of war and wishes for peace. Noin can't help but feel moved.
The old boots are put away for a time, when the war is over. Zechs is missing. Noin knows that he is still alive. Few believe her. She wonders if she will be always be alone. Her mother contacts her. They visit her father's grave together and Noin cries. There is some relief in that.
In is Lady Une that brings her out of her self imposed isolation. Offers her a job in the new Preventers. She finds solace in her work and brings the boots out.
To find that Zechs is alive reassures her within a crisis. A small part of her want to shove her boots down his throat. Noin compels herself not to.
When it is all ends, Zechs invites her to Mars. She forgets her boots.