Redemption

March Of Progress (Old Version)

And I then sat fully up in bed with my back against the wall thankful that I was no longer feeling an enormous shooting pain from my foot, now replaced by only a dull throb every now and then, that was until I felt myself rest on something hard and round.

Picking myself up and reaching down, I pulled out rather unexpectedly a small glass bead with a flat bottom, I smiled at it and chuckled a bit before reaching down and placing it in the bag with the other pieces of the game and swung my legs over to get ready for the day.

A cup of coffee and a shower later, I was finally ready and prepared for the day ahead, at least physically, mentally I was still recovering from the late night we had yesterday, why I had let us stay up so late I will never know.

Madeline had decided to hold off her shower in favor of waiting for her uniform to arrive and so in lieu of waiting, she decided to walk across the room a couple times more and finish our game from last night.

Until finally, two woman finally arrived through the door each holding respectively a garment bag and a hat and shoe box which Madeline then gratefully took before thanking the two woman and walking out the door with a towel in hand, a spare crutch in the other and her new uniform tucked at her side.

I thought about calling out to her at first, asking if she needed help or wanted me at her side as she took her shower but thinking on it, she did walk most of the room by herself and she probably wanted to show off her uniform to me without knowing what it looks like beforehand so instead I waited for her to return.

It must have been around twenty to thirty minutes before the door opened again and the familiar sound of heavy thudding made itself present, I had been reading a book to pass the time and had gotten to a certain page before she opened the door so I quickly marked down the page with a small piece of scrap paper before turning around to look at her.

She had with her the same peaked cap that belonged to her captain albeit in a much better condition with the aged yellow cloth replaced with a brilliant white, the broken band running round the brim by a shiny golden one and the half rotten black visor with a new, rigid and reflective one made of fresh leather, the cap badge remained the same however and was not replaced.

The rest of her uniform save for her boots was comprised of new freshly made clothing, an unbuttoned great coat with ten shiny brass buttons and epaulets with four gold bands, with the fourth one sewn with a loop in the center, a fresh white jumper paired with a black neckerchief that remained untied around her neck and a black pair of pants that were tucked into her well-polished boots.

Overall, she almost looked like a professional soldier were it not for that little bit of clothing and the utter rat's nest on top her head, her hair was knotted and frizzy, clearly unkept for so she must have had something go wrong with it.

"Well?" She asked and gestured to herself, "What do you think."

"It's quite the outfit you've picked out but it looks damn well on you. Well, save for one or two things."

She looked back down at her loose neckerchief, "I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tie it."

"I was referring to that bush you have on your head, I can only hope that you didn't mean to let that happen."

"I... I couldn't find a comb." She said rubbing her arm a little, clearly embarrassed.

In response, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the small metallic comb I carry with me and said: "Come on then, I'll help you sort it out."