Erwin wakes up—groggy—in the bed of their small apartment. After blinking and rubbing his eyes repeatedly, he notices Mina sitting on the floor up against the front of their bed. She’s slumped over, as if looking at something precious to her in her hand. “Honey, what are you doing?” he says with so much exhaustion in his voice. As soon as he asks his question, she becomes startled. Her back straightens, as she looks over to look at his face. He asks if she’s okay, and she proceeds to give him a comforting answer with a big grin.

“What’s in your hand?’ he says with curiosity. She proceeds to open both hands, revealing nothing, while giving Erwin a face of confusion. 

He sits up at the end of the mattress, trying his best to remember what had happened recently. He only gets a few fragments. But as soon as he does, he quickly passes it off as a dream—him falling into a cave. But why can’t he remember what happened yesterday?

He looks over at the clock as it shows it’ll be ten minutes until two. “Well … I gotta start getting ready for work soon, and you should get ready for class.” Erwin says as he slightly stumbles outta bed. “I’ll see you as soon as I get back.” He says as crouches down for a kiss.

He proceeds to walk into the bathroom, closing the door. Mina starts to hear the hiss the pipes make as the water gushes through, knowing he won’t come out for a while. She proceeds to look back down at her hand. She has a look of pure astonishment, but then begins to focus. And after a few moments, it happens: black retractable nails begin to emerge from her fingertips.  Though they weren’t made of bone, it looked … different. Like a smooth, reflective metal. It’s as if they melted over her real fingernails.

Mina knew one thing for certain: this is not the extent of this strange new ability.