Eren immediately rushed forward and quickly picked Carla up. He felt her breathing, and his tense nerves finally relaxed.
Mikasa was more meticulous. After confirming Carla was alive, she quickly checked if she was seriously injured.
Kiyan shook his head and walked over to Hannes. After confirming he was unharmed, he tried to wake him.
"Hannes, wake up. This isn't the time to sleep."
With Kiyan's shaking, Hannes gradually regained consciousness.
"Let me sleep... just a bit."
Hannes replied evasively, just like he would on a normal afternoon shift when a colleague caught him slacking off.
However, the voice beside him didn't stop, and the shaking only grew stronger. Hannes had no choice but to slowly open his eyes. But the moment he saw the person in front of him, he suddenly remembered everything.
He wasn't asleep; he had been knocked out by the collapsing house.
Before the house fell, he thought Kiyan was trying to harm Carla, so he had immediately moved to block him. But after pushing Kiyan away, he saw a giant boulder, trailing thick smoke, flying toward Grisha's house.
It wasn't what he thought at all.
Kiyan wasn't trying to harm Carla; he was trying to pull her out of the house.
And he had stopped the rescue. He had blocked Carla's chance to live.
The moment he realized his good intentions had caused a disaster, Hannes immediately threw himself over Carla, dragging her under the doorframe.
"Carla!"
Remembering everything, Hannes immediately got up to look for Carla. When he saw her, conscious, in Eren's arms, the heart that was in his throat finally dropped.
"Thank God, Carla's okay. That's great."
Carla was lying in Eren and Mikasa's arms. She wasn't badly injured, just weak from the shock.
"This isn't the time for a happy reunion, everyone."
Kiyan's voice interrupted the tearful group hug.
Hannes looked at Kiyan, about to apologize, but was cut off by his words.
"The real hell is just beginning."
The real hell? What did that mean?
Just as they were wondering, the continuous tremors gave them their answer.
Titans. The Titans had entered the outer district.
Fear appeared on everyone's faces.
Hannes quickly checked his ODM gear and spoke grimly to Kiyan.
"Kiyan, you take Carla and her family and go. I'll handle this."
Just then, a blond Titan, as if sensing something, suddenly turned and walked toward Kiyan and the others.
Kiyan glanced around but found nothing. He finally just looked deeply at Eren.
Eren felt a shiver run down his spine from Kiyan's stare, but this man had just saved his mother's life, so he didn't stop him from looking.
The reason Kiyan was staring at Eren was that the blond Titan before them was Dina, Grisha's first wife.
Before she became a Pure Titan, Dina had told Grisha that she would find him again, no matter what. What was once just a parting word to her lover had now, at this moment, become reality.
But reality was no fairy tale. When the Pure Titan Dina came to keep her promise, she brought only pain for Grisha.
In the original story, this is when Dina found Grisha's new home and ate his second wife, Carla.
So, was this destiny, or was this "Director Eren's" arrangement?
Hannes's urgent shout broke the stare-down between Kiyan and Eren.
"Kiyan, please, take Carla and her family and get out of here!"
After saying this, Hannes drew his twin blades and ran toward the Titan Dina.
However, as he got closer, the Titan Dina suddenly turned her head and looked at him with a chilling smile.
The moment his eyes met the Titan's, Hannes's advance stopped dead. Cold sweat poured from his body.
He was afraid. Faced with the Titan's absolute height and strength, he was terrified.
As the Titan's eerie smiling face drew closer, a bone-deep fear instantly froze his blood.
A soldier's duty... it crumbled in the face of overwhelming terror.
"Hannes, you take Carla's family and retreat. I'll handle this."
Kiyan, holding a stone sword, patted Hannes's shoulder and then walked past him.
There were two adults and two children here, besides himself. They couldn't all escape while being chased by a Titan. Someone had to stay behind. Hannes, even if he overcame his fear, would just be food for the Titan.
That meant the one to stay behind could only be him.
And since he had already changed the future where Carla was trapped under the collapsed house, how could he possibly let her die in the Titan Dina's mouth?
Hannes stared at Kiyan's back in disbelief, his mind filled with shock and questions.
Wasn't he afraid of the Titan? That was a Titan! It had strength and size far beyond any human! Humans were just ants in front of them!
But Hannes was, in the end, still a soldier. After assessing the situation, he immediately turned and ran back to Carla's family.
"Take care!"
As a failed soldier, he could not betray the sacrifice Kiyan was making to buy them time.
Before Eren and Mikasa could react, he grabbed both of them, tucking one under each arm, and shouted for Carla to run with them toward the inner city.
Eren, realizing what was happening, immediately began to struggle.
"Hannes, let me go! I can't abandon him! That man saved Mom's life!"
Eren's words made Carla falter. She didn't want to abandon Kiyan either. But the moment she looked at Eren, her love for her child overwhelmed her debt to Kiyan.
"I'm sorry, Eren. Please, just listen to Hannes this time!"
Carla looked at Eren, tears streaming down her face. Eren froze for a second, but did not stop struggling.
Facing Eren's struggle, Hannes suddenly cried out.
"The reason I'm abandoning Kiyan is because I don't have the strength!"
"I didn't fight the Titan because I don't have the courage..."
"I'm a coward! But I can't betray Kiyan's sacrifice! So even if I have to tie you up, I will get you all to safety!"
At Hannes's shout, Eren's struggles ceased. He watched as Kiyan's figure slowly disappeared from view.
Kiyan studied the Titan Dina's massive form. He shouted loudly at her, waving his arms to get her attention.
"Now it's just the two of us. Come on, let me see what a Titan can do!"