The Humanity's Strongest & The Graceful

A Promise

Tessa's POV:

After walking away from the others, Tessa can't shake the feeling that this idea of Erwin's will even work. Even the way Erwin kept staring at her and Levi frustrated her because she knew she wouldn't get an answer from him until they tried this idea of his. When Tessa and Levi stop in front of the trees, Tessa sighs, and Levi looks at her, "Tess, you okay?" He asks, but Tessa shakes her head, "I don't know. I still think this is a crazy idea." She admits, then looks at Levi, "Do you think this is crazy?" She asks, and Levi gestures his head and smirks, "You never know. We might pull this idea off," He replies, "Have we ever let anything stop us before?" Levi whispers as he grabs his handgrips of the ODM gear. Tessa slowly turns her head and raises a brow, "Okay. What the hell did you do with the real Levi? When did you become the adventurous one?" She asks, and Levi chuckles, "It's your influence, Tess," Levi jokes, and he hears Tessa scoff, "Do you want to test this theory of Blondie's?" He asks, and Tessa looks at him again, "Blondie? You mean Erwin?" She asks, and Levi smirks.

Tessa scratches the back of her neck, unsure of what to do, "Honestly, I don't know. It's common for Scouts to use pairs during a battle, but-" Her voice trails off while looking away, and Levi raises a brow, "But?" He asks, and Tessa sighs, "But something about Erwin's interest in our records is bothering me," She admits, "We must have caught his attention along with Commander Shadis." She suggests. Levi's mouth quirks at the possibility, then he shrugs, "Maybe," He agrees, hoping to reassure her while grabbing his handgrips on the ODM gear, "We're gonna have to improvise our movements." He suggests, and Tessa nods when she grabs hers, "Well, let's give them a show," She chuckles before looking over her shoulder, "Zoe, you ready?" She asks, and Hange nods, "Ready when you are, Cat!" She answers, to which Tessa winks at her before turning around to take a deep breath and close her eyes to imagine them working this move in battle. 'No theatrics, just direct clean moves will work perfectly together.' She thought. When Tessa gets a vivid vision, she opens her eyes and whistles, then hears the stand-ins move in a direction, which means they're up and ready for them. Tessa pops her neck, "Alright, the stand-ins are in position. Ready?" She asks, which Levi winks, "Ready whenever you are, Tess." He says. When Levi and Tessa look at each other, they nod and fly off in opposite directions, causing the crowd to gasp in awe as they watch the duo head into the trees.

While in the forest, Levi and Tessa are looking for the Titan stand-ins since the remaining ones are in the back of the woods. However, they have yet to find them until Levi finally sees one a few feet away. Now it's time for the duo to perform the counterattack. When Levi looks over his shoulder to see Tessa by his side, they share a look as they get closer, "Tess, give me your wrist!" Levi orders, to which Tessa nods as they get a few feet away, locking their wrists together before Levi tosses Tessa toward the Titan cutout. With the momentum coming from Levi's throw, Tessa draws her blades diagonally to slash the fake nape, leaving Levi to smirk because their teamwork reminds him of their childhood. After performing the attack, Tessa slams her heels into a tree nearby to catch her breath while waiting for Levi to join her side. While running her hand through her hair, Tessa sees Levi smirking at her, causing her to roll her eyes, "Shut up." She laughs while placing the blades back in the case, but Levi shakes his head, "Told you so, Brat," He chuckles, "You ready to go find the last four?" He asks before jumping off the tree, and Tessa scoffs, "Ready when you are, old man," She jokes while leaping off her tree, "Two of them are this way." She points east and leads the duo, and Levi scoffs, "I'm a year older than you, brat," He counters and shakes his head while following Tessa.

While they head to the following two, Levi watches Tessa swing around the trees, gracefully spinning in the air while grappling through the trees. Suddenly Levi joins her as they continue to get closer while flipping in the air backward but remaining at Tessa's side. In a few feet, two titan stand-ins appear across the tree line. Due to the cutout's positions, they hardly leave any wiggle room for the duo to perform the attack from earlier, which reminds Levi of a time in the Underground. The memory, in particular, is when thugs were after the pair. They didn't chase them until Levi told them to piss off for staring at Tessa because the thugs were teenagers harassing Tessa while she was with Levi. When they reached the alleyway, the guys surrounded Levi and Tessa and expected Tessa to be scared, but she wasn't. With Levi by her side, Tessa felt brave. Somehow, Levi couldn't remember how they fought against their foes. 'How did we do that exactly?' Levi thought.