Synchronizing sequence and Synchronizable DFA
I think you are on the right track:

Consider two states $q_1,q_2$. We claim the following:

If there exists a word $w$ such that $\delta(q_1,w)=\delta(q_2,w)$, then there is such a word $w$ of length at most $k^2$.

The proof of this a standard shrinking argument: if such a word is longer than $k^2$, then during the runs from $q_1,q_2$, a pair of states repeats, and we can shrink $w$.

Now, since you assume the existence of a synchronizing word for all states, you can proceed to construct a word that synchronizes all the states, pair by pair.