Level 21: Reverse Synchronization

***Act I: Something Isn't Right Here***

"Hmm, okay! That's a wrap!" exclaimed Akira.

Yuji fell backwards and breathed a heavily sigh of relief. A greenish-white light dissipated from his hands as fell. "S-So that's Reverse Synchronization?" asked the auburn-haired knight.

Akira chuckled. "Nope, that's just the initial activation of the ability. Now, if you reach towards someone's naval, you should be able to absorb them. Later, you can absorb someone from something as simple as a high-five when you have the ability active, but you're still a rookie so we'll stick with the traditional method for now," explained the auburn-haired girl.

Yuji crossed his arms. "Hmm, okay. I think I've got it. Mind if I rest a bit? We've been training in here for a good three years now."

"Yeah, that's fine. Go and rest a bit and I'll come get you if you take too long," answered Akira.

Yuji acknowledged her words with a weak nod before strolling to off to a nearby tree. As he lay beneath it, he thought to himself, This is pretty intense. Akira's quite good at training people. Still, I guess now's a good time to stop fooling around. Closing his eyes, he thought, If I keep avoiding the subject, she's only going to be angrier at me when I tell her.

Watching him from the hill they were training on, Akira thought to herself, He's improving rapidly. Dare I say, it's almost suspicious. Watching her brother from afar, several thoughts crossed the auburn-haired girl's mind. Something's not right about this.

***Act II: Don't Cry***

Yuji fell into a deep sleep. It felt as if he were sinking into a dark abyss with no way in or out. Where am I? he asked himself. Unaware that he was dreaming, the boy opened his eyes to a horrible setting. It was that place, that horrible place.

A dark sky loomed over Yuji's head as seven bodies lay beside him bloody but barely breathing. He was kneeling. Akira was kneeling beside him and an unusual girl with violet hair and blue eyes was bleeding to death in my arms. Yuji shook his head violently, his eyes wide with horror. "No, not again. Anything but this!" he screamed. His words caused no disturbance in the dream's sequence of events.

Akira sobbed uncontrollably, leaning into her brother's shoulder for support. "W-What do we do, Akito? Lucy and everyone else are gonna die!" she shrieked hysterically. Akira shook the girl in my arms. "Lucy, wake up dammit! LUCY-

"ENOUGH!" yelled Yuji angrily. He knew, just from looking at the girl's empty, blue eyes that she was beyond help. To his surprise, she began to move.

Barely alive, clinging onto life by a mere thread, the girl managed to shakily wrap her arms around Yuji's neck. With the last of her strength, she pulled herself up enough to smile at him weakly before pulling herself into a one-sided embrace. "Don't... Cry. You look kinda wimpy when you cry, you know," teased Lucy weakly.

Yuji froze. This warmth was a warmth that he'd never forget, but at the same time the horror of having to relive this day tore at his heart. Narrowing his eyes, he thought to himself, Even eighteen years later, it still hurts. The auburn-haired knight weakly placed a hand over one of Lucy's bloody ones. His grip on the violet-haired girl tightened. "I don't want to hear that from you."

Lucy giggled hoarsely, wheezing and coughing up blood as she did so. "You always were sensitive, but I didn't mind that. It made messing with you easy," recollected the violet-haired girl.

Akira shook her head, her tears falling to earth like a raging deluge. "Stop talking," she begged, "we can still get away from here! We can get you all fixed up again! So just-" the auburn-haired girl froze when she realized that Lucy had placed her remaining free hand on her cheek.

Lucy caressed the crying auburn-haired girl gently. "And when they find us again, it'll be the same result." Looking up at Yuji, she whispered, "You know what you have to do."

Shaking his head, Yuji's eyes widened with fear. This was the moment he had been dreading, the moment that had pushed him to tears when he finally remembered it on Mt. Dragnor- the moment where he was going to permanently synchronize with everyone but Akira. Looking down at Lucy, Yuji argued, "T-There has to be another way."

Closing her eyes, Lucy replied, "I'd like that too, but we don't have the time to sit here and think about it. At this rate, all of us will die from our wounds. Even you can't fight off an entire army while protecting Akira." Intertwining her fingers with Yuji's, Lucy slowly placed her lips on the boy's cheek. "Someone else still needs you here," she whispered quietly.

Shaking violently, Yuji shook his head. "Stop it! STOP TALKING!" he yelled desperately. His eyes widened when he felt the dark-grey granite beneath him shift. Turning around, he noticed that the other seven people had stood up.

The first, a large man with an incredibly muscular build shook his head. His black hair and grey eyes reminded Yuji of someone, but he couldn't put his finger on it. At the moment, Yuji recognized this gigantic man as Kouta Maebara. Barely standing, he offered Yuji his hand. Smiling goofily, he said, "You know just as well as we do that we're not gonna make it."

Beside that large man, another offered his hand. His build was not as muscular as the first man's, but his body was built more lean and fit for high-speed movements. His grey hair and emerald-green eyes reminded him vaguely of Alicia and Claus. At last, Yuji recognized this man as Yuuta Kanzaki. "At least if we do this, there's a chance that you and Akira can get away from here. Akito, you know what you have to do."

Shaking his head, Yuji refused to accept their hands.

Another stepped forward; her hair black as ashes with indigo eyes. This girl was quite tall, nearly as tall as the man with the large muscular build. "You have to hurry. We're not going to last much longer and the enemy's getting closer," she argued. Calm. Cool. Collected. Yuji identified this powerful figure as Shiva Alucard.

Beside the tall woman was a shorter girl with a melancholic expression. Her hair was short, not nearly as long as Lucy's or the taller girl's, but it was a shade of deep green. Her eyes were an unusual violet color. Yuji only knew of one person who could make such a melancholic face and that girl's name was Artemis Lupin. "If you don't like that idea, we could try to hold them off while you two make a run for it," she said.

There was silence.

Still refusing to accept their offers, Yuji said, "This is too messed up."

Akira said nothing, continuing to cry feebly beside her brother and Lucy.

Another, the only other man in the group, shook his head. His hair was short, but a similar color to Yuji's. His eyes were fiery red and his smile was brighter than the stars. "Akira, you won't be able to help Yuji out if you keep crying like that," he told the auburn-haired girl fondly. Closing his eyes, Yuji recognized this friendly man as Keita Yuuki.

Whimpering, Akira replied, "B-But this is all my fault."

Keita shook his head, patting Akira's hair gently. "No one knew," he whispered reassuringly. Looking at Yuji, he whispered, "Take care of her. She's all you're gonna have left alright?" He gave Yuji his brightest smile, ripping the auburn-haired knight's heart into two.

Yuji shook his head. He was hoping the rain would drown out their words. He didn't want to hear this anymore. He didn't want to relieve this day anymore. All the auburn-haired knight wanted was for this horrible memory to disappear into the darkness.

A warm, tiny hand placed itself on Akira's shoulder. Looking up, the auburn-haired girl recognized a tiny girl even shorter than Artemis. Standing upright, this girl was barely standing above Akira's waist. With silvery-hair and bright blue eyes, Akira recognized this little girl as Anna Vanghoul. Smiling sadly, Anna whispered, "Don't be sad Akira. If you ever wanna talk, Yuji can summon me for you!"

Akira's eyes widened, she thought about it for a moment. Realizing that Anna must not have been aware that a Permanent Synchronization would kill her, Akira patted the silver-haired girl's head gently and pulled her into an embrace. "You always were such a good little girl," whispered the auburn-haired girl fondly.

At last Yuji's attention turned to the final member of the group, a girl roughly Akira's height with short blonde hair. She smiled sadly as her bright blue eyes gazed upon the auburn-haired twins. Stepping forward and embracing them, she whispered, "We have two minutes at best. If we wait any longer, we won't get away."

The time had finally come. The remaining members of the group -save for Lucy- had joined together in front of Yuji, offering their hands. In his arms, Lucy placed her hand beside theirs. Smiling up at Yuji, she whispered, "If you ever need us, call us. We'll be there faster than you can say 'boo.'"

Closing his eyes, Yuji wept silent tears. Looking over to his weeping sister, the auburn-haired knight soon realized that his friends were right. Akira still needed him here. With his resolve fully in-tact, he raised a single hand. That hand then began to glow with a deep-red light. At last the boy had come to accept what he was about to do. "...I'll try to make sure that it doesn't hurt," he whispered with a broken voice.

Akira finally looked up, seeing that Yuji had placed his hand over the hands of their friends. A red light began to build around them, causing the other eight group members to slowly de-materialize into multi-colored sparks of light. "Aki...to?"

Looking down at his sister with guilty-stricken eyes, Yuji finally rose to his feet with Lucy in his arms. Smiling as much as he could, the auburn-knight said, "It's gonna be okay now. So don't cry anymore, alright?"

Akira shook her head, unable to comprehend what was taking place. "Stop," she whispered weakly. The auburn-haired girl could only watch in horror as the group slowly burst into sparks of light and gathered around Akito's body. Unable to endure the horrible scene before her any further, she screamed, "STOOOOOP!"

An explosion of red light overcame Yuji's and Akira's view. For several moments, they saw nothing but red. When the light faded, Yuji was brought to a familiar scene. He stood over a mountain of corpses, wearing or using all eight of his friends as Permanent Synchronizations as he stared at the sea of flames around him. Akira stood beside him, unsure of what to think as she stared into his burning, crimson eyes. His wild black hair gave him the image of ashes in a sea of flames. What he was aware of this time however was the wet sensation of tears falling from his eyes.

***Act III: Coming Clean***

Yuji awoke with a start, gasping for air as he drew himself upward. Akira stood beside him, her gaze worried and at the same time curious. The twins stared at each other for a moment, unsure of what to say to one another.

"B-Bad dream?" Akira finally asked.

Yuji looked away for a moment, but soon remembered his other motive for coming here. He patted a spot beside him, motioning for Akira to sit beside him.

Akira raised an eyebrow, but sat beside the boy and quietly waited for him to speak.

No one said anything for a while. For several moments, the two aimlessly stared up at the endless, blue sky.

Finally, Yuji said, "I need to tell you the truth. I owe you that much after leaving you alone for such a long time."

Almost snapping her neck toward Yuji, Akira's eyes widened with surprise. "W-Wait, you remember?"

Yuji said nothing for a moment. Finally, he replied, "Yeah, I do. But I need you to keep it a secret, alright?"

Akira seemed surprised by her brother's words, but nodded nevertheless. "What exactly are you planning to do?"

Shaking his head, Yuji answered, "Nothing you need to be involved in."

Feeling insulted, Akira asked, "Oh? And what's so dangerous that I can't go with you?"

Sighing, Yuji asked, "You're not gonna let me go without an explanation, are you?"

"Nope," replied Akira flatly.

Closing his eyes, Yuji finally said, "Fine, I'll tell you everything."

***Act IV: Bonds***

Yuji awoke the next day, stretching and leaving his room in the castle to venture toward the flower field where he and Akira would be training. After that short conversation the other day, Akira had called off training for the rest of the day and sent him to his room. Perhaps it was his brotherly instincts kicking in, but Yuji was legitimately worried about Akira.

She seemed pretty mad, thought Yuji as he waited for her. He looked around, surprised. Akira was never late to training, so it was surprising to see that he had beaten her here.

Just as Yuji was about to head toward his favorite tree to rest his eyes a bit more, he heard several footsteps heading toward him. "Sorry I'm late! I got up a bit late today," yelled Akira.

The auburn-haired knight raised a curious eyebrow, but decided it best to leave it at that. Looking at his sister a little closely, he saw that her eyes were a little red and that there were bags beneath her eyes. She was crying, Yuji mentally noted.

Standing before him, Akira asked, "So, do I really need to teach you this, or do you remember how to do it?"

Yuji took a step back and opened his palm. A red light gathered around his hand near-instantaneously. "Does this answer your question?"

Akira giggled. "I suppose it does. You're a little slow though. I guess your body's just a little rusty from not using your powers all that often."

Rolling his eyes, Yuji replied, "Well I am sort of trying to keep this a secret."

Crossing her arms, Akira hummed to herself. "I suppose all that's left is to figure out how you're going to fight Adrian without blowing your cover."

Sighing, Yuji irately shook his head. "Yeah, I screwed up there. Any ideas?"

Akira struck a pensive pose, humming to herself as she attempted to think up a plan. Finally snapping her fingers, the younger twin exclaimed, "That's it!" As she said this, a portal of light appeared at her naval. Motioning to herself, Akira said, "Just use me for this fight!"

Yuji stared at her incredulously. "I can only hold a Temporary Synchronization for about ten minutes. If he comes with reinforcements-"

"We can cross that road when we get to it. Right now, hiding your identity comes first. If it really boils down to it, I'll take care of them," argued Akira.

Sighing, Yuji thought to himself, She's gotten pretty rash since her days as a crybaby. I'm not really sure of whether or not to call this an improvement. Deciding it was for the best, he muttered, "Well, here goes somethin'."

Placing his hand over the portal, Akira burst into several red specks of light. Yuji gasped with shock as the light surrounded him and blinded him. For a moment, all the boy could see was the color red. When the light faded, he looked down at his right hand to find a black and red trident laying on the ground. The ground looked further away than before, which was a sign to him that he had grown taller from Synchronizing. Picking up the trident, Yuji muttered, "Not bad Akira."

Thanks, so what now? answered the auburn-haired girl over telepathy.

Yuji looked a little lost. Sorry, my body's getting used to it again. I'm still trying to re-understand all of the mechanics to Synchronization.

I can help with that later. Just remember that if an ally is mortally wounded, you can absorb someone to share their wounds and heal them. Be careful though, if you're too rash about it they might get trapped here permanently. That or you could die with them if the wounds are too severe for you yourself to handle, explained Akira with an unusually serious tone of voice.

"Oh yeah, that's right," said Yuji as he picked up the trident. As he picked it up, a powerful sensation coursed through his body. Like an electric jolt, he quickly brandished the weapon as if he were a master at wielding it. He gazed at the weapon with a pleased grin on his face. "Damn I love that part."

That's because you're a big cheater. I guess I'll let you borrow my skill with a trident, just this once though, teased Akira. After all, it'll look suspicious if you run around brandishing me like a pro. Even if you were pretending to be a rookie with your powers, borrowing the battle experience of those you Synchronize with isn't something you can do until you've at least reached the intermediate stages of your training.

"Hmm, good point," replied Yuji blankly. "Should I let you loose to get us out of here?"

Nah we're good, just snap your fingers. That'll get us out of here, replied Akira.

Nodding his head, Yuji said, "Well, let's get out of here then."

Snap!

With a snap of his fingers, the world around him twisted and bent. A light engulfed the boy, blinding him. A sensation of weightlessness surrounded him, until gravity kicked in two seconds later and caused him to fall flat onto his backside. "Ow! Geez, she really has to improve that landing," complained Yuji as he surveyed his surroundings. Looking around, he was back at school. The sun was still hanging overhead in the same position it was in when he had left. Akira was right, barely a few seconds had moved in this world.

You ready? asked the younger twin.

Nodding, the older twin answered, "Yup."

Yuji moved forward a few paces, but suddenly stopped to say, "Just don't forget: all of this has to be a secret. When you come out of there, things have to go back to the way they were when we're not alone."

Akira was silent for a moment. Finally, she replied, Okay. Either way, shall we go kick some ass?

The auburn-haired knight nodded with a grin. "Sounds good!" With that, the two siblings were off. They had a match to win.

***Act V: The Living Fire***

Everyone was in their seats, waiting for Yuji to appear.

"Hey, where's Shirogane?" asked one.

"Maybe he got cold feet," said another.

Olivia, Alicia, and Clow watched the scene around them from one of the lower bleachers. "What is that idiot doing attracting this much attention?" muttered Clow with exasperation.

Ignoring Clow, Alicia said, "We've got other problems." Pointing at the large man beside Alden, she asked, "Olivia, isn't that your uncle Adrian?"

Olivia looked at the man and paled. Fearing the worst, the blonde brawler quickly pulled herself and the other two teens to the top of the bleachers to mix into the crowd. "You're right. This isn't good," she answered in a whisper.

"Hey, there's Yuji," muttered Clow. "Wait, what happened to him?!"

The two girls immediately looked at the entrance to see Yuji walking into the gymnasium with an appearance similar to the one he had when he had first appeared before them with the Prometheus in his hands. He was taller, with eyes green as emeralds. His now fiery-red hair coupled with his burning right arm gave him the appearance of a truly living flame. In his hands was a black and red trident lit aflame by the flames on his arm.

"Yu…Chan?" muttered Olivia bewildered.

"There goes our low profile," murmured Clow.

"No joke," whispered Alicia.

Walking up to the stage and brandishing the burning trident, Yuji said, "I've got somewhere to go after this, so let's make this quick. Okay?"

Author's Notes:

And so the twins finally join forces, but for how long? Will they manage to defeat Adrian? Or does the gigantic Velkan Knight have a plan of his own? Find out on the next Synchronizer: The Slayer of Gods!

Next Time - Level 22: A Brawl in the School Gymnasium!