Colors and Promises

"I gotta tell Riku what a blast this place is," Sora insisted, as he began calling his best friend's number on the gummiphone... But in the end, he wasn't able to talk to the other boy at all! Because wouldn't you know it, that at that exact moment that the Heartless would attack?

So summoning his Keyblade, Sora prepared to best the beast that had been driving him insane ever since they first faced its kind in Olympus.

Later, when Sora (alongside Donald and Goofy) had actually gotten to explore San Fransokyo some—that was what the was called, apparently—Sora was finally able to call Riku and tell him all about it.

And while Riku seemed mildly annoyed that Sora was calling him at first—Sora supposed he could've been in the middle of something…—he did seem to appreciate the picture that Sora had painted for him, of a city with all kinds of black skyscrapers and white bridges. And maybe with those colors together, Riku thought it well represented his stance on walking the Road to Dawn and that was why he was impressed? Whatever the reason, Sora was glad he was able to give his best friend something to smile about.

But after Sora hung-up on Riku—and before the gang went to do their shugyo—Sora found himself wondering why he hadn't thought to tell Kairi about all of this, too.

Maybe it was because he didn't want to distract her from her training, that he knew she was taking very seriously…

Or moreover... perhaps it was because Kairi had never seen skyscrapers before—Destiny Islands had only recently figured out how to make cranes, after all—and he wouldn't at all know how to explain them to her.

Also, deep down… Sora knew there was nothing that Kairi preferred more than their island home and locations like that. That was why she always wanted to be able to come home after an adventure, wasn't it?

But still... she had wanted to visit other worlds like he and Riku had, Sora knew. And it saddened him just how little Kairi had really gotten to see thus far.

So the Keyblade Hero promised himself—as he turned his hand into a bala-la-la-la fist, and nearly decked Fred in the face, who had chosen that moment to walk in front of Hiro's garage door—that soon he was going to take Kairi to some of the worlds that he loved: that way he'd be able to find the words to say about them to her, if ever need be, she wouldn't feel lonely but rather a part of the group again.

And unlike some of the other promises he'd made to his princess, this was one Sora intended to keep 'til his last breath.