Before and After the Fall - Kanako

'''He can only watch and pray. Pray that the three end the menace in front of them once and for all.'''

And in the aftermath, find a new purpose the guide him.

Background
Written by Kanako, Before and After the Fall is set directly before, after, and a few days after the death of Executor. It is from Kanako's perspective.

Synopsis
The solo begins with Kanako staring at Lynna, silently and then vocally urging her to finish Executor off. As he watches her he can see that a determination to not fire is set in her eyes, and he feels despair at the fact that she wants to let this menace flee.

Suddenly, Executor roars at Lynna to end it, jerking her face to meet his. A thousand thoughts seem to cross their minds, but in the end Lynna grits her teeth, looks away, and fires, killing Executor once and for all.

Kanako can only stare in awe once the dust settled over Executor's body, initially feeling elation that they had finally triumphed and idly noting that Lynna had fallen to the ground beside him. The elation fades to suspicion when he notices that Executor's body doesn't seem to have any wires, thinking that it may be a double, but his suspicion fades when the bits begin to be eaten away by Nihility.

He is quick to tell The Factory that Executor is dead, a fact that is soon confirmed by Arachnos, but his countenance falls upon looking at Lynna's defeated face, guessing she glanced at Executor's body in its final moments. He is suddenly at a loss for words, and while he remains behind as the Arachni leave, he eventually lets Lynna be alone to sit vigil in silence.

Kanako's return to the base is met by annoyance, as he did not return to base as soon as the Factory had told him to. Kanako ignores this and instead asks if Lynna has returned, which has not happened yet. The Factory states that he still wants to keep the Anathemites nearby since they're still under his command, but his attention shifts away from Kanako when Lynna presumably returned to base. Feeling his shoulders slump, Kanako heads to his room and falls asleep.

Two days later Kanako returns to the location where Executor died, floating above Canterlot at about the same height that they faced down Executor. He remains silent for a moment, then begins to wonder out loud if Executor (and the other Anathemites as well) had some kind of ulterior plan in mind. This leads him to wondering if Executer perhaps could have lived a little longer, if only to ease Lynna's state of mind since she has isolated herself from everyone on the base. Before I leave him for the final time, I promise to watch over Lynna for him, and whisper a couple words to the wind.

Trivia

 * Kanako's side of Executor's death is the second solo written about it, after Final Fall. It also marks how Kanako is so far the only person in all of the Fourth Equestria that is beginning to not harbor ill will toward Executor nor toward the other Anathemites for their possible connections, a fact that has remained even into Season 4.