It was a cold, blustery day in the beginning of April. The wind had really picked up, blowing through the town at high-speed gusts. The temperature had dropped to around 0 degrees Celsius, and there were even snow flurries falling from the cloudy sky. Annie smiled to herself. The weather couldn't have been more appropriate.

Glancing at her watch, Annie checked the time. 1:30. It should be any minute now. The flight landed at noon, which meant that Leysritt and Sella would arrive at the airport at around 12:45 to pick up the incomers. It was about 45 minutes from the airport to Annie's house, so…

Sure enough, a limousine, the one that Annie had ridden in tens of times, came bouncing along the road toward Annie's house. As soon as it got within sight, Annie waved her hand back and forth in greeting. She could only imagine how a certain occupant of that limo was reacting. Probably bouncing with excitement in her seat, Annie figured.

No sooner had the limo come to a stop that a small figure with white hair came zooming out. Annie hardly got a chance to look at her before her arms were wrapped around Annie, enveloping her in a hug tight enough to crack a football player's ribs. Despite getting the wind knocked out of her, though, Annie hugged right back.

"My god, you've gotten stronger!" Annie comment once Illya pulled away. "Japan definitely agrees with you."

"Thanks," Illya giggled. "You let your hair down!"

"Yep. A good friend gave me that advice."

Illya laughed. "It's good to see you, Annie."

"You too, I'm glad this worked out."

Leysritt and Sella exited the limousine from the front row, followed by four more people from the main compartment behind it. Shirou gave Annie a long-distance wave as he dragged some luggage out of the trunk. Taiga looked excited to be there, whereas Sakura patiently helped Shirou with the baggage. A fourth girl, Rin, who Illya had become friends with at school, also accompanied them.

As soon as Annie got the chance, she had written a letter to Illya about what happened to her grandfather. Since then, the two had maintained a frequent correspondence. In a letter around a month ago, Illya mentioned that she had a break from school in early April, and suggested she come visit Germany. When Shirou found out, he decided to make a big trip of it. Sakura and Rin pitched in most of the money (their families were very wealthy, apparently) and here they were.

Annie went down to limo to help with the luggage and direct everyone into her house. She had no idea where she was going to fit everybody, but they could deal with that later. Annie gave Sakura and Taiga quick hugs and introduced herself to Rin, who introduced herself back.

"Illya's talked so much about you, I feel like I know you already," Rin said. Her voice wasn't overly warm, but she was polite.

"That so?" Annie asked, looking back at Illya, who was chatting with Leysritt and Sella. "Hey, tell me for real. How's she doing over there?"

Rin shrugged. "She's doing great," she answered honestly. "Struggling a bit with the language barrier and all, but Emiya's really helping her pull through with that. Otherwise, she's doing just fine."

Annie nodded. "Good."

"Alright," Shirou grunted, pulling a particularly large suitcase out of the trunk. "That's the last of 'em."

"You can just leave them inside by the door, I'll figure out the sleeping arrangements later," Annie instructed. "For now, why don't we grab something to eat?"

"Before we do that," Illya piped up, "I—I want to go pay a visit."

Annie looked at her hard. She knew exactly the place Illya was speaking about. "Are you sure?"

Illya nodded. "Yeah. I want to see it one last time."

"Okay," Annie said softly. "Okay, we can go just the two of us for a few minutes."

"No, I want everyone to come," Illya clarified, eyes serious. "All of them. It's time this town's little secret was blown wide open."

Annie raised her eyebrows. The secret that she had fought so hard to keep hidden, and now Illya wanted to reveal it to everyone. It's for the best, Annie convinced herself, but she still had one question.

"Illya," she asked, "who do you mean by 'everyone?'"

Twenty minutes later, all of them were walking down that pathway into Einzbern Forest. All 19 of them. Annie and Illya were at the head of the pack. Behind Illya were Shirou and Taiga, Sakura and Rin. Leys and Sella were off to Illya's side. And walking behind and to the right of Annie were Armin and the rest of Annie's new friends.

"Annie, are you sure about this?" Armin asked timidly.

"Yes," Illya answered for her friend. "I want you to know where I've been living these past fourteen years."

"It's really fine," Armin insisted. "I told you, I really don't care to see it anymore."

"Liar," Annie replied with a smirk. "Come on, this is a question that's been eating at you for ages."

"Well…yeah, fine," Armin relented grumpily, but Annie could tell he was happy.

The light snow continued to fall, but wind died down, and it wasn't so cold, so the walk was somewhat pleasant. Annie was expecting Illya to be nervous, but, to her surprise, Illya was very calm and relaxed, like she was about to close the book on some unfinished business and never look back.

As for herself, Annie felt herself tensing up. Images of those bodies kept flashing through her mind. Those torn up bodies, the glowing blue water stained red with blood, those lifeless red eyes staring up at her from that pool.

There was also the matter of Acht. More specifically, what was left of him. Would they walk in to see his rotting, self-harmed body just lying around? Annie hoped not. That would not be a very pleasant image.

Finally, after walking for a little while, Einzbern Manor appeared above its little rise, surround by pine trees. It looked as stark and grey as ever, even more so now, as there were no warm-lit windows indicating a hearth and a home. The double doors to the manor were sealed shut.

Everyone save Annie, Illya, Leysritt, and Sella were shocked to see this castle in the middle of the woods.

"I knew it," Armin said breathlessly. "I knew there was a home up here."

"This is where my father lived for nine years?" Shirou asked wondrously, staring at the manor's slim towers.

Illya ignored their questions. She had her eyes trained straight on the doors, which she slowly ambled toward. She laid one hand on the wooden hand, caressing it slowly. Then she pulled the door open and disappeared inside. Annie and the rest followed, all of them with still breaths.

It was exactly as Annie remembered. The main hall still had its tall ceiling. There was still a curving stairway covered in red carpet spiraling up to the second floor. And there was still that hall under the stairs leading to the castle's bowls and that room. Illya was nowhere to be found; she had already disappeared into the manor somewhere.

"Feel free to wander around everybody," Annie announced. "But, um, I wouldn't go down that hallway under the stairs if I were you." The others did as Annie said and dispersed, each taking to a different corner of the castle.

"Don't worry," Sella whispered in Annie's ear. "Leysritt and I cleaned up before we left."

Clearly, they had. The entire castle looked spotless, like it had been when people were living here. It also looked stripped of all of its positions. Leysritt did mention that she and Sella had taken all things of value from here and used them to buy their apartment in Munich, but they really cleaned the place out.

"I'm going to go to Illya," Annie told them.

"You know where she is?" Leysritt asked.

Annie nodded. "I do."

While everyone was exploring the main floor, Annie ascended the steps to the second floor and followed the stone hallway. If Illya was going to be anywhere, it would be in her old room. Sure enough, Annie found standing over her old dresser. Unlike the rest of the house, it looked like Leysritt and Sella left this room largely untouched.

"Reminiscing?" Annie asked her, softly so as not to startle her.

Illya shook her head. "Just picking up a couple of things." Annie glanced at Illya's hands and noticed that they held two portraits. One was of Irisviel, the same one that was hanging on Illya's wall before she moved to Japan, the other was one of Kiritsugu that Annie had never seen before.

"I have some good news," Illya said suddenly. I wanted to tell you in private, and in person."

Annie arched an eyebrow. "What news?"

"There was more to my father's letter than what you initially read that evening in the Ryuudou Temple graveyard," she explained. "You never turned it over to the back page."

"Really? What did it say?"

Illya smiled softly. "My father, he placed explosives deep underground by Fuyuki's leylines, which will cut off their mana supply. When that happens, it'll destroy the system of the Holy Grail War."

"What? Illya, that's great news!" Annie exclaimed. She ran over and gave her a hug. "That's excellent!"

"I know," Illya agreed. "I'll actually get to live a normal life, just like you said."

"I'm very happy for you," Annie told her. "Kiritsugu really pulled through for you."

"Yeah, he did," Illya said softly. She took the portrait of him and held it in one hand. "For me, and for her."

Illya hoisted the portrait of her mother in her other hand. "My mother died alone and helpless, but wherever she is right now, she must be happy knowing that she was the last Einzbern to die for the Holy Grail." Illya pressed both portraits against her chest, as if hugging them.

"Things have changed a lot since I first met you," Annie commented.

"Change is good," Illya replied. "Especially when it's for the better."

And how things have changed for the better. Three months ago, Illya was chained to her own fate. She was trapped in this manor and trapped in her grandfather's designs, while Annie was alone, parentless, friendless, and sad. Now, they were both free, with many friends to lean on, and bright futures ahead of them.

"You ready to leave all this behind?" Annie asked her best friend.

Illya smiled determinedly. "I'm ready."

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A/N: Well, that's a wrap, folks! I first envisioned Friends in the Snow around a year ago, and to see it finally reach its conclusion is really amazing. I'm really proud of how this story turned out, and I hope it was as much of a pleasure for you to read as it was for me to write.

Thanks as always to all of those who have read up to this point, especially those that followed and reviewed (even the negative ones!). If no one read my work there'd be no point of writing anything, so I'm glad to have had thousands of readers (yes, thousands; I checked the stats) check out this story. Entertaining people is what makes writing so great, and I hope I did that for most of you.

When I initially began posting chapters for this story, a lot of you asked why Annie or the other AoT characters were even in it. Why not just make it a story with an OC as the main character? It's a very fair point that people made, so I thought I'd address it quickly. The very first idea I had that eventually turned into Friends in the Snow was that I wanted to write a story specifically about Annie. The idea to connect it to Fate came way after, and I wasn't going to toss the main inspiration for this story right out the window. Annie is my favorite AoT character, and I'm very interested to see what happens to her in the actual AoT story (no spoilers past Episode 50 of the anime please!).

Lastly, I've gotten a couple of questions about a potential sequel. I briefly entertained the notion of writing a sequel to Friends in the Snow, one that had fewer feels and more action, but after considering it I decided that I like where the characters ended up as of the conclusion of this story, and that I am heavily leaning toward not writing a sequel. Then again, if you guys really want to see Annie and Illya's tale continue, feel free to let me know via leaving a review, and if enough readers make their voices heard, I'm might be willing to reconsider. At the very least, a potential sequel won't come until after the release of all three Heaven's Feel movies (no spoilers for that either!).

Well, that's about all I had to say. Even if I don't end up writing a Friends in the Snow sequel, this won't be the last you hear from me. I'm sure I'll think up a new fanfic idea at some point soon. I usually do. Until then, so long, and thanks again for joining me on Annie and Illya's journey.