"Sorry for leaving you guys, but it's for the best since only Robin knew the full truth about me, I simply separated from the group and chose not to remain in contact with you instead of just outright disappearing"
Stefanie then simply spends the time waiting to return to her own time and remembers the painful events of Israel, of how she'd been forced to hide her powers and allow history to play out even though she had wanted so badly to save Marian's life. She had also given fealty to Richard, though that oath she had given wasn't a true oath of fealty, though only Robin had known, but it was enough of the truth that Robin knew she would follow that oath for as long as possible. Three days later a temporal portal popped open and took Stefanie back to her original time period, and same location she had been taken from actually surprising the person she appeared in front of after she had rounded a corner from the empty alleyway she'd entered, though the person had seen the portal briefly before it disappeared
"Who are you and what was that thing that just made you appear from out of nowhere's?"
"I...that's complicated actually, could you tell me the date?"
When she hears the date Stefanie let's out a breath and then visibly has to calm herself before speaking up again
"I need to get to where security is, they need to call the police, it's vital that they come quickly too"
"I'll escort you there then"
And so Stefanie is taken to the security station where she stated that she wouldn't answer any questions until the police officer arrived
"But..."
"Listen, I know I'm making your job harder, but due to things that you're not currently aware of I need an official police officer present when I answer questions that I'm sure you have right now"
An hour later and two officers finally arrived at the security station
"You wanted to speak with us?"
"Yes, I have information on an active missing persons case that can easily and quickly be verified"
"Oh, what case might that be?"
"The Kerenai case"
"How do you happen to have a lead on a case that we've been working on and haven't had any fresh clues to for the past five years?"
"And a long, very long I might add, five years it's been" (sighs) "I can't go into further information except to the EDC and naturally my family, but I'm finally home...or well close enough to home anyways. And yes I can verify my identity not only through that scanner you automatically brought with you but through other means as well"
"Kerenai?"
"Yeah, it's me, and let me tell you what I've been through...I'm going to be seeking professional help through the EDC, now then let's get going on proving my identity and then I believe a hospital trip is in order so that I can get checked out. I'm sure I'm fine but I know the rules quite well thank you very much"
"Okay, let's get to work on proving your identity, and if you are who you say you are, you need to visit Parliament as well"
"I know"
Fifteen minutes later Stefanie was being escorted to a meeting with Parliament, her identity confirmed
"The EDC has been notified by the way"
"That's...that's good, can't wait to see them again"
And so once they reached Parliament Stefanie was escorted to one of the meeting rooms and met with a Parliament member who immediately asked a hard question
"How long ago did you bury him?"
"Three days ago now, it's honestly a little disconcerting knowing that he was buried three days ago for me and yet well over two hundred years ago in reality"
"I'm sure it is at that, how are you mentally overall though? I'm sure it wasn't easy hiding your true gender as you started puberty"
"No kidding, complicated pain in the rear let me tell you, Robin and the gang helped as much as they could but there were a few close calls that's for sure, especially when I was captured for a brief period of time by the sheriff"
"How brief are we talking?"
"Um, couple of months I think, Robin never exactly told me how long it took and I never asked"
"I see, I have something for you by the way"
"Oh?"
The Parliament member goes to a hidden safe and grabs two items and shows them to Stefanie who was shocked to see them once more
"These belong to you once more, your family and Parliament has simply been waiting for this moment in order to return these items to you like we believe Robin and his men would have wanted"
With that Stefanie received her journal and the knife she had given Robin
"I...thank you"
"Did...did the knife avenge his death? I know that because he's a legend to most people they think he died of old age, but we in Parliament know the truth"
"Yes, it avenged his death to a degree, and then he was buried with it"
"That's something anyways, also...there's something you should know"
"What is it?"
"We didn't just find Robin's grave, we found the graves of the rest of the gang as well and we moved their remains and reburied them with a private military funeral in a location that only Parliament and special military funeral bearers know about. Do you wish to visit their graves?"
"I...yes, I would"
And so Stefanie got some flowers and then went to the graves of the people she had lived with for five years for most of them and then noticed something she wasn't expecting
"You found Marian's grave"
"Yes, thanks to the information the group left behind and with the help of the Israeli government we found it, and Israel then gave us permission to move the body and bury it with the rest of the group"
"I...on behalf of the gang I thank you"
As soon as she laid the flowers on Robin's grave she sensed something that would change everything
"We can bring them back, with full memories up to when they died"
"How?"
"Me...they were with me practically 24/7 except that period when I was captured. I...you know I emit an aura of some sort unconsciously that gives me an added awareness of my surroundings and can immediately tell if a friend or foe is close to me, my family discovered shortly before this whole mess happened that the aura can also preserve memories until death, but we've only tested that on people who we successfully brought back in a hospital right after they died briefly"
"Then we'll see if we can bring them back with the help of your family, and if they do have their memories up to the point when they died, all we'll have to do is catch them up on history...by a lot"
"No kidding"
As it turned out though even though they'd been dead for a long time when brought back to life through the help of Stefanie's family the group each remembered up to the day they died well over two hundred years ago. They were shocked at being alive and also how much time had passed, though Robin was the least shocked when he heard that Stefanie was waiting for them to adjust to their new circumstances and had been given at least a brief overview of history that had passed since their deaths
"Now then you're going to have to come up with a last name if you didn't have one before, being known as Robin of Locksley is going to mark you as very different and possibly even give away your identity as being from a different era"
"Due to Stefanie revealing everything to me when she first joined I always knew I would take one of two possible names if for whatever reason I came into her time, I will either be known as Robin Locksley or Robin Sherwood, but I don't know which one to pick"
"You know, it's weird calling Stefanie by her proper name instead of Steven"
"True, but it's something I wanted to do for a long time, but Stefanie insisted on using her false identity even in camp so that we never slipped up in the field and called her by her true name which would have revealed her gender and gotten her killed instantly"
"She would, Robin, you know her entire story? I mean including her unique family situation"
"Yes, she told it to me and only me shortly after we met each other since she felt I had to know for safety reasons"
"I see, well in any case besides you Robin, there are others who have name issues, Allan, you can be known as Allan Dale if you wish but...Much your name is going to be a problem I'm afraid, a big problem, Little John can be known as John Little, Will can keep his name, and Djaq...do you wish to go by your original name of Saffia or by Djaq still but change the spelling?"
"Actually, while Stefanie didn't outright admit who she was, she told me that she was choosing to go by the name of Steven which was close enough to her true name that she could remember it, and that sometimes females were given names that could have a male nickname, and that's what I've chosen to do, I shall now legally be known as Jacalin Scarlet, but prefer the nickname of Jack"
"Ah, you wish to be married to Will once more do you?"
"Yes"
"That's fine, we'll deal with that once everyone's names are dealt with, by the way Stefanie actually goes by two different names, though I don't know if she told you that aspect Robin"
"She did, when she wrote on the blade she gave me she had to explain everything that she had never explained before regarding her identity, though it wasn't a whole lot of new information since, again when she first joined the group she told me pretty much everything for safety reasons"
"I see, well for everyone else, you need to know that she either goes by Stefanie Kerenai or Stefanie of Cybertron due to her adoptive parents, which you'll be getting a full story on soon, I promise"
"By the way, she once sang a song in a different language, she told me later that it was from a country we have never heard of before due to the time period we lived in"
"Oh?"
"Yes, it goes like this"
With that Robin takes a deep breath and begins singing in Japanese though he didn't know what language it was called
*The heart is strong and yet at the same time is weak, I don't know how long I have until I return home, I know that I have a purpose here, but I don't know what that is, how can I have the strength to fight when all I've ever known is no longer what it was? I know that right now my family is both awake and not, they are worried about me and yet they do not know where I am, they also don't even know about me though I wish they would. I now know that I have a meaning here, though what it is I do not know, I hope that someday I can see my family again and tell them all I've seen and done, but until that day I will do what I can to keep my heart strong*
Robin finishes the song and then one of the EDC officers speaks up
"I'm surprised she slipped up bad enough to sing in a foreign language around you, she must have been in a bad place mentally at the time of that incident"
"What language is it anyways? I never asked and she never said"
"Japanese, it's from a country called Japan, I can show it to you on a map"
"I see"
Suddenly Robin catches Marian's eye, and boy had the gang been shocked to see Marian considering where they had buried her and they nodded
"When you arrange the marriage of Will and Jack, could you also arrange a marriage for Marian and I?, when...when we were in what's now called Israel we were married by King Richard right before Marian died and..."
"Of course Robin, after you pick out a last name"
"Marian, as my wife you have a say in what we'll be legally known as when we're officially married in this day and age"
"I choose Sherwood, I may have grown up with you being Robin of Locksley, but in all honesty ever since you came back from the Crusades the first time and wound up in Sherwood, you've been Robin of Sherwood to me, it's who you are...well, when you weren't being called Robin Hood that is"
"Then Robin and Marian Sherwood it is, we'll simply say the family took the name of the forest at some point in the past either in honor of our group or simply because they felt a connection to the woods"
"Actually, we already had a background created for the name Sherwood if you chose that, and I think you'll like the background too"
"Oh?"
"Yes, your family came to Nottingham during your time and heard of your death and took the name of Sherwood because they didn't have a last name themselves for some strange reason and took up the name of the woods nearby. And continued your work after your death was reported by becoming Robin of Sherwood, didn't matter if the person was female or not, they took up the name in secret"
"Makes sense, after all, Tuck was the last person alive and well..."
"We fought Prince, and eventually King John for another five years, but were all captured and either sentenced to live in prison or executed, as a priest I was given a life sentence along with Djaq and Will, but I survived longer than they did due to the conditions, they never found out Djaq was female by the way"
"I see, at least...at least you tried"
"Well, on that note there's still things you need to adjust to and then you can reunite with Stefanie, there is still a King or Queen of England, but things have changed and they don't have as much power as before, instead Parliament holds the most authority"
"Parliament?"
"Yes, like I said, there's still things you need to learn about and adjust to, I guess we haven't explained that part yet so how about we eat lunch and I'll explain while we do so"
And so during lunch the group hears the final part of information that they needed to know about the modern day regarding British politics
"Now then, you also still have to adapt to the technology of the day, but that will simply take time and exposure to it, we'll tell Stefanie that you're ready to see her now that you've started adapting to the present day as much as possible in the short amount of time that you've been awake"
"When will we see Stefanie?"
"Tomorrow, she finishing up some mandatory testing that needs done so that she's not only given a clean bill of health to return to school, but also know where she should be placed school wise, how far behind is she behind her age mates"
"Oh"
The next day Stefanie saw the group again for the first time together since the day she had parted with the group the day after Robin had died since she hadn't actually been there when they were revived"
"Hey Stefanie, how are you?"
"Fine really Robin"
"Good to hear, by the way, it will take a few weeks or so, but Will and Djaq will officially be Mr. and Mrs. Scarlet while Marian and I will be Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood"
"Ah, so you took the name of the forest as your last name instead of the name you were basically born with"
"Yes"
"By the way, what happened after you separated from us Stefanie?"
"Three days after we went our separate ways after Robin's death I returned to this time period and learned it had been five years since I had disappeared"
"The same amount of time you spent with us basically"
"Yeah, that was a relief in a way though"
"I'm sure it was, insisting you had five years of memories and yet for others a different amount of time had passed, possibly even less than what you remember might have been confusing, how did your tests go by the way?"
"I'm two years behind everyone my age, but it could have been worse in all honesty"
"Why would it...oh missing five years of schooling would affect things severely and if not for your vigilance in keeping up your skills as much as possible you would have fallen further and further behind, though I am wondering why you're attending a British school since we've been told you're actually a citizen of the US"
(Sighs) "I can't go home for reasons I can't really get into right now Robin, though admittedly some of it stems from my time in the past with you and the gang"
"You feel connected to this country in a way you don't feel connected to your home country anymore don't you?"
"Partly, but again there are other reasons, reasons I can't get into yet, but they're important all the same"
"I see...Stefanie, just how old are you anyways? I mean...you were just entering puberty when you joined us so I think you would be about seventeen or eighteen by now right?"
"I'm eighteen Robin, I mature slightly slower for reasons I can't get into quite yet, even if you know the truth about my family there's still something that you don't know that affects me in that aspect"
"I see, but still at least I judged your age fairly well"
"True, now then once you've adjusted a little more you need to figure out jobs"
"Well, I know for a fact that I want to join the EDC once we're allowed"
"I want to join the Air force, knowing that there are flying objects now and that females can join the fight to a degree is something that amazes me"
As it turned out Djaq also wanted to join the Air force alongside Marian and the rest of the group also wanted to either join the military or the EDC once allowed.
"Then that's what we'll do"
"By the way Stefanie, how have you been after finding out we could be brought back?"
"Okay though it was initially a shock, I had to ask the Primes and Galvatron about allowing you guys to be brought back in person, though they came to Britain since all three of them were in the US. I missed my family so much over the years and was very, very happy to see and talk to them again in Cybertronian"
"I'm sure you did, but why aren't you returning home? I know you said it was for complicated reasons but..."
"I guess part of the complicated reasons is the fact that I've grown to love England while stuck in the past, and...there are other aspects that I truly can't get into guys"
"Very well, will those of us joining the EDC get to meet your actual family at some point in time? I'm only asking because I'm willing to bet most people just see an EDC officer if needed instead of your true family, though how they adopted you is beyond me"
"A lot of complicated paperwork, some of which I personally went over due to my background"
The gang turned and had to look up as a giant robot was standing in front of them
"Prowl, what are you doing here when I know for a fact you're not even supposed to be on Earth right now?"
"Assigned to Britain until further notice, Barricade got transferred to Cybertron in my stead"
"Let me guess the Primes and Galvatron don't want me alone in Britain"
"Exactly, they want at least one family member with you at all times if possible due to your obvious PTSD from the time travel, and Robin, your group is also going to be watched carefully by us because you're going to have reverse PTSD or some other trouble while adjusting to a new time period"
"Thanks"
And so the group simply spent the rest of the day catching up with Stefanie and truly getting to know her in her rightful time and not needing to hide her gender. They also told Prowl and some EDC officers about the couple of times she had taken Robin's place when Robin was ill, or grieving over Marian so that no one knew that Robin was down and out, being the only person able to do so because of her skills with the bow and arrow. Over the years the group would faithfully serve Great Britain and the world, eventually retiring but always remembering what they did for England. As for Kerenai she would also join the EDC and work alongside the gang once more, actually giving up her life so that Robin and Much could live, alongside innocent civilians who had gotten caught up in the mess that ultimately killed her