Alright, first off, this took way too long I know, but here it is, the final chapter of Confusion. There will be a one-shot soon which can be seen as an epilogue of sorts to this story. If you are interested, please have a look at that, too. Now, on with the story.

Rei was having quite some difficulty to keep her ground. Not only was she fighting alone against three opponents who were more than formidable fighters, but she also knew there were quite a few even mightier enemies hidden amongst the shadows. She was actually fighting some of the weaker ones, and she was already at the edge of her capacity. She knew, with a fatal certainty, that no power they had held in before would be able to keep up with such power. Everything now depended on the plan Setsuna had formed. A plan that, as far she had understood, included Usagi marrying Mamoru because she loved him.

Of course she loved him! How could she have been stupid enough to believe that, just because she had spent a few nights with Usagi, something would change. She had been a nice distraction for Usagi's insecurities in her relationship with Mamoru, and she had been happy about it. Her worries that Usagi may care about Mamoru more than about her had demised the last night they had spent together, and when they had had sex that night, it had felt like they were truly making love. But Usagi had gone with Mamoru to be his queen once asked without a doubt, leaving her behind. She had not even called her.

She had no right to feel betrayed, after all they had never said that they were an item, but still it felt like that. She tried to fight back her tears: she had to hold her enemies back until the others arrived here, and she could not defeat them when her sight was blurred by tears. Instead, she put all her bottled up feelings into her attacks. She was the senshi of fire, her powers had always run on emotions, and they had never been as fierce as they were today. But even that was not enough. She had defeated the three she had fought in the beginning, and already another three appeared. They were much more dangerous than the others, more skilled fighters, and one seemed to have some power that allowed him to command the other two through his thoughts, as their attacks were always perfectly in sync with his. She knew her attempts to gain some control back were getting desperate, but there was nothing she could do about that. She was losing rapidly, and she knew it.

Just when she felt like she could not take any more, a small, silver crown rushed past her head. It reminded her faintly of Sailor Moon's tiara, but she knew instinctively that this was not the tiara of a princess but the crown of a queen. The most astounding about it was however that the crown was burning, fierce flames shooting out of it. The only one of the senshi who was able to wield fire had always been her, but now it seemed like Usagi could, too. Maybe with her transformation to queen she had gotten some of the abilities of her senshi, too. In the blink of an eye, it shot straight through the youma that had her cornered.

"I gotta say, these powers seem more promising than you throwing around glowing roses", Setsuna called out from behind Usagi.

Rei turned around to see Usagi, who seemed both relieved and astounded. After a few seconds, relief won out and Usagi ran over to Rei, throwing her arms around her neck and kissing her fiercely.

Rei was meanwhile mainly confused: just moments ago she had believed that Usagi was still in love with Mamoru after they had gone away with Setsuna. And now here Usagi was again, snogging the hell out of her with Setsuna only standing a few feet away. As good as it felt, Rei would not allow this kiss to continue. Gently she extricated herself from Usagi before stepping back.

"No. Please don't." It physically hurt Rei to say this, but she could not keep this up. Not with a married woman. "Don't. You're with Mamoru." She was fairly surprised that she was not crying at this point; the last few days she always had when thinking about it. It still was confusing her how strong her feelings for Usagi were. Their first kiss was barely a week ago, and this should thus have been barely more than a crush, despite the fact that they knew each other as friends for some time already. But now all she had wanted was for Usagi to somehow confirm that she was not interested in Mamoru by showing that she would not marry him. Clearly it had not worked, Rei thought, because Usagi very obviously was queen.

"I did not marry him. Setsuna misinterpreted the signs. I married you." As hesitant as Usagi was to admit her relationship with Rei in public, not so much because she was ashamed of being with her, but because the moment she did it would be obvious that she had cheated on Mamoru with her, now was not the time to be coy about it. And after all she had kissed Rei herself just a few moments ago.

Rei meanwhile was more than a little dumbfounded by the notion. She could not remember marrying Usagi. Nor did she have any blackouts, not even the first night with Usagi where she had been drunk. Seeing her confusion, Setsuna stepped in and quickly explained:

"A marriage by the stars is different to a common marriage. It is built on a deep mental, physical and spiritual connection and its date cannot be foreseen. Now that you are done chatting, would you please face your opponents? Rei, your words will be 'Royal Sailor Mars'. You'll have to think of Usagi while saying this."

Rei was quick to obey. As much as she was hotheaded sometimes, she also knew that right now was not the right time to be angry at Usagi for taking off while marveling at the fact that, despite what she had thought before, Usagi had not married Mamoru, but her. There were still quite some of their enemies left. So many, in fact, that she knew that only Usagi's increased powers might be able to save them. She briefly wondered if she had some extra powers too, now that she was co-queen, but quickly pushed the thought aside. Instead she concentrated on thinking about Usagi while saying the words Setsuna gave her.

At first, nothing felt different. But then she could feel the weight of a crown on her head, and she could feel the power that radiated from this new form. She was still a Senshi, but the energy she felt pouring out of herself was almost as strong as the one that surrounded Usagi right now. Also, Usagi's powers seemed to have increased tenfold the moment she transformed.

She could not remember clearly, just that she and Usagi had said some kind of incantation together and then their powers seemed to have merged into a giant explosion of pale white fire, white like the moon, blazing like Mars' flames. It had raced through the streets with the combined powers of the cool judgment of the moon and the hot anger of mars. But when the light went down and she could finally look around again nothing was damaged, just their enemies had vanished. It seemed kind of odd, like it was too easy. Those had been some of the most powerful creatures throughout the whole universe, or at least this galaxy, yet none seemed to have been able to withstand the onset of their combined powers. Even Setsuna, who had to have seen this in before, seemed perplexed. Rei could not see Usagi, but she could feel her near. It was her who voiced what they all thought first.

"What happened?"

"Well, you and Rei just defeated all of our enemies at once. How? No idea. Let me think about it a bit", Setsuna answered.

Ami stood up from behind the boulder they had all hid behind after the fiery wave had rolled at them. To her astonishment, it seemed that the fire had not caught them, but instead all the youma around them. All the more astonishing was the fact that even Minako, who had stayed outside when the wave hit, seemed to be completely unharmed. Speaking of Minako…

"What in God's name made you stay out there?"

The latter however seemed totally nonplussed. "Something constructed of love cannot harm someone with pure intentions, because they would be acting out of love anyways. This fire was nothing different."

Ami nodded. It made sense as Minako as the senshi of love could feel such things, but one question remained: "Who created this?" Sensing that she would not be getting an answer, she quickly added: "It doesn't matter anyway. We should see if the others are alright."

"Just because you love me doesn't mean that I stopped being mad at you for running off", Rei stated, but her tone lacked bite and she somehow failed the glare she had initially meant to show. She was way too relieved that she had been wrong with her assumption that Usagi chose Mamoru over her. She had not lied when she had said she was angry at Usagi, but right now other things seemed more important.

"Well, you're stuck with me", Usagi replied teasingly, looking at the other girl with a broad smile on her face.

Rei did not answer but instead simply kissed Usagi before whispering into her ear: "Don't think I will forget about you sneaking off so easily." letting her voice drop down to a sultry husk, she added: "I can, however, think of a few ways you can make it up to me."

"I really don't wanna think about what you're saying right now", sighed Setsuna from beside them.

"Then don't think about it", snapped Rei, before pulling Usagi in for another kiss.

Minako could not stop grinning at the display in front of them. Little Miss Innocent had her tongue down Rei's throat, displaying quite clearly that that was where Rei had gotten her hickey from a few days ago. She was surprised, yes, but really, love was a game, had always been one. Usagi had just slightly altered the rules of hers.

Mamoru had already left by that time, having decided that, as there was no immediate danger, he did not have the strength to see the girl he still loved kiss someone else who she was, as far as he had understood, even married to. But Minako knew that, even as he was completely devastated right now, the game would go on and he would find a new love. Upon closer consideration, maybe she could help him get over Usagi herself. He was a good looking guy, after all, and she was single right now.

Ami and Makoto, for their part, simply stared straight ahead, unable to comprehend what was happening in from of them. Finally, Makoto turned to Ami: "I win."

"You said that she would end up with Minako."

"I said that, true, but I simply bet you that she swung that way. So…" She held her hand open.

"Alright, alright", Ami sighed, before depositing 5000 yen [A/N: circa 50 dollar] in Makoto's hand. Minako was meanwhile occupied with appraising Rei's figure.

"You're right, I totally would tap that", she said, turning to Makoto.

"Aye to that", came the added comment from Haruka, which promptly earned her a hit in the arm by Michiru.

Usagi broke their kiss for a moment. Her eyes narrowed dangerously upon Minako.

Minako swallowed. "Would have", she corrected hastily. "I would have, you know, not now, since you're together and all that." Usagi shot her another warning glare before turning to Haruka. Michiru answered in Haruka's place by asking her wife sweetly:

"You don't want to sleep on the couch for the next year, do you?"

Satisfied, Usagi turned back, only to find Rei scowling at her.

"I can fend them off myself, baka."

Usagi eyed at her with a look of confusion and hurt. "But… I thought you would like me to defend you."

"I am not a sissy like you. I don't need defending."

Usagi gave Rei her best doe eyes, while whining: "Rei! Stop being mean to me."

"Then stop being dumb." Unfortunately, Rei had always been immune against Usagi's doe eyes.

Ami looked at the others, sighing: "Here we go again."

Makoto grinned. "They still have hundreds of years in front of them. Wanna bet that they kill each other on the way?"

Minako meanwhile simply eyed the display in front of her dreamily. "But this is wonderful."

Ami looked at her in confusion, before saying: "Okay, I'll bite. What is wonderful about them always fighting?"

"Just think of the amount of make-up sex they will have." Haruka started laughing, while the others stared at her in shock, before shouting in unison:

"Minako!"