In the darkness

"I'll keep my word. That stupid bitch will be free", Despina said, watching Cole put his clothes on.

"I want to see you let her go...", he said firmly. Cole wasn't stupid. Despina was a liar and he needed to know if she would keep her word to him.

"Don't you trust me?", she grinned, circling him.

"No, I don't...", he replied truthfully.

"Very smart of yours... But don't worry, you'll see the witch getting free", she said, caressing his face and kissing him.

She took his hand and they went to the dark room where Phoebe was trapped. But to Despina's surprise, the room was empty: "Where that stupid witch is?", she yelled furiously.

"I have no idea!", Cole said honestly.

Despina started to walk from one side to another, trying to understand how Phoebe managed to escape. And she felt her entire body shaking in anger when she found out that Kaliel had disappeared too.

It didn't take much time, until she could understand what was happening. Her best warrior betrayed her. And certainly Cole took part in this trickery:

Suddenly she turned to him: "You... You knew that, don't you?'.

Cole stepped back, seeing the madness in her eyes: "I had no idea...".

"You... betrayed me... You damn liar... you used my feelings for you to manipulate me!", she approached him. "I would never trust you... You're dangerous. I can't keep you alive. Not after this", she said, forming a shadow knife in her right hand.

Cole didn't have time to react. Despina stabbed him in the stomach: "You won't die quickly... You'll suffer a slow and painful death, my unfaithful bird", she said, her eyes full of anger.

Cole fell down on his knees and just watched her left him behind. He was there, lying on the floor, knowing that he would certainly die this time. And the first thought that crossed his mind was his family. He didn't care about the pain he was feeling, he only cared about the ones he loved. Ben, I'm sorry, he whispered to himself, putting his hand on the injury.

In San Francisco, the Charmed Ones, Ranya, Jack and Kaliel were preparing themselves to go to the Land of Shadows.

"I hope the spell works", Piper said about the spell she wrote with Paige.

"Me too", Ranya said coldly. She was still pissed off with Phoebe. She couldn't believe that stupid bitch was responsible for Cole being trapped.

They started to chant the spell that would lead them to the Land of Shadows:

Magical forces, open the gate

Guide me through time and space

Take me to the land of darkness

Where the shadows hide.

Suddenly, the group felt transported to the Land of Shadows.

"Are you ready?", Ranya asked to the Charmed Ones and Jack.

They nodded and immediately Ranya called for Despina, imposing her light in the middle of the darkness.

It take only a few seconds until Despina appeared, followed by Barbas and two warriors. She looked angrily at them, noticing Kaliel's presence there: "You betrayed me... You... My best warrior".

Kaliel replied nothing. He just raised his head. He didn't care about Despina anymore, he only wanted to take his chance of redemption.

Piper, Paige and Phoebe looked at each other and started to chant the spell to strip Despina from Erebus powers:

In this place, in this hour

We call Erebus' powers

Magical forces, bring his powers here

Magical forces, set Despina free

"What?", Despina asked in surprise, as she felt Erebus' powers leave her body. A black cloud rose out of her and she felt powerless.

"Now!", Ranya yelled and Piper open a small box.

The black cloud floated into the box and Piper closed it.

"The power... Dammit!", Barbas muttered to himself, seeing Despina fell on her knees. He throw an energy ball at them, but Paige created a reflecting shield, using the ring Ranya gave too her.

"I rock, you suck!", she yelled, happy for finally use her ring properly.

Piper used her arrow and targeted one of the warriors, as Kaliel fought the other. Ranya took advantage of the fact that the spell weakened Despina and attacked her with her daggers.

Seeing that he would be vanquished by the Charmed Ones again, Barbas decided to flame out of the Land of the Shadows: "You'll see me again... Fear always comes back, so do I", he said disappearing from there.

"Coward!", Piper yelled. Barbas managed to escape one more time. And she knew that one day he would appear to torment her family.

Kaliel had no problems to vanquish his old fellow. He was always the most powerful of Despina's warriors and managed to win his battle. The knight just evaporated into a plume of smoke.

Kaliel kissed his sword, the only thing he decided to keep from his old life.

"What?", she asked to Paige, who was looking surprised at him.

"Dude, you're weird", she replied simply, as Piper rolled her eyes.

The group just watched the battle between Ranya and Despina. The shadow queen was visible weakened after lost Erebus' powers and the guardian took advantage of that.

But Despina didn't give up and hurl a lightning bolt against the guardian. She fell on her knees, crying in pain. "I know what you want, you stupid", the goddess shouted at her. "But you can't have him... not anymore".

"Cole", Ranya whispered. "What did you do to him?".

"I told you once... If I can't have him, then neither can you", Despina said nastily. Phoebe's heart froze in fear when she heard that. Cole, she said quietly. She felt useless and helpless. She put him in this situation and could do nothing to save him.

On the other hand, Ranya said nothing, she just stood up, ignoring the pain, and ran at Despina full of anger. She bury her dagger on her stomach. The evil queen yelled in pain, as she felt the weapon sliced her flesh: "You... You can't save him...".

"He's alive, I can feel him, Despina! And I will save him from you", Ranya said with satisfaction, seeing the goddess falling on her knees. "We need to find Cole, before her warriors can sense our presence here", she turned to Piper, Paige, Phoebe and Jack. She knew that Despina couldn't be vanquished. She was just weakened for a while and they needed to take advantage of that.

Ranya sensed the place where Cole was. And when she finally get there, she almost felt her heart stopped. He was bleeding, clearly in pain.

Cole was almost dying.

Phoebe gasped. She knew that was her fault. If it wasn't for her, he would be fine now. "Cole...", she moaned.

"We need to get out of here", Kaliel said.

Ranya wrapped Cole in her arms and they chanted the spell to left the darkness land:

Magical forces, open the gate

Guide me through time and space

Take me to Adila, Land of Light

Where I belong for a long time

Ranya took a deep breath when she finally found herself home with the man she loved in her arms. But Cole was badly injured and Jack needed to be fast in order to save him. After all, that was all that mattered to her.

"Are you satisfied? Because of you, he almost died in that horrible place", Ranya whispered in Phoebe's ear.

"I already said I'm sorry... There's nothing more I can do...", Phoebe said, trying to hold back the tears from streaming down her face.

"Of course, there is...", Ranya interrupted her. "Leave him alone... for good".

Phoebe looked at her and nodded. She always ended hurting Cole somehow and this needed to stop. "You don't need to worry about me, Ranya... I know I lost him... I know I have no right to have him in my life".

Jack placed his hand over Cole's open wound and smiled satisfied when his hands began to glow with the warm and bright light.

When his wound disappeared, Cole finally open his eyes and, looking up at the group around him, he asked: "What happened?".

"You're at home", Ranya said softly, falling upon him and covering his face with kisses.

A/N: Thank you for the reviews and I'm sorry for the delay, but I'm not good with battle scenes.

I have to say that I still don't know if Paige should tell Cole about the spell she casted on him and drove him crazy. What do you think?

I know people... You want to fry Phoebe, but I still think Cole should forgive her (not come back to her, but forgive at least)... I don't know...