Prison was boring.

Halt would talk with Crowley, discussing random things. Often, they would spar or talk about how to escape. One day, for whatever reason, they'd started discussing family.

"My father hated us." Halt said wryly. "Well, stepfather anyway. Mother was usually very distant and always argued with my stepfather."

Crowley nodded thoughtfully. "I had a sister. Callisto. She died. Mom did, to."

Halt nodded.

"Home was very harsh." Halt said quietly. "Mom and dad would argue all the time. Mom was an alcoholic, dad would go out to clubs and bars a lot. My sister, twin brother, and I really didn't have any parents."

Crowley nodded. "I'm lucky, I guess." he said. For whatever reason, he sounded slightly bitter. "I had family-for a bit."

Halt decided not to press it.

At other times, they would listen for information. Crowley, for some reason, kept some old journal in his pockets as well as a pen. From his travels, he'd said. They'd written down whatever information they could find. 

Crowley, Halt found out, was good at hand-to-hand combat. They fought with different styles-Crowley's more fluid and elegant, Halt with quick jabs, punches, and brusque motions.

They sat in silence for a bit, thinking about their respective families. Crowley was the one to break the silence.

"Spar with me?" he asked. Halt shrugged. Couldn't hurt not to.

"If we can move with these shackles." he said wryly. Crowley grinned.

Morgarath, it seemed, had remembered that Halt and Crowley had powers that could enable them to escape. So, as a solution, he'd shackled their legs.

It made sparring harder and more interesting. Crowley, Halt found out, was pretty flexible. 

Standing up, Halt brushed bits of hay off his clothes and watched as Crowley did likewise.

They watched each other warily, then Crowley attacked. The redhead jumped and kicked at Halt, who blocked the kick and moved forwards to get inside Crowley's guard. Crowley simply flipped away and threw a punch. Halt deflected it and aimed a jab at Crowley's stomach, who blocked it with ease and twisted, throwing an elbow straight at Halt's gut.

"....monsters from Tartarus..."

Crowley and Halt glanced at each other, then they both paused to listen. Hopefully they could find some information.

"He plans to use some sort of device to draw electricity, is what I heard." one guard said. "Something about 'atoms' and 'carbon'?"

"I doubt it." another one said. "I think he just needs to create something to liberate monsters reforming in Tartarus. With all those under control-"

Crowley glanced at Halt, who shrugged. He wasn't very surprised at that plan.

"Yeah, and he'll need electricity to do that." one said. "Electricity can jumpstart the life process."

Halt glanced at Crowley, who was writing everything down at breakneck speeds.

"The gods don't deserve to be the rulers." one guard commented.

Halt strained to hear more, but the footsteps had faded away.

Crowley looked at him, head tilted in thought and had Crowley always had those long eyelashes and full lips and....

Halt tore his mind away from those thoughts and concentrated again on the information they'd received.

"Probably not the Titans" he said, "or the giants."

Crowley nodded. "Nyx, maybe? Or Tartarus?"

Halt nodded. 

They sat in silence, Crowley leaning against the table and Halt sitting against the wall.

"Prison's boring." Halt said, sighing.

Crowley arched a single brow. "Don't forget, you were the one who wanted to stay. Do we have enough information and can I break us out or are we forced to stay here?"

Halt groaned. "Fine, let's go." he said.

Crowley grinned. "Finally." he said, satisfied. Pulling out his little sphere, he pressed it against the shackles.

A burst of dancing purple flame appeared from the sphere, melting down the metal shackles. Crowley hissed in shock as a tongue of flame seared his bare ankle before quickly moving to his other shackle.

Halt waited patiently for Crowley to finish, then took the sphere from him and applied it to his own chains.

Finally, after several minutes of annoying pain, Halt stood up and held out a hand to Crowley.

"Let's go." he said.

Crowley grinned and took Halt's hand, pocketing the journal with his other hand.

Halt stepped into the shadows and they vanished without a trace.