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The moment reality hit him is the moment he began struggling.He threw his head back, moved his arms in their grip, and plants his feet into the ground, trying to get free of their grasp, but they neither of them budge.”Lotor!” he yells, a grunt escaping his lips as they tighten their grip. Another comes to join them, wrapping arms around his legs even as he starts to kick. He’s lifted off of the ground completely, losing any semblance of dignity he might’ve had before. “Lotor, this— you can’t do this! Let go of me! Stop! Lotor, stop!”He watches Lotor as he flicks his hand, and his heart stops. Someone’s approaching him with a muzzle, for god’s sake, and his eyes widen in fear. He can’t have a muzzle. He can’t.”No,” he breathes, fear curling inside of his gut. “Lotor, no, don’t—“No matter how hard he fights, though, the muzzle is secured around his face, digging hard into his nose and chin. His hands are restrained next, with a length of rope, and his ankles handcuffed together. “Take Keithbto the chiller,” Lotor says, his regal voice dark and dangerous. Keith shakes his head, silently begging him to not do this. “A day or two in there should teach him not to mess with us, don’t you think, Ezor?”The one on his right grins viciously and nods, tugging him along with a tight, iron grip on his bicep.”Lotor, stop!” He says, but he hears it come out more as “Mmph, mmph!”, muffled from the muzzle. He jerks in their grip, desperately trying to get free despite it being nearly impossible, and screams as loud as he can with the muzzle covering the lower half of his face.He almost gets free, this time, by some miracle, but they fix their grip and someone else is coming towards him, and—A sharp pain bursts from the back of his head and spreads until all he can see is darkness.An icy chill was itching beneath his skin, making his fingers and toes numb, and even some parts of his hands. As well as that, he couldn’t feel his ears or his ass, and his runny nose was basically frozen over.He had no idea how long he had been sitting here for, but any energy he had earlier had been sapped out of him due to his increasing time spent in the freezer.He had already explored as much as he could when he had first woken up, but he wasn’t able to find more than his discarded muzzle and four pairs of white, frozen walls. He had tried banging on the door, too, but to no avail; there was no answer.The room only grew colder the longer he sat there, though he had stopped shivering long ago. He only felt numb, now, and he aches for the warmth he doubted he would ever feel again. If Lotor had ordered them to put him in here for more than a day, then... there was a chance he would forget about him and Keith would be left in here to rot, like all of Lotor’s old bedwarmers (because even though he denied it, that’s all he was. Someone for Lotor to fuck to de-stress.He wanted to be more, though).Slowly, his body listed sideways, and he hit the cold ground. It made his skin tingle, but nothing else. He sniffles and dragged his legs towards him, the cold snapping his energy and making it hard for him to even do the smallest movements, like making a fist.He curled himself into as tight as a ball as he could and rested his cheek against the floor, inhaling shakily. His exhale came out in a foggy cloud that blew pat his face and made him cough violently.All he had to do to survive this was breathe, right? So long as he kept breathing, maybe the cameras would pick him up, and someone would come get him.Inhale, exhale.Inhale, exhale.Inhale.”Do you think he’s learned his lesson, Axca?”She nods. He had stopped moving several hours ago, and it was even more worrisome that she couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not.”I believe so as well. Leave him there for another hour and then we shall pull him out.”Again, she nodded, but hesitance and caution lingered in the back of her brain as she pursed her lips. She’s not too certain he’ll last another hour in the chiller, but she won’t speak les she get thrown in there, as well. “Yes, sir.”Inhale, exhale.Inhale—The door is opened with a loud bang, and Keith lifts tired eyes to a blurry, blob of purple standing inside of the metal doorway. His first thought is Lotor, but then they move, and he sees orange.Ezor.”C’mon, bitch,” he hears her say, through dulled and muted hearing, “Lotor wants to take you to the colder one. He doesn’t think you’ve learned enough, yet.””No,” he croaks, voice scratchy and rough, cracking in the middle.Despite what he says, he doesn’t have any energy left to fight her as she grabs him by the arms and hauls him to shaky legs. He nearly crumbles with his own weight, but she tightens her grip and force she him to stay upright on buckled knees. “Yes, dumbass,” she mutters, obviously annoyed, and groans dramatically and loudly when his legs don’t move. She pulls him forwards, skipping every few steps, and drags him through the very door she had just barged into.A warm gust hits him, then, and he nearly sobs in relief before pain sparks in his head and the world goes dark once again.”Ezor,” Lotor growls, standing up from his plush, violet chair. The collar and chains hanging off of the arm rest were empty; devoid of any new bedwarmers or Keith. “Where is he?””Where’s who, Lottie?” She asks, smiling innocently with her hands clasped behind her back. She bounces on the balls of her heels, giggling when Zethrid smirks beside her.”Do not call me that,” he snaps, some of his composure slipping, “Tell me where he is or you’ll be in that freezer next.””Oh...” She hums, faking pondering, then bounces higher, clapping her hands together in front of her when Lotor is nearly a breath away. “He’s in the smaller, mobile chiller! I paid the driver to drive him off a cliff.”Inhale, exhale.Inhale, exhale.They’re coming for him.Lotor is coming for him. He can’t leave him here.The floor rumbles beneath him.Lotor is coming.He has to.