Work Text:
GZ sat in the corner of his cramped cell, helm resting against the wall as he stared blankly in front of him. For the first time since he had met Silver Castle, his tank was full. And he had... GZ turned his head away as he purged his tanks. Oil, shards of metal, and circuitry splattered against the ground, mixing with the massive mess that was already beside him. The hockey leaguer swallowed roughly, the taste of heated oil thick in his mouth. "FLS..." he murmured, wiping at his face in a useless attempt to clean it. "FLS, don't worry. We can make it together."
"But GZ, you have us," someone else said lightly, their voice filled with amusement. "Silver Castle will help you."
GZ slowly looked up, his eyes locking onto his captor's crimson ones. "Not feeding me isn't helping me," he pointed out quietly.
"I'm trying to teach you to not depend on others," Frontier said kindly, spreading his hands as if to show he was harmless. "And you're doing a marvelous job. So independent! Very capable too. You took that leaguer down all by yourself; not to mention how weak the lack of oil must have made you. I'm very proud of you, GZ. You've made so much progress already."
The praise warmed GZ, his eyes falling back to the mess beside him. "FLS," he said brightly, ignorant of the fact that the leaguer was offline and beyond repair. "Did you hear? I'm... I'm making progress. He's proud of me. Frontier is proud of me."
Frontier chuckled softly, watching the former search and rescue leaguer before him. "Show him how much progress you're making," he suggested.
GZ started, looking back up at the baseball leaguer. "A-are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. "What if he doesn't care?"
The pale grey leaguer sighed, shaking his head and began to walk forward. Something crunched under his cleated foot, although Frontier hardly seemed to care. The broken remains appeared to be an optic, but before GZ could get a good look, Frontier was crouching in front of him. "Any true friend would care about how much you’ve grown as an Iron Leaguer," he said, resting one hand on GZ's oil covered cheek.
"But you said Dark is evil, sir. What if he isn't truly my friend?" GZ asked, fear spiking through him as he wondered if he had actually been kind to an enemy.
"GZ, please, call me Frontier," the baseball leaguer said earnestly. "And even if FLS isn't your friend, I and the rest of Silver Castle are. You can trust us."
GZ stared into his eyes and upon seeing nothing but sincerity, turned away sheepishly. "Th-thank you... Frontier," he murmured, his cheeks growing warm.
The other leaguer moved away after a moment, bending over to pick something up. "I'll tell you a secret though," Frontier said as he stood back up and looked over his shoulder at GZ. "Come here."
A sound almost like nails scraping against a chalkboard filled the small grey room before abruptly cutting off as Frontier tossed something to the side. It bounced off of the wall with a loud clang, catching GZ's curious gaze. He almost wished he hadn't looked. Half of the leaguer's helm had been torn off, one eye still attached along with circuits and wires covered in oil from burst tubing. "GZ."
Swallowing the urge to once more empty his already bare tanks, GZ shakily stood and walked to Frontier's side. "The secret," Frontier began, ignoring GZ's horrified look. "Is the processor. They taste much better when the leaguer is still alive, but even if they aren't, it still has a bit of kick to it."
"That's..." GZ trailed off, hand flying up to cover his mouth as his tanks rebelled against the thought.
"Disgusting, right?" Frontier said quietly, eyes going distant as he recalled some memory from long ago. "But I'm better than he is. I'm not forcing you to eat it."
GZ felt there was something more to the baseball leaguer’s words but he didn't press. After all, what could be worse than what he himself had already done? "It's... okay," GZ forced out. "I...I need to refuel, don't I? And if that's so, then I should... I should find something to fill my tanks. And you want to help me. You want to teach me. Silver Castle is my friend, and... and maybe you're right. But I don't like this."
"I understand," Frontier said simply, watching as GZ hesitantly tore off part of the processor. The hockey leaguer swallowed nervously as he stared down at the chunk of processor he held, then closed his eyes and brought his hand up to his mouth. It crunched between his teeth and GZ's eyes snapped open in surprise. He made short work of that piece, then grabbed for more with eager hands.
"It's necessary for survival."