Author's Note: Prompt suggested by rachel_rose.


B is for Bravery


Dipper had was convinced herself that she had been ready to take on firefighting…right up until the moment when the team deployed on their first blowup. As the air became more turbulent above the flames, everything started to wrong. At first, she laid a line down wrong, which shook her up further and caused her to have two more bad drops. Finally, the Chief had given up on putting her on the point of the fire, and put her in charge of placing retardant lines on windward side of the burn area.

The flying boat knew that her performance that day had been a complete disaster…but it was not until she landed safely back at base and couldn't stop herself from shaking on her tries that she realized that she was not only a useless firefighter she was also a coward.

"I…" She couldn't look at the base's chief in the face as tears started to well up in the corner of her eyes. "I don't know if I can do this."

The plane's words hung for what felt like an eternity and in that eternity, Dipper half convinced herself that she was a complete an utter failed. She had honestly considered firefighting to be her last sheltered port in the storm her life had become…and now, it looked like she wasn't even worthy of that port. She really, really didn't want to be thrown out, but she understood that if she was incapable of facing the flames without becoming a quivering mess, she would never successfully become part of the team. These aircraft and ground pounders were some of the bravest vehicles that Dipper had ever met…and she simply didn't hold a candle to them.

"Bravery and courage are not a lack of fear." Windlifter measured calm broke Dipper's panicked line of thinking. "They are the strength to face your fears in order to help others."

"Unless it involves a smokejumper, than it involves a health dose of stupidity mixed in there." Maru, the base mechanic muttered under his breath just lowed enough for Dipper to hear him.

"Maru." Chief Rangers' voice was soft but filled with a firm enough warning that Dipper couldn't stop her eyes from flickering upwards. There were many things that the flying boat expected to see in the face of the Fire Chief, but what she saw surprised her. The stern helicopter was giving her a look of patience, understanding, and concern.

In that moment, Dipper couldn't keep the flood gates closed and sobs poured as the effects of adrenaline started to fade. "I screwed up so badly…"

"I will admit you had a bad series of runs out there, but any fires that everyone comes home safe from is a success in my book." The helicopter in front of her was clearly trying to comfort her, but Dipper still had a hard time believing his words.

"I…" The plane tried to speak, but the words got stuck in her throat as the tears leaned down her cheeks.

"You are coming down from an adrenaline high." The sigh on the edge of Chief Ranger's voice was well hidden, but still detectable, and it brought Dipper an unbelievable level of relief. She might be broken, but if the Chief was acting this way, she was clearly not the first plane to fall apart on their first real mission line this. "Give yourself some an hour or two to let your systems cool off, then report to my hanger. Patch and I will give you a proper debriefing then."

"Yes sir…" Dipper managed to squeak out before both Chief Ranger and Windlifter rolled off towards the Chief's hanger. Maru stayed a moment longer, to give her a soft pat on his side then he headed to his hanger to putter around on some task.

That left Dipper standing on the tarmac alone with two pieces of knowledge. First that she was a useless firefighter and a coward….and second, the members of the Piston Peak Air Attack team were willing to give her time to learn to be brave.