Disclaimer

I don't own anything. RWBY is not owned by me. It is owned by talented people. I'm a nobody. Please don't sue me.

To the Future

The restaurant was fancier than anything Ruby and Yang had ever seen, if their wide eyes and gaped mouths were anything to go by. Even normally unflappable Blake was obviously impressed, although that may in part have had to do with what the restaurant was. Given her penchant for taking even the most questionable of the seafood rations over other picks it was no surprise that the finest sushi restaurant on Vale would interest her.

Weiss's family would've considered it to be a fine place to have a meal, but she'd routinely dined in places with more history, more expensive décor, and wider reputations than anything the frontier had to offer. Still, after so long eating nothing but rations after the real food supplies ran out she'd been overjoyed to arrange a reservation so quickly.

"So, I'm guessing you got your money?" Yang asked as she sat down.

"So much money," Ruby mumbled, still a little shell shocked from the recent transaction.

"I was satisfied with the price we reached," Weiss said casually.

"So much money," Ruby repeated.

Weiss was more than satisfied, actually. She'd been trained since childhood in business, and had done a variety of small jobs for her father over the years to prove herself worthy of someday inheriting the SDC. For all of that, it was rare to be able to upsell a commodity like Dust, but she'd managed to get a higher price given the high quality and large quantities she was selling all at once. Normally Vale had to put up with low grade Dust sold in meager volumes, as the SDC didn't want competition to form for their own high tech Dust products, and cutting edge devices needed the best possible Dust.

"So, paychecks?" Yang said, pulling out her scroll.

Weiss rolled her eyes but complied. She'd electronically transferred money to pay her entry fees and taxes immediately after receiving her payment for the cargo, and had also reserved the hanger for a month with the option of renting it for longer. She'd considered hiring contractors to do the repairs and upgrades, but decided to wait and work things out with Ruby first. She would be taking point on the work, and Weiss would hire whatever help and parts she wanted instead of just throwing money at the problem.

With the others paid she was finished with her financial obligations for the month, and with a little more light talk they placed their orders. Blake had enthusiastically ordered more than she could possibly eat, while Yang and Ruby had been a bit more leery.

"So it's… raw fish?" Yang said, flipping through the menu, trying to figure out how it all worked.

Blake wiped away the drool that had started to form during her epic order and rolled her eyes. "Do you want me to pick something out you'd like?"

Yang hesitated. "Is there anything I'd like?"

Blake shook her head, and started pointing things out. "There's plenty of dishes for beginners. Look, you might like-"

Ruby leaned over and whispered to Weiss while they were doing that. "I'm kinda with Yang on this one."

Weiss smirked. "I think after what we've been eating anything would taste good right now."

"Well… okay, maybe," Ruby agreed, shuddering as she remembered the rubbery 'omelette' she'd had for breakfast. "Still…"

"There are… challenging pieces of sushi, but most isn't that extreme," Weiss said. "Let's pick something out that you'll appreciate."

Once their order was settled they leaned back in their seats, looking at each other. "So…" Yang started. "We got here. And sold your stuff. So what now?"

"First of all, are we going to stay together?" Weiss asked. "You three were practically press-ganged into being my crew, but you agreed to stay until we reached Vale. Do you want to continue?"

"Will there be more sushi?" Blake asked with a perfectly straight face, although a slight glint in her eye told Weiss that she was just joking… mostly.

"I'm not sure what worlds we'll end up visiting," Weiss said, deciding on an honest answer. "Even with our cargo gone I want to stay well clear of the SDC, and that means sticking to the frontier. There are many worlds out here that need goods, and many produce things that we could sell elsewhere. Frontier colonies aren't exactly renowned for their prestigious restaurant scenes, however."

"Well, I don't know about the trading stuff, but checking out remote worlds sounds like fun," Yang said. "Probably lots of stuff out there nobody's seen, and lots of rough and tumble places to get into trouble. Count me in."

"Ruby?" Weiss asked, looking over at her.

Ruby looked surprised. "You even have to ask?"

Weiss shrugged. "Nothing's set in stone yet. If there were other ideas we could discuss them."

"No, that's fine," Ruby said, leaning over giving Weiss's cheek a quick kiss. "I just want to go out there and see… everything. The frontier sounds fine to me!"

Weiss smiled at her girlfriend warmly, and then turned her attention to Blake. "Blake?"

The cat Faunus looked between all three of them, obviously taking things seriously, before finally nodding. "I… after everything I didn't expect to find somewhere that I could be accepted, and especially I didn't expect it to be with humans, much less a Schnee. But… I can't think of anywhere in the universe I'd rather be than with the three of you."

"Aww, Blakey!" Yang cooed, pulling her into a hug. "We want you with us too!"

"Get off of me!" Blake forced out, struggling weakly. Yang had forced her head into her bosom, and Weiss chuckled slightly at how red the Faunus' face had become.

Once Yang let her go Weiss smiled and raised her glass. "To us. May we be successful and not get into danger for a long, long time."

"Aww, that takes all the fun out of it," Yang said, although she raised her glass as well.

"To the future," Blake agreed.

"To the future!" Ruby shouted.

It would be dangerous, exhausting, difficult work carving out a living as a trader on the frontier, but with her friends… her new family with her, there was nowhere else in the universe Weiss would rather be.

Author's Note

I'm dedicating this story to my father, who first introduced me to science fiction at a very young age. From Heinlein to Asimov, Traveler to Starfire, Star Trek to Babylon 5, my childhood was full of classic sci fi. He passed away while I was posting this story, and he will be dearly missed.

My plan for this story was to write it as a novel, and to give myself plenty of room for sequels if this story went over well and I enjoyed writing it. With… everything that happened in my life these past months I haven't been able to write much, so the sequel is still just a rough outline only partially committed to paper. I'm hoping RWBY vol. 7 gets my in the right state of mind to start writing again, since I have a lot of ideas for where to go next with this AU.

Thank you everyone who enjoyed this story, and I hope to have more for you to read in the not too distant future.