Sidus stared at the waters as their small boat, crammed to the gills, cut through the waters away from Gauldin Quay. The ruined Gauldin Quay.

They'd pulled the boat up to the end of the dock only to have people fleeing towards their vessel running from Daemons. Sidus gripped the sword Noctis had given him and thrown it warping into the fray slashing at a skeleton daemon barely saving a blonde woman in a red and black outfit and a man in a nice shirt and pants.

"Get out of here!" Sidus ordered as he tried to use his powers like he'd seen Noctis do. It was….rough going. He could only summon about six floating weapons and they didn't last long. Some copy he was. He couldn't even copy that right!

"Sidus!" Diana had arrived and she held her hand out and golden light blasted forth vaporizing those daemons nearby and repelling those farther away. The bad part was she slumped to her knees with a nosebleed.

"Diana!"

"We've got her! Focus on getting back to the boat. All the survivors have been rounded up," Gladio yelled. Sidus turned and saw Gladio was just behind him. He nodded and backed up as Mercury and Prompto covered their exits with their guns.

"So kid, how's it that you're a dead ringer for Prince Noctis and have his powers?" it was that guy he saved.

"To that he has a firm "No Comment," Dino," Ignis had appeared in the nick of time.

"Wowza! What happened to your—I mean, sorry about your, uh, loss," Dino said.

"It will take some time, but I will adjust. Sidus, Diana has been asking for you," Ignis said. Sidus nodded and followed Ignis into a small section of the deck that had been crudely curtained off for Diana to rest and recover in.

"Really, or were you just getting me away from that guy?" he asked.

"Both," Ignis said. Sidus saw a smirk for the first time since….

"Sidus, you're alright," Diana was sitting up. She looked a little pale, but she was otherwise ok.

"Forget me, what about you?" Sidus asked. He crouched next to her.

"I overdid it, but in time I'll figure out how to use my powers…safely," Diana said.

"Yeah, me too," Sidus said.

"Dude! Next time, don't go into that without me!" Mercury said.

"Dude?" Diana had an eyebrow quirked.

"Prompto says it a lot and I like it!" Mercury replied.

"We've almost reached Cape Caem," Ignis said.

"Alright, Listen up! We're about to land. You're to file off the boat without panicking into the hanger bay and wait there until we tell you it's safe to go out. It might be a tight squeeze, but until the trucks arrive to get you all to Lestallum, your safe bet is to wait here," Gladio yelled.

"You're supposed to wait here!" it was an older lady. Sidus, Mercury, and Diana had been ascending the stairs to the elevator out. They exchanged looks and sat down.

"Ah, there you guys are!" Prompto popped down.

"That lady said we're supposed to stay here," Mercury said.

"Nah. You guys are sticking with us for a while, so you need to come with me. Oh. Hey! The trucks will be here in five minutes!" There was a general cheer from the survivors of Gauldin Quay. They arrived at the top to see Gladio sprinting off into the darkness, sword on his shoulder, shield out. There, in the distance were daemons attacking the trucks. Sidus summoned his sword and threw it warping with a stumble before he warped again and caught up to Gladio.

"Kid, get back!"

"No. I can do this," Sidus said. Gladio just growled and kept running. Sidus kept up as best he could, and when the largest Daemon was in view Sidus stopped took a breath and warped at it. He flipped off and landed roughly but it was enough to get the first truck away. Gunshots rang out, joining the others and another truck got past. The final truck was totaled, but the driver made it out fine..

"The night fell too damned fast!" a driver said once they were safely behind the lights around Cape Caem.

"Gladio, the headlights we salvaged from the Regalia—." Ignis began.

"On it."

"No ya'll are going to have to follow real close behind one another but these lights'll keep the daemons at bay," Cid explained. The two trucks were filled to bursting.

"Also, for safety, I'll be tagging along," Gladio said.

"Me as well." A wild Cor had appeared!

"What about me?" Prompto said.

"You and Iggy need to stay here and help protect the others," Gladio said. Prompto nodded after a moment.

"The younger ones are up a top the light house," Ignis said finding his way over with his cane. His balance was improving.

"Better make sure they don't fall!" Prompto said dashing off.

"Younger ones?" Cid asked. Prompto didn't stick around for the explanation. He had to find his fellow clones. Wow that was a weird fact he still hadn't really absorbed. He was a clone. Did that mean he was going to suffer clone degeneration or something like clones always did in Sci-Fi movies? Prompto used the lift to ascend to the top of the light house. Mercury was leaning over the edge dangerously while Sidus was sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest as he looked over the ocean. Diana was hovering near Mercury.

"Hey," Prompto said. Mercury waved back nearly losing his balance, forcing Diana to grab his belt loops.

"The people in the trucks looked at me like I was some sort of freak," Sidus said.

"Most people don't have magical powers like you, Diana, or N-Noct," Prompto said sitting next to Sidus.

"You, Iggy, and Gladio have powers," Sidus said.

"Because of our connection to Noct," Prompto said.

"I could lend people powers too?" Sidus said.

"Yeah, probably," Prompto said, "But not too many people. You'd need the Ring for more and it….it's with Noct."

"Oh," Sidus said.

"So, uh, what was it like with your handler?" Prompto asked.

"She was ok, I guess. Kind of cold. Never called me anything other than "boy" or "the subject." I hadn't know this wasn't normal until I got curious and used the internet to find other books than what I'd been assigned and realized in every text I read children had names and weren't treated like…animals," Sidus said, "It wasn't long after that she noticed I was too "sympathetic" with others and that I wasn't…properly loyal to the Empire's cause."

"I was raised in a similar fashion," Diana said, "Though, my handler was not quite as cold as he could have been, he treated me as more of an object than a girl."

"My training officer was executed," Mercury said, "He got too attached to me and for ruining a precious resource of the empire, he was executed and I was to be studied as a defect and destroyed."

"My folks were ok at first, but as time went on they…spent more time outside the apartment to the point I was pretty much on my own by the time I was Mercury's age," Prompto said. The three had moved closer to him. They were touch starved. Much like he'd been at one point in his life. He pulled them all into a group hug.

"Prompto's been out there for a while," Iris said. Ignis was sitting at the table slowly sipping one of his stashed cans of Ebony, Iris was trying not to stare at his scars.

"The light in the Lighthouse should keep him safe," Ignis said.

"Why is he up there?" Iris asked.

"He is comforting the three children we've brought back with us," Ignis said.

"There are kids up there?" Iris said loudly.

"Yes," Ignis replied.

"Iris?" Talcott walked sleepily down the stairs rubbing his eyes.

"Talcott," Iris said rushing over to him, "Did you have another nightmare?" Talcott shook his head.

"Just couldn't sleep after the news about his Majesty…" Ignis sighed. It hadn't been easy informing the others about Noctis. It was why they'd held off introducing Sidus, Diana, and Mercury to them just yet, along with Prompto's true origins.

"Prompto will probably be inside soon enough. No need to wait up," Ignis said. Iris escorted Talcott upstairs to the room she, Talcott, Dustin, and Monica shared. A mirror of the room he and the others used while at Cape Caem. Prompto quietly walked a short while later with the kids on his heels.

"We're beat, so we're hitting the hay early," Prompto said as he led them to the stairs, "Have you got this?"

"I will be fine. I remember the layout of the house," Ignis said.

"We'll be leaving your usual bed empty," Prompto said.

"Thanks," Ignis said.

Prompto hovered as the kids got ready for bed, but it turned out however they'd been raised, they could do this mundane task. He used some of the extra clothing they'd left behind to use for sleep clothes. One of Gladio's rarely worn T-shirts was the perfect size for a night gown for Diana. They showered ridiculously fast. A mere fifteen minutes later all three were showered and ready to sleep. Prompto showered last, emerging just in a tank top and boxers. The three kids had climbed into the same bed and were curled up together. It made Prompto's heart clench a little. He took his own bed, which was next to theirs, and finally let himself fall into a deep sleep.

Weak light illuminated the room. Iris yawned as she entered to wake Prompto and Ignis. Ignis was already up and slowly, and clumsily shaving his face. Very few nicks on his cheeks and chin showed that he was managing without help. Gladio's designated bed was empty. Prompto's blonde hair slightly glowed in the dark in his bed next to it, but the bed next to the window, Noctis's bed, had lumps under the covers.

"Ignis, who's that?" Iris asked. Ignis cursed. She'd startled him and he'd sliced his cheek.

"Those are three children Prompto rescued while he was on his own in Niflheim," Ignis said after he finished shaving and fumbled for something to clot the blood with. Iris pulled out a handkerchief, it was her fault after all. She looked at the heads on the bed and in the light she could make out two nearly glowing blond heads of hair and one dark head, on the end.

"Are they related?" Iris asked.

"Not to each other, but they are rather attached to one another and to Prompto," Ignis said once he finished with the cuts on his face. He used his cane and proceeded to the door. Iris could take a hint and followed him out.

"How old are they?" Iris asked.

"Twelve. Not much younger than you," Ignis said.

"Prompto saved them? From what?" Iris asked. There was a beat and Ignis sighed.

"The empire was up to some vile human experimentation," Ignis explained, "The least of which was cloning and then experimenting on those clones."

"Wait, so cloning is real?" Iris said a tad loudly.

"Yeah,"—yawn—"it's real alright." Prompto was awake but the kids weren't.

"That's terrible," Iris said.

"Which part?" Prompto asked looking into her eyes.

"Most of it, don't clones start off as babies?" Iris said.

"Yeah," Prompto said, "Some have their DNA messed with and their aging sped up."

"That's just awful, what were they cloning kids for?" Iris asked.

Prompto silently walked to the table and sat down. He looked like a heavy weight was on his back as he sighed. He pulled out recorders from his subspace as well as a few files.

"I….took this from the facility as I went," Prompto said gesturing to the pile of things he produced. He searched through the pile and offered Iris one sheaf of paper in particular.

"Bar-bar codes…year commissioned…..Oh Six, MT's were…." Iris looked up the stairs, "Were they supposed to be MT's?"

"One was," Prompto said before he held his arm up, "So was I."

"You're a clone too!" Iris said, "Does Gladdy know? Did Noctis know?"

"We all knew before Noctis's…disappearance," Ignis said. Iris had forgotten he was there.

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't really react much better to finding out I was a clone," Prompto said looking up at her with watery violet eyes. Iris felt horrible.

"I'm sorry, it's just to know that all this time MT's were actual people…" Iris said.

"Were. The man we were all cloned from had twisted them into monsters," Prompto said looking down at his own code print, "Mercury was considered a defect. He didn't age any faster than normal. They were going to kill him after they figured out what went "wrong" with him."

"Prompto?" Mercury was at the top of the steps rubbing his eyes as he sleepily made his way down, drawn to Prompto as if by a magnet. He was in the chair next to him in an instant. Iris could easily see the eerie resemblance between the two. Mercury was Prompto, only smaller.

"Hey, sleep alright?" Prompto asked messing with Mercury's hair.

"I didn't dream at all, so I guess," Mercury said.

"Mercury this is Gladio's younger sister, Iris. Iris, this is my little brother, Mercury," Prompto gestured between the two. Sleepy violet eyes blinked at Iris and there was a nod of acknowledgment.

"We are going to need to procure more clothing that fit Mercury, Diana, and Sidus," Ignis remarked.

"Yeah, but we can just wash what they have, right?" Prompto said.

"With as weak as the sun has been, I wouldn't want to try it," Iris said.

"There are two boys and a girl. Perhaps she could borrow some of your spare things," Ignis said.

"Sure. I should have an extra outfit or two that might be small enough," Iris said standing, "Does she have a favorite color?"

"It's a light blue," Mercury said, "Like Sylla Blossoms."

"The boys will have to make due with what we can make fit them, as will Diana," Ignis said.

Diana was the next awake, after Prompto and Mercury had gone back up stairs and Prompto changed into proper clothing and managed to find a pair of draw string shorts for Mercury he could pull tight to keep them up, though they looked ridiculously baggy. Dang, still needed to dress Sidus. Prompto hunted through their left over clothing and came up empty handed until he found a really mangled pair of Noct's jeans (he'd gotten attacked by a sahgin while fishing for dinner once). Prompto ran out of the room.

"I need a pair of scissors!" he was down the stairs in a flash. Talcott was awake.

"Hey, Talcott!" Iris walked over and slapped a pair of scissors in his hands as well as a sewing kit.

"Thanks!" Prompto ran up the stairs and jerked his head at Mercury, which clued the smaller blond into following him.

"I forgot this place had sewing supplies," Prompto said.

"You can sew?" Diana had tried on the light pink sun dress Iris had left in the room for her. It fit better than Gladio's t-shirt did.

"A little. Iggy was always a bit better at it, but I guess I'm going to have to shape up now," Prompto said. He snipped off the excess length to make shorts, as most of the damage had been done to the lower legs. There was sill a slash across the back in one part, which Prompto set to fixing. Once that was done he nodded at his handiwork. It looked crude, but it was better than nothing. A spare belt was dug out and Prompto used the scissors to make many extra holes. A check in the one closet netted two smaller shirts, one of which he flung to Mercury. They were black and plain but they were clean. They were still a little big, but not as bad as trying to put shirts for grown men on twelve year olds. Sadly, there were no left over pairs of pants.

"Can you do my hair like yours?" Mercury asked.

"Sure!" Prompto said with a smile. He left the clothes at the foot of the bed for Sidus before he led Mercury into the bathroom.

"Hey, Diana right? Would you like me to do your hair?" Iris asked. The younger girl looked in the bathroom.

"It's ok, she's Gladio's sister!" Prompto yelled. Diana then nodded and walked over to her.

Iris was jealous of Diana's hair. It was so thick and soft. The gentle ashy-blonde color was also really nice. Iris began to braid it back out of her face, sort of like how she'd seen Lady Lunafreya wear it in that magazine that talked all about her and Noctis's up-coming wedding. Iris's fingers stilled.

"Is something wrong?" Diana's voice was accented like a Tenebraen native. Iris tied off the braided section before she pulled the rest of the hair into a simple ponytail. She walked around and the resemblance was there. This girl was Lunafreya'sclone.

"You…You know what my original looked liked," Diana said softly looking down at her own hands.

"I saw her picture once," Iris said.

"Did Prompto tell you….about all of us?" Diana asked.

"Yeah. He and Ignis," Iris said.

"I understand this must be upsetting for you." Diana fidgeted with the borrowed skirt.

"Not because of you, but because of what they did to others like you," Iris explained, "Plus your original was really famous and really beloved. Her death was hard for the world to take."

"Oh….Will it be hard for me to…be something other than her copy?" Diana asked.

"Sorry," Iris said.

Sidus was in a strange dream world. He looked around and it was a strange place full of buildings. Was it a city? There was a dark shiny building before him. Sidus took a few steps forwards but a glowing sword slammed down before him. More joined it and he was surrounded.

" You should not exist. " The voice could only be described as…huge. Huge and inhuman. Sidus tried to put on a brave face but a giant figure covered in metal with what looked like a lizard tail was just down right terrifying to him. A sharp looking hand reached for him and he was frozen on the spot. He closed his eyes waiting to be squished. Instead he was picked up by two of the fingers almost gingerly. He was deposited into the other hand and brought up to the giant's eye level. The swords below vanished and formed wings. The helmet had a very animal-ish theme. Almost like those giant lizards from the one fairy tale book he wasn't supposed to read. What really threw Sidus were the very human eyes behind the face plate staring at him.

"I will not hurt you. Though you are an anomaly, and your very existence goes against fate, I shall not be ending your life." Sidus opened his mouth but his voice failed him the first time he tried to speak. He cleared his throat.

"Who-who are you?"

" I suppose it should not be surprising you were not raised with the Hexathon. I am Bahamut, the Draconian. Astral of Light ."

"Astral?" Sidus had heard the term before but couldn't place it.

" We, the Six, are beings of great power charged with protecting this world ," Bahamut explained. Sidus still didn't really understand but he nodded.

"Why am I here?"

"You are connected to the Crystal and your power is syphoning valuable energy it needs to prepare for the end of this Darkness. The Six are not without mercy. I shall grant you your own powers, so that you might better help preserve this world in the coming darkness. Much like your friend the pseudo-Oracle, these powers will not be exactly like those from whom you were copied." Bahamut pointed a glowing finger at Sidus who gasped as he grasped his chest. It felt like he'd run and his heart was beating so fast. He hadn't realized he'd collapsed onto his hands and knees until his vision cleared to being the metallic palm of Bahamut.

"What…about…Prompto..and..his…friends?" Sidus's pants nearly obscured his question.

" Their power drain is far less than yours. It would be like comparing a raging river to a trickle coming from their source ," Bahamut explained. The source. Sidus blinked, Prompto had said—.

"Where is Noctis?" Sidus asked.

" You show genuine concern for the one from whom you were copied. That is unexpected. He is preparing for the final battle with the Immortal Accursed ." Sidus looked up at Bahamut and carefully stood.

"Why wouldn't I care about him? He…he…he helped Mercury and Diana when he really didn't have to, and was down most of his powers. He didn't hate me for…being his copy. He looked at me and saw a person not a tool! He is good!" Sidus yelled.

"For that, above all, is why he is the King of the Stone. You will need to be a symbol of the Dawn," Bahamut held Sidus closer and that's when the eyes clicked and Sidus sat down hard.

"Why do you have Noctis's eyes?" Sidus asked. Bahamut chuckled.

" It is he who has my eyes. It is proof of your line's blessing from me ."

Sidus woke up panting. He was alone, but there was a black t-shirt and what looked like shorts at the end of the bed with a belt. Sidus slipped out of the bed but his knees gave out. He felt so...weak. Did that mean that hadn't just been a dream? Sidus managed to stand up before he pulled off the overly large sleep clothing and changed into the clothes on the bed. The shorts were big, but the belt helped. He hadn't worn a belt in over a year, but he still remembered how to put one on. It was clumsy going at times, but soon it was as tight as it could go, and his shorts were in no danger of falling down. Sidus heard the door open and he turned his head. Something thunked to the floor.

Talcott had heard there was still another kid upstairs getting dressed, so he wanted to meet him. The other two seemed nice— and Diana was so pretty!—and now there was a third kid. They were all five years older than him but that was ok. Better five years older than eight years older, like Iris. Talcott had his metal Cactuar to show off, and he dropped it because when he opened the door, the kid in the room turned his head and he looked just like His Majesty!

"Are you ok?"

"Your Majesty?"

"No. I'm Sidus." Sidus fully turned to face him, and even though the hair wasn't spiked, he really did look like Noctis.

"Why do you look like His Majesty?" Talcott asked.

"I'm his clone," Sidus said.

"What's a clone?" Talcott said.

"It's a living copy of someone made from their DNA. The…empire made me. Prompto saved me," Sidus said.

"That sounds cool! Almost as cool as a cactuar!" Talcott said.

"Cactuar?" Sidus asked. Talcott remembered the figurine and showed it to Sidus.

"This is a cactuar and they're so amazing!"

"….and the 1000 Needles can either be a regular attack or it can deliver toxins!" Talcott and Sidus finally reached the common area. Iris looked up from her flower pressing and nearly dropping the book she'd been using.

"Iris that's Sidus. Sidus, that's Iris, Gladio's little sister," Prompto explained. Sidus nodded to her. There was a small plate of breakfast left off to the side for Sidus who sat down and eat it quickly and gratefully.

"Not a picky eater, are you?" Iris said.

"Picky eater?" Sidus blinked at her.

"Not liking certain foods and refusing to eat them?" Iris said.

"But you don't know when you'll be permitted to eat next, so you have to eat whatever you have, even if you don't like it," Sidus said. Mercury nodded in agreement with Sidus, as did Diana. That made Iris's heart break. What kind of monsters raised these three?

Sidus stood outside later and summoned one of his blades and dropped it. The colors were wrong. Instead of being blue, they were a silvery white color and remained being made of crystal instead of solidifying into the armiger weapons themselves.

It wasn't just a dream. Even his elemental magic was different. Instead of using magic flasks, which Noct had left a few behind, Sidus could just hurl the raw energy out with his hands. He could absorb it from the ground, which made things strange but he could make it happen without it too!

He also had a barrier spell he could cast made of white light, as well as a weak light he could use to repel daemons.

He was still able to warp, much to his relief. Diana's powers were also a bit more like his. She lacked the ability to use elemental energy like he could, but her shields and light attacks were stronger. She could also heal wounds. She could not, however, heal scourge or commune with the Six. The Draconian's words came back to Sidus again,

Psedudo-Oracle. Diana's powers were similar but distinct enough to not be Lunafreya's. Something she was pleased with: very very pleased with.

"We can't stay here much longer. The power's never going to hold out," Gladio said.

He'd returned from Lestallum, though Cor hadn't.

"We already prepared for that. All that remains is loading every one and everything we need into the truck before we can depart," Ignis said. The boxes were ready to go. Prompto and Mercury hauled the last few crates out before handing them off to Monica and Iris who'd been loading the truck. Diana was already inside with Sidus tying things down so they wouldn't slide.

Good bye, Cape Caem.

MP:Hello! Part 3 of Clone Verse and it's the first Multi-Chapter fic. It will be three chapters total, and it is already written.