Fanfic / Avantasia Protag AU

The four main characters stargazing. From left to right, Aaron, Gabriel, Scarecrow, and Entity. Art by the author on instagram account @starsirrah

Avantasia Protag AU is the name given to a series of fanfics set in the same universe, based on the albums by the Rock Opera project Avantasia. The original albums are separated into four (so far) "stories" that each contain a different protagonist and his adventures involving several other characters. Each character is portrayed by a different vocalist, usually the creator Tobias Sammet's personal idols and friends, and the protagonist is always portrayed by Tobias Sammet himself. This AU asked the question "What would happen if all four protagonists (shortened to "protags") found themselves living together as roommates?" and quickly expanded out to include chapters on how they met each other, how they handle each others' idiosyncrasies and mental illnesses, supernatural occurrences, and family bonding. This AU is primarily written by Starsirrah and is on-going.

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This fanfic series uses the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Scarecrow's father. Seen in flashbacks, he would throw bottles at the child Scarecrow, insult him, and force him to clean the house. Child Scarecrow had no toys or proper care either, and was only allowed to eat leftover food his father or older brother didn't eat first.
• Acquainted with Emergency Services: The protags and their friend, Jim the cop. Whenever they get the police called on them, Jim shows up. And whenever they need the police, they call Jim directly. It's almost like he's their private officer.
• A Dog Named "Dog": Entity is "The Entity", a half-human being creature. An entity of some sort. He usually goes by the shortened nickname Enty though.
• Aesop Amnesia: Aaron and his experiments. No matter how many disasters these experiments lead to and a pledge to improve, Aaron finds himself working on more in the next chapters and more disasters occur with the same frequency.
• Alternate Self: There is an alternate dimension with alternate protags and alternate Elderane.
• Alternate Universe Fic: In canon, none of the protags interact since they're from separated stories. In this fic series, they live together as roommates.
• Amazon Chaser: Aaron really likes strong, tall women who are mildly (or more) threatening. He's usually too awkward to talk to them though.
• Amnesiacs are Innocent: Entity doesn't remember anything about his past and is childlike and innocent.
• Apologises a Lot: Gabriel, even if something is not his fault.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The Nobleman, who appears in "Death Is Just A Feeling", wants Aaron to work on the god-machine and doesn't care if Aaron actually wants to (he doesn't). He doesn't care if Aaron or anyone else even dies while working on it, referring to deaths as simply unfortunate sacrifices.
• Badass in Distress: Scarecrow on multiple occasions.
• Bad Liar: Aaron, Entity, and Elderane.
• Band of Brothers: The protags.
• Bash Brothers: Scarecrow and Elderane.
• Bear Hug: Most of Entity's hugs are these.
• The Berserker: Scarecrow.
• Best Friend Manual: Aaron to Scarecrow.
• Big Brother Mentor: Scarecrow to Gabriel.
• Big Damn Reunion: Gabriel and Elderane towards the start of the series after being separated for a month and a half.
• Birthday Buddies: The protags all decide to celebrate their birthdays on the same day.
• Birthday Episode: The aptly named chapter "Birthday". The protags realize none of them know the days they were born, for all different reasons, and decide to celebrate all together on one day. Then they prepare and have a movie night.
• Born Unlucky: Gabriel, often has bad things happen for no reason.
• Bound and Gagged: Elderane in "Anywhere".
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Alternate dimension Aaron. He's just as smart as the original Aaron, but instead of working on experiments all day he prefers sleeping.
• Bungling Inventor: Aaron's inventions and experiments almost never work right the first time, although he's always able to fix his mistakes.
• Call-Back: All fics fit into a timeline and past events are often recalled.
• The Cavalry: If one protag is in danger, expect the rest to swoop in for the rescue.
• Cannot Spit It Out: Scarecrow with his inner emotions, he has trouble showing his softer side.
• Catching Up on History: In the "Departure" chapter, shortly after arriving in the modern day, Aaron finds the local library and spends all his free time for several weeks at least catching up on everything. Not just history, but modern mechanics and science too. He follows this trope so closely that it's lampshaded when some of the library workers start gossiping about him and joke about him being a time traveler, not realizing it's the truth.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Very much so, as the series starts out episodic and lighthearted before progressively turning darker as more canon elements like the demons and ghosts start to appear and implied mental health issues start to come to the surface.
• Chastity Couple: Gabriel and Elderane. They don't even kiss after they confess, and though they sleep in the same bed (when Elderane visits the protags) they do nothing but actually sleep.
• Cheer Up Episode: The others with Scarecrow often, notably in the "Recovery" prompt, where he is isolating himself due to guilt, and the others help make him feel loved.
• Christmas Episode: "Another Winter's Night". A whole four-parter, the first three chapters for three days before Christmas and the last chapter on Christmas Day.
• Claustrophobia: Scarecrow. In the "Elevator" chapter, he starts panicking in the stuck elevator and tries to climb out through the ceiling.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Scarecrow to sleep-deprived Aaron, as he helps keep him safe while sleep-deprived.
• Cloudcuckoo Language: Aaron speaks this way when sleep deprived enough, often smart-term gibberish.
• Cry into Chest: Happens to all of them at some point.
• Coincidental Broadcast: Protags at home sometimes happen to see the others on the news.
• Cool Gate: The portal to Avantasia underneath Rome. Not only is the door itself cool with magical designs, but it opens into a blinding light no matter which direction you're going.
• Cool Starship: The protags ride in one belonging to The Captain from Ayreon after he's brought to their dimension via mechanical mishap.
• Courtroom Episode: Gabriel in "Wicked Memory", where he is forced to face his past in his old world.
• Crossover: There are "non-canon" chapters where the protags meet The Captain from Ayreon and the Forever Captain.
• Deal with the Devil: Scarecrow did it in the past with Mephistopheles.
• Death by Childbirth: What happened to Scarecrow's mother. His father hates him for it.
• Declaration of Protection: Scarecrow to Gabriel in "Isolation" prompt, and throughout the series, as Scarecrow is overly protective of Gabriel.
• Demonic Possession: Acedia possesses Gabriel and Aaron at different times.
• Distress Ball: All of them at some point.
• Distressed Dude: Gabriel. Also zig-zagged with Entity, who often believes he can't escape from the distress and simply cries or freezes, but eventually forgets his beliefs and successfully runs away or fights blindly due to his strength and supernatural capabilities.
• The Ditz: All of them.
• Doesn't Know Their Own Birthday: The protags realize none of them know their birthdays, for all different reasons. They decide to make that day their collective birthday.
• Don't Call Me "Sir": Elderane, despite being a prince, doesn't want the protags to call him anything formal.
• Everybody Cries: All the time, especially in dire situations.
• Everyone Can See It: Gabriel and Elderane are totally oblivious that they love each other, but literally everyone else who sees them together know instantly.
• Everytown, America: Subverted because the protags live in a specific small town - Boston, Ohio.
• Exhaustion-Induced Idiocy: Aaron all the time. He has attempted to put his hand into a toaster resulting in minor burns, driven into the garage door, wandered outside and getting himself lost (twice!), poured coffee onto the floor instead of into his mug, and in an alternate reality vision of what the protags would be like without Scarecrow he works on dangerous experiments without sleeping until he blows himself up.
• Family of Choice: The protags. They are unrelated and come from different times and dimensions, but after meeting each other they decide to stick together. Over time they bond and actually refer to each other as family or brothers. They maintain this relationship no matter if they're fighting or having a good time.
• Fire Means Chaos: Happens fairly often, especially caused by Scarecrow setting random things on fire... somehow.
• The First Cut Is the Deepest: Scarecrow's past love interest rejecting him breaks him so badly that he doesn't even consider looking for romance anymore. Fortunately, he has his family instead.
• First Friend: Scarecrow had no friends and didn't particularly mind being dropped into a new dimension. Then he runs into Gabriel who won't leave him alone and before he knows it, he's letting Gabriel stay with him. He soon ponders to himself about how Gabriel was the first person to ever genuinely like him.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Gabriel, Aaron, and Entity, although Gabriel has it the worst due to being from the furthest back in time.
• Five-Finger Discount: Scarecrow supposedly did this in his times wandering the streets before meeting Gabriel in "Isolation", and then in that prompt he steals a new church robe for Gabriel from a church (of course, Gabriel never found out he stole it). Scarecrow attempts shoplifting medicine for the sick Gabriel in "Weakness" but is caught by Jim the cop, who pays for it because Scarecrow has no money.
• Fountain of Youth: All the protags are turned into kids at one point, but Gabriel on several occasions.
• Friendly Rivalry: Scarecrow and Elderane. They argue over who's better at video games and card games and sometimes try to one-up each other, but they both like each other and team up often for a greater purpose, for example protecting Gabriel.
• Friends Are Chosen, Family Aren't: The protags treat Scarecrow like family, while his old blood family abused him heavily.
• Friendship Moment: The protags, often.
• Genius Loci: Avantasia has a bit of a mind of its own, shifting its gates to make it either easier or harder for someone to get in or even leaving food and water sources conveniently accessible to lost souls in need.
• Give Me a Sword: Elderane often shares his daggers with Scarecrow when in a fight.
• Ghostly Chill: Whenever a ghost grabs Aaron's wrist, it feels freezing cold.
• The Good Kingdom: Avantasia. Largely peaceful with Elderane as the kind and wise ruler, even the weather is nearly always mild. Citizens are left to their own business with little interference. Elderane is able to leave for days or a week at a time to visit the protags and there is never any trouble. The rare inhabitants who oppose Elderane as Prince are portrayed as followers of the evil Tower.
• Greater Need Than Mine: Gabriel puts his family above himself always, as does Elderane.
• Grocery Store Episode: The chapter named "Shopping". The protags all go to the store and end up wreaking havoc.
• Group Hug: Happens often.
• Guyliner: Scarecrow rarely shows without his heavy eyeliner.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Entity is half human. What the other half is? No one knows.
• Halloween Episode: "Down In The Dark". Scarecrow takes Entity out trick or treating and then shenanigans happen.
• Hands-On Approach: When Elderane is teaching Gabriel how to throw daggers.
• The Heart: Entity, and also Gabriel often.
• Hello Again, Officer: Whenever Jim the cop shows up unexpectedly, but the best example is in "Down In The Dark" when the protags' car is pulled over for swerving erratically right after they leave the jail. The policeman looks in and recognizes Scarecrow, who says sheepishly "Hi Jim".
• Homemade Inventions: Aaron creates these in his basement. He builds them from random parts and household items. They rarely act as intended, and examples of functions include stopping time, turning someone into a child version of themselves, pulling in people from alternate realities, and jumping dimensions.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: Scarecrow to Gabriel, whom he does pester, but would both kill and die for.
• Improvised Weapon: Scarecrow sometimes. Examples are a pipe ripped off a building and a baseball bat.
• Inelegant Blubbering: Happens often, most notably in "Change Pt.3", when Gabriel is in the hospital and Elderane and Aaron can't handle it, "Self-Sacrifice" when Elderane is in the hospital and Gabriel can't handle it, and in "Wicked Memory" when Gabriel tells the others about his past.
• Interspecies Friendship: The protags and Elderane.
• Interspecies Romance: Gabriel and Elderane.
• Intimate Artistry: While Gabriel draws all his friends, the most detailed and numerous are of Elderane.
• I See Dead People: Aaron can see ghosts, mostly just in his own world, but he starts seeing them in the "real" world too.
• It's All My Fault: All the characters tend to blame themselves heavily if something goes wrong that is their fault.
• It's a Wonderful Plot: There's a chapter literally called "It's A Wonderful Life" and the trope is played straight when Scarecrow has a bad mental health moment and thinks the other protags would be better off without him. Conscious appears afterwards and shows him what would have happened to the others if he didn't exist. It's not pretty.
• Joins to Fit In: Entity to the other protags upon meeting them.
• Lack of Empathy: Acedia.
• Lazy Bum: Acedia. What else would you expect from a demon representing the sin of Sloth and Despair?
• Limited Social Circle: The protags, whose only friend besides Elderane seems to be Jim the cop.
• Limited Wardrobe: Gabriel almost always wears a church style robe and shawl. He has multiple though so he can still do laundry.
• Lonely Together: The protags.
• Loner-Turned-Friend: Scarecrow upon meeting Gabriel.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Gabriel and Elderane.
• Look Both Ways: Gabriel in "Change Pt.3".
• Love Confession: Gabriel and Elderane finally confess to each other (at the same time!) at the end of "Wicked Memory" after Gabriel narrowly escapes being burned at the stake.
• Magical Land: Avantasia, a spiritual land at the core of the human spirit.
• Manipulative Bastard: Acedia accomplishes his goals by manipulating his targets into doing bad things to themselves.
• Maternal Death? Blame the Child!: Scarecrow's father blames him for the death of his mother.
• Mayfly–December Friendship: Gabriel, a human, and Elderane, an elf.
• Meaningful Echo: "Family. Through Anything."
• Misfit Mobilization Moment: The protags when working together.
• Mood-Swinger: Scarecrow, due to his mental health issues.
• Mundane Luxury: When Gabriel first meets Scarecrow and is brought to a simple hotel, he thinks Scarecrow must be insanely rich because of the soft hotel beds and shower.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Aaron when he tests new inventions and something goes horribly wrong, as they usually do.
• Naked Freak-Out: When Gabriel is turned into a werewolf in the prompt "Inhuman Pt.1", his clothes rip off. As soon as he realizes, he runs to the living room and uses a big blanket to cover himself, despite the others saying his fur covers everything.
• Near-Death Experience: All the protags at least once.
• Never Had a Birthday Party: None of the protags, until they pick a day and celebrate together.
• New Friend Envy: Scarecrow about Gabriel when they met Aaron, or Scarecrow about Gabriel when Gabriel met the Captain from Ayreon.
• Non-Nude Bathing: Aaron once tries to take a shower while sleep deprived and ends up being found two hours later asleep in the shower with all his clothes still on.
• No Sense of Direction: Entity, who gets lost often.
• Odd Friendship: The protags.
• Oh, My Gods!: Elderane says Oh Stars!
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Entity always goes by simply "Enty". Also technically Scarecrow, since nobody knows the name he was born with.
• Only Six Faces: The four protags all have the same face because they're modeled off their creator/vocalist. It's lampshaded in-series because everybody can tell they have the same face and they have to tell other characters they don't know why. Besides for the protags themselves, other characters from the albums also have the faces of their vocalists and so there are more cases of same-face, all pointed out in-series, for example Elderane and Acedia.
• Opposites Attract: Gabriel and Scarecrow.
• Pimp Duds: Alternate dimension Elderane wears this.
• Platonic Declaration of Love: All the protags to each other.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Gabriel to Scarecrow when they first met Aaron, and Scarecrow thought Gabriel wouldn't need him anymore. He was wrong.
• Pointy Ears: Elderane is an elf, so of course his ears are pointy.
• Positive Friend Influence: All the protags, but most notably with Scarecrow.
• The Power of Friendship: The protags use this power all the time.
• The Prankster: Scarecrow, who enjoys messing with the others.
• Precision F-Strike: Gabriel in "Change Pt.4" does this to the consternation of everyone except Scarecrow, who is proud.
• The Present Day: This is when the series is usually set.
• Princesses Rule: Or an elf Prince. For some reason, despite Avantasia being a kingdom (not a principality) and Elderane's late father being known as the king, Elderane himself is still called Prince.
• Prone to Tears: Entity, with his heightened emotions.
• Pyromaniac: Scarecrow commits arson recreationally.
• Rascally Raccoon: The protags discover a family of raccoons living in their attic. When Gabriel mistakes them for cats and tries to pet them, they react just like you'd expect wild animals to react.
• Really 700 Years Old: Elderane. He is an elf, after all.
• Rescue Arc: "Wicked Memory", "Death is Just a Feeling", "Anywhere", many angst prompts.
• Rescued from the Underworld: Aaron in "Death is Just a Feeling".
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: The chapter "Forgotten" starts with Elderane arriving at the protags' home for a visit. He sees Aaron arguing with Scarecrow because Aaron accidentally erased Gabriel from existence and Scarecrow no longer remembers Gabriel or Elderane. We soon find Entity doesn't remember them either. Aaron is able to remember because he was holding the dimensional-time device and Elderane remembers because he was still in Avantasia when it happened and supposedly the device doesn't reach there.
• Romantic Wingman: Aaron asks Scarecrow for dating assistance.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: Elderane does a lot.
• Sand In My Eyes: Scarecrow often denies or tries to hide that he was crying.
• Scenery Gorn: In the Ayreon Crossover, the description of Planet Alpha hours before it blows up.
• Scenery Porn: Most of the setting descriptions are detailed and colorful, especially the beautiful Avantasia and any supernatural space-like worlds.
• Security Cling: Happens often in dire situations.
• Self-Harm: Scarecrow does this on occasion when having a depressive episode or flashbacks to his past.
• Series Fic: This AU sprawls over many non-sequential individual chapters in "angst" and "fun" collections and several multi chapter stories. An official timeline is provided to help readers understand the order of events.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Acedia is one of them very literally.
• Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: When Gabriel is turned into a werewolf in "Inhuman Pt.1" his clothes are ripped apart.
• Significant Birth Date: Subverted in that the protags simply choose the random day it happens to be when they realize none of them know their birthdays, however that day is a Significant Reference Date - their creator's real life birthday.
• Sleep Deprivation: Aaron does it to himself by being too focused on his "projects" to go to bed.
• The Sleepless: Aaron's mechanical part of his brain never turns off and he's able to take apart and put together any machine even after not sleeping for an entire week.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Scarecrow. He often pushes his family away and acts unpleasant, but he also has depressive episodes and is actually mentally ill.
• Staircase Tumble: After not sleeping for several days, Aaron tries to climb the basement stairs and falls down them. Played seriously because he has to be taken to the hospital.
• Stupid Good: Entity, with his overflowing optimism and trust.
• Summoning Ritual: Scarecrow does this in "Possession Pt. 1" to summon Acedia in order to get back at him.
• Surprise Car Crash: This happens multiple times, notably in the "I Can't Walk" prompt.
• Taking the Bullet: Elderane does this for Gabriel in the prompt "Self-Sacrifice".
• Tearful Smile: Gabriel in "Stars" prompt.
• Tears of Fear: Happens often to everyone, notably Aaron in the "Ghost" prompt, Gabriel in the "Trembling" prompt, or Elderane in the "Seizure" prompt.
• Teleportation: Some of Aaron's inventions teleport the protags to other dimensions.
• Tender Tears: Gabriel in the "Isolation" prompt, where Scarecrow shows him genuine kindness and friendship after Gabriel had been living in the woods alone for a month with hardly any food.
• They Died Because of You: Gabriel with Regrin and Vandroiy in his past, both of whom died for Gabriel's cause.
• Time Travel: All four protags are mysteriously taken from their respective worlds and times and brought into 2017.
• Too Clever by Half: Aaron, who is outlandishly smart, but lets his genius blind him from the obvious, causing him to fail often.
• Trauma Button: Gabriel with guns, as he was shot in the "Human Shield" prompt and developed PTSD regarding the event.
• Traumatic Haircut: This happens to Gabriel once while being assaulted.
• True Companions: The protags.
• Tuck and Cover: Scarecrow protects Gabriel to save him from being burned alive at a witch trial as they escape, in "Wicked Memory".
• Unbroken Vigil: When any of the guys are in the hospital, the others are always there by their side through it all.
• Unstoppable Rage: Scarecrow, especially if someone hurt one of the others.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Aaron and Scarecrow.
• Warrior Prince: Elderane.
• Woobie Family: The protags.
• Would Hit a Girl: Scarecrow, particularly in "Errant In The Dark" where he brutally beats Eleanor with a metal pole. He's definitely of the "good guys who don't discriminate" variety and doesn't care what gender you are if you threaten and harm his family.
• You Are Not Alone: Gabriel, Aaron, and Entity with Scarecrow.
• Your Makeup Is Running: Whenever Scarecrow cries, his signature black eyeliner often runs or smears. Scarecrow also applies his makeup in drippy lines underneath his left eye to look like tears in the first place.

The protags (Gabriel, Scarecrow, Entity, and Aaron) enjoying the day.

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