Flowey is Not a Good Life Coach
is the most well known Dark Fic in the Undertale fandom. It was written by Unrestedjade.
Synopsis: "Flowey gets bored and decides to change up one of his runs. Papyrus presents an interesting project, for the moment."
A comic adaptation of the fic began in 2017, made by fluffyslippper on DeviantArt.
Be warned: there are unmarked spoilers, for both Undertale and the fic itself below.
This fic has examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: While Flowey was already brutal in Undertale, this fic doesn't include much of the softer side that he had as Asriel.
- Antagonist Title: Obviously, and yet still is quite the Understatement.
- Break the Cutie: One of the main themes of the story. The basic premise of the story is that Flowey has decided to manipulate and torture Papyrus, seeing how far he can take it to change him. The results aren't pretty.
- Big Bad: Flowey, as always. This time he abuses Papyrus, physically and emotionally, for fun.
- Bittersweet Ending: Papyrus, with the help of Sans, defeats and kills Flowey, bringing an end to his abuse. However, it results in him gaining LV, and the actions of Flowey have left emotional scars on Papyrus. This also makes the True Pacifist ending as it happens in Undertale impossible if similar events were to occur after the story.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Just one of the many things Flowey does to Papyrus.
- Dark Fic: In case it wasn't clear enough.
- Deceptively Silly Title: The chapter titles are very lighthearted and innocuous for a fic as dark as this one.
- False Friend: Again, Flowey towards Papyrus.
- Foregone Conclusion: Given that this happens before the events of Undertale, Flowey has control of the timeline. This means that any time he dies or resets, anything he does is undone, allowing him to get away with his actions. Subverted; while it's unclear if he was sent to a different timeline or truly dead after he dies, the timeline does not reset as a result.
- Good Powers, Bad People: Flowey uses magic to heal Papyrus on several occasions, but this is mainly just so he can inflict the very same torture again later.
- Hate Sink: The titular Flowey lacks the sympathetic qualities of his canon counterpart. Having grown bored in one of his latest runs, Flowey decides to psychologically torment Papyrus, who sees him as a friend, under the guise of training. He challenges Papyrus to fight for his life, killing him and resetting whenever he fails and punishing him by slowly breaking his body parts if he refuses. Flowey tells Papyrus to keep the training a secret, threatening his loved ones if he does not comply. Flowey spends the story slowly breaking down Papyurs and turning him into a shadow of his former self, causing Papyrus to lash out at his loved ones and become distant from them. When Sans is falsely accused of abusing Papyrus by Undyne and imprisoned, Flowey laughs before taking the opportunity to give Papyrus his final challenge — to kill an innocent monster. When Papyrus warns the snowdrake instead and refuses to kill the Moldsmal, Flowey offs the latter himself. Finally, when Sans shows up to rescue Papyrus, Flowey makes a final attempt to kill them both, and when Papyrus slays him, he congratulates the latter for finally killing someone. A bloodthirsty sociopath who torments his so-called 'best friend' for fun, Flowey completely abandons the kindness he had as Asriel.
- I Have No Son!: Papyrus says that he has no brother in response to Sans making yet another pun. Except he says it with no emotion whatsoever. Cue actual argument.
- Manipulative Bastard: Among the tactics used on Papyrus by Flowey.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Papyrus goes through a lot of abuse doing what Flowey asks, but the last straw comes when he tries to get Papyrus to kill an innocent Snowdrake. Papyrus proceeds to realize that Flowey will never stop asking for more, and then instead tells the Snowdrake to run and finally begins fighting back against Flowey.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Though he had his suspicions, Sans first realizes that something is really wrong with Papyrus when he makes a pun, only for Papyrus, who normally gets mad, to barely react to it.
- Overly Narrow Superlative: In the first chapter, Papyrus calls Flowey his favorite magical talking flower.
- Poor Communication Kills: A major source of the drama of the fic. Flowey tells Papyrus to keep what they've been doing a secret, which drives a bigger and bigger rift between himself, his brother Sans, and others who care about Papyrus as the events continue.
- Power Incontinence: A major source of conflict for Papyrus throughout the fic is him trying to control his powers and keep himself from hurting people.
- Precision F-Strike: Sans is not exactly adverse to swearing, but when he finally gets fed up with Papyrus acting strange and trying to drive him away:“You know what?” he said, voice quavering and tears gathering at the corners of his eye sockets. “Fuck you, Papyrus! You don't see me treating you like garbage just because I had a bad day. Which is every goddamn day, by the way!” His finger prodded Papyrus' breastplate with a hard tic. “I'm done. So, you better tell me what the hell your problem is right.” Tic. “Fucking.” Tic. “Now.”
- Rage Breaking Point: In Chapter 4, Papyrus (who's already stressed out by Flowey's torment and abuse) snaps at Sans for probing and questioning him about his well-being, leading to a brutal Reason You Suck speech directed towards his brother.Papyrus met [Sans'] concerned glare, and some tiny, over-tightened screw in his mind suddenly stripped out.
- Shout-Out:
- According to Papyrus, Undyne once said that training under his special technique made her feel like Goku.
- Alphys, to cheer up Papyrus, sends him a Pepe the Frog meme; specifically, a variation showing two Pepes hugging.
- The Sociopath: Taken up to eleven with Flowey in this fic. While he does show some of his Tragic Villain traits, make no mistake, this features him at his absolute nastiest. He even uses his tragic backstory as a way to manipulate Papyrus, all without even a remote hint of remorse. There's a reason the fic has the following tag:Flowey Being a Fucking Horrible Bastard
- You Can't Make an Omelette...: Flowey says this when Papyrus is hesitant to follow his request to murder an innocent snowdrake.Now, now, you need to break a few eggs to make an omelet, right?
