Turn the Other Cheek in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In The Case of the Ghost Biker, it's eventually revealed that the culprit's main motivation was protecting Eggmanland, which was revamped into a legitimate theme park. Upon learning this, Sonic not only forgives them, he gives them a check to help pay off the landowner's association.
- Steven does this to Bill in A Triangle in the Stars, giving him chance after chance and showering him with kindness, which confuses the latter to no end. Eventually, it pays off.
- How to Break a Family: Despite how cruelly D.W. treats him, Arthur's still deeply upset by her disappearance, wanting nothing more than to see her saved and swearing revenge on her kidnappers.
- In Falling Into College: Year Two, Sandi wants to expose something illegal her mother did as payback for unfairly getting fired for a mistake Linda made (which she pinned on Sandi). Daria advises Sandi not to do this, specifically because even if Linda did something bad Sandi would only be doing it for revenge and not because it's the right thing to do. Sandi takes Daria's advice to heart and burns the incriminating documents she had on Linda. However, Sandi's actions indirectly spark a chain of events that lead to Linda being exposed as part of the kickback scheme between Ms. Li and Leonard Lamm from Ultra Cola. When Linda realized someone was in her files (Sandi had taken a watermarked copy of a letter and left a photocopy), she went to Lawndale High and tried to get the original she wrote to Ms. Li proposing she contact Leonard Lamm in the first place. Acting principal Ms. DeFoe got suspicious of Linda's behavior, contacted the district attorney to request a look into Ms. Li's files, and the two found the letter leading to Linda's arrest.
- Darkest Destiny: Even after Cassandra pulls a full Face–Heel Turn, conquering Corona and forcing Rapunzel to marry her, Rapunzel continues to treat her captor with kindness and compassion. Something Cassandra struggles to wrap her mind around, much like how she struggles to understand why she feels guilty about her actions.
- In Frozen Hearts (Sakume), a Badass Creed regarding what makes a prince stresses this principle."A prince forgets the trespasses against him, no matter how terrible. He sacrifices for others, even to the expense of his soul. He forgives until he forfeits breath. He is strong, he is compassionate, and the sum of these things makes him complete... a prince I am and a prince I will be."
- What If Gine Went With Goku to Earth?: Vegeta constantly mistreats and insults Gine, yet when he's being beaten by Perfect Cell, she entreats Raditz and the others to intervene. When Raditz questions this, she reasons that protecting the Earth is more important than treating Vegeta like an Asshole Victim.
- Son of the Desert: Trisha entreats her sons not to pick fights with the bullies who mock their Ishvalan heritage, insisting that "hatred darkens the soul". Edward struggles with this concept, while Alphonse understands what she's trying to teach them.
- Italy does this in Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità
. He begged Germany and Japan to stop beating up the homophobe even as he was almost raped by said homophobe.
- Hogwarts Houses Divided: Chloe acts like a Green-Eyed Monster towards Violet, subjecting her to a horrific Humiliation Conga out of her jealousy over her friendship with Teddy. When she eventually apologizes, she does so in the Room of Requirement, and everyone else present notes that she would deserve whatever punishment Violet decides to dole out. Yet Violet simply accepts her apology and gives her some ice cream.
- In Drop A Stone, Sarah once challenged Kain, then chose not to physically fight back, merely taunting him. The fact he was willing to hurt her despite her lack of retaliation helped him realize that he wasn't in control of himself.
- Couturiere has Marinette call Adrien out on this attitude when she's tranformed into the titular akuma and he tries to appeal to her "better nature":Adrien: JUST LISTEN TO ME! You're better than this! You're better than him! You've got to...
Couturiere: ...listen to you? You want me... to listen to you? (dropping Lila and turning towards him) I did listen, Adrien. When Lila was lying to our friends, playing with their hopes and dreams by giving them false promises, and taking advantage of their kindness by having them carry her books and lunch trays and even doing their homework for her, do you remember what you told me? You said to not say anything. That exposing her would just make things worse. You said, and I quote, "As long as both you and I know the truth, does it really matter?"
(the other classmates she captured gape at Adrien)
Couturiere: And so, I did as you asked. I said nothing. I let Lila continue to lead our classmates on. I took the high road. And guess what happened?
(Lila attempts to crawl away while she's distracted, only for Couturiere to stomp on her knee)
Couturiere: Nothing. Nothing changed. Lila continued to lie, and everyone continued to eat it up with a big ol' dessert spoon. She, surprisingly, didn't reach an epiphany on the evils of lying. She didn't see the error of her ways. She just. Kept. Going. (bitterly smirks) No, that's wrong. One thing changed. She started lying about me. How I was tripping her in the hallways, despite no one being around to see it. How I was calling her names, despite no one being around to hear it. How I was stealing from her. How I was jealous of her. How I was bullying her. You know, stuff that could potentially get me in trouble with the teachers or even get me expelled, but hey, it's not like her lies are hurting anyone, right?! - Cut My Life Into Pieces, This Is My Last Resort: Adrien deeply regrets having pressured Marinette to just ignore Lila after learning just how bad her bullying has gotten. Matters only get worse when Lila convinces Alya that Marinette's an Attempted Homewrecker and gets her akumatized into Truth Bomb, resulting in her apparent death via explosion. It also explains his motives as having been based on his own experience with Celebrity Lies being told about him, which led him to believe that this was no different. Naturally, realizing just how wrong he was only adds to his guilt.
- Dread String of Fate deconstructs this, as Adrien's insistence that Marinette should just leave Lila be and refusal to intervene against the Consummate Liar eventually culminates in Marinette realizing how little he actually values their 'friendship'.
- Played With in the high road, where Marinette tricks Lila into believing she's doing this, when she's actually teaching Adrien and her classmates to reconsider this route through Malicious Compliance. Every move she makes catering to Lila is carefully calculated to force the rest of their class to cooperate as well; the more that they're personally inconvenienced, the more resentment builds up until they start seeing past Lila's Bitch in Sheep's Clothing facade.
- The Karma of Lies: Ms. Bustier pressured Marinette to mend fences with Lila by throwing a party at the Dupain-Cheng bakery for her. Unfortunately, Lila manipulates the rest of the class into thinking they'll have a chance to meet one of her supposed celebrity connections if they skip the party and hold a "surprise" picnic... right in front of the bakery.
- Ms. Bustier thinks that she's teaching this in Leave for Mendeleiev, but has it all twisted around. She's convinced that Chloé needs others to "lead by example", so she encourages her students to do so... while never actually punishing Chloé for any of her misdeeds. Thus, Chloé has no reason or motivation to change her ways... why should she, when her beloved teacher lets her keep getting away with everything?
- Scarlet Lady:
- Mme. Bustier's misapplication of this concept makes her one of Chloé's biggest enablers. As far as Caline is concerned, it falls entirely upon Marinette and all of Chloé's other victims to easily forgive all of the horrible things she's done and keep reaching out to her, including her in group activities and treating her far better than she ever treats them. Since she refuses to even try discipling Chloé in any way, all this teaches her is that she can get away with bullying and abusing everyone, while the rest of the class learns that Adults Are Useless.
- In "Zombizou", Marinette hits her Rage Breaking Point and calls out Caline on her blatant favoritism and hypocrisy. This exposes Bustier as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who hides her Control Freak tendencies behind a pleasant facade; for all that she refuses to try reigning in Chloé's abuse, claiming she can't make her do anything, she's accustomed to forcing her other students to play by her rules — and once akumatized into Zombizou, she gleefully brags about how her "sweet hearts" are entirely at her beck and call.
- "Catalyst" has Zoé Discuss this with Mme. Bustier, pointing out the flaws in her approach by revealing that she knows all about the bullying... because Chloé bragged to her about it. Since her half-sister feels absolutely no remorse for her actions, Zoé recognizes that any attempts at "reconciliation" are completely doomed.
- In Sins of the Past, Adrien holding this attitude causes Marinette to cross the Despair Event Horizon. After Lila makes it look like Marinette attacked her, she confides in Adrien about everything the Bitch in Sheep's Clothing has done to her. Unfortunately, while Adrien completely believes her account, he also upbraids her for trying to expose Lila at all, claiming that her efforts to reveal the truth are only causing trouble and coldly stating that she is "just another bully." Hearing that from somebody who claimed he'd support her breaks her.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder: After Chloé is arrested, Ms. Bustier visits her to show her support, only for the Spoiled Brat to bluntly declare that she's simply not that useful anymore; she's a mere teacher, with no real power outside the classroom. However, she sincerely thanks her for all the times she punished her classmates for "being ridiculous", forcing Caline to realize that all she accomplished with her efforts to make the rest of the class "lead by example" was teaching the Spoiled Brat that she could get away with anything she wanted.
- What Goes Around Comes Around: After Marinette is publicly exposed as Ladybug during a decisive battle with Shadowmoth, both Adrien and Miss Bustier expect her to completely forgive Chloé and Lila for how they bullied her. Bustier even contacts Face-to-Face bragging about how Marinette is a "model student" who will surely vouch for both girls' characters, despite how both were arrested due to evidence of them willingly working with the magical terrorist.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Miss Bustier teaches a twisted form of this wherein she fully expects the victims of bullying to forgive their oppressors, whom go completely unpunished since she considers them to be 'only children who don't know any better'. What's more, she further encourages her students to take the generosity of others completely for granted and demand things without offering anything in return. This transforms most of her students into monstrously selfish, entitled brats who expect others to give them whatever they want... or else.
- Adrien also subscribes to an extreme version of this mentality, blaming Marinette for trying to expose Lila's deception. He even testifies as much in court, talking about how disappointed he was in her for 'causing problems, and is shocked when the audience proves less than receptive to this attitude.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In The Dark Side of the Mirror Verse, Mirror Diamond Tiara takes this attitude towards Apple Bloom, shrugging off her snarky attempts at bullying and treating her politely.
- Oops! I'm Equine Again: Princess Twilight attacks the human Tirek completely unprovoked, assuming that he's just as horrible as his Equestrian counterpart. After the misunderstanding is cleared up and he learns her reasoning, he immediately forgives her.
- The Nuptialverse: In Post-Nuptials, Twilight's willingness to Easily Forgive Princess Celestia, her brother and her friends for how they ignored her warnings and berated her during the wedding rehearsal only serves to make them feel even guiltier about how they treated her. Eventually, it comes out that Twilight hasn't forgiven them after all, but has been swallowing down and repressing her feelings out of the misguided belief that this was "the right thing to do". Only after she lets her anger out is the healing process truly able to begin.
- Blackkat's Reverse: Fuu's mother insisted that she needed to cope with the way the rest of their hidden village mistreated her in this fashion, claiming it wasn't their fault that they were so hateful. They were just afraid of her being a jinchuuriki, and it fell upon her to be the bigger person and forgive their ignorance. Naturally, this only amplified Fuu's resentment, and when Kurama comes along and tells her that her anger is completely valid and she doesn't have to forgive anyone, she immediately latches onto him.
- Compass of Thy Soul:
- Tobirama is bewildered by Kita forgiving him for how he'd killed her father. As she explains to him, her father knew the risks of his mission, while Tobirama was defending his men; she's more invested in figuring out how to bring the bloodshed to an end rather than blaming him for a Crime of Self-Defense. For his part, Tobirama is geniunely remorseful.
- Hashirama's tendency towards this stems from him feeling like an Invincible Hero; he's so powerful that he simply doesn't see most people as serious threats. This leads to him trying to get Kakuzu released despite how they'd attempted to assassinate him, much to the annoyance of his peers.
- Madara proceeds to deconstruct this by demonstrating the downsides of such an approach. If they don't punish the guilty appropriately for their crimes, then that will simply encourage others to try themselves, leading to civilians being caught in the crossfire — and eventually, somebody will succeed.
- Eight Intertwined:
- After fighting Erhardt, Olberic ultimately decides to spare them, believing that they've sincerely changed their ways for the better after becoming the guardian of Wellspring.
- Therion does this as well after defeating Gareth, as he realizes that they were Darius' poorly-masked replacement for him. However, he warns them if that if they ever cross paths again, he will kill them next time.
- In The Seventh Son, this is used to set Luz and Booker up as Foils to each other. Both deal with being social outcasts differently; Booker has a Hair-Trigger Temper and constantly lashs out, while Luz prefers to laugh things off and downplay the impact of her isolation to the best of her ability.
- A Year To Fill An Empty Home: Morita is a Sadist Teacher who runs the only cram school in Akira's hometown, and adores harassing his mother about his academic struggles and delinquency. While Chou eventually snaps at her to shut up, calling her out as nothing more than a petty bully, she then bakes her a cake and sends her a letter clarifying her feelings. She then proceeds to support Morita as she deals with her students rebelling against her, and tries to help her clean up after her house is vandalized. Ultimately, this all results in Morita having a Heel Realization and rediscovering her love for teaching, and becoming one of Chou's dear friends.
- In The Greatest of Them All, Peter finds himself pulling a Peggy Sue and reliving his life all over again. This helps him brush off Flash's insulting and belittling him because he was much worse in the original timeline... plus, he only really interacts with Flash once or twice a week.
- Taylor Hebert, Pizzeria Tycoon has Taylor decide to drop out of school and open a pizza shop rather than continuing to endure the toxic environment at Winslow in this fashion. It's made very clear that this approach wasn't working; her life only improves after she walks away from her bullies and everyone who enabled them.
- Subverted in X-Men: The Early Years: Bobby Drake considers to be the better man and not retaliate when a bully is giving him a hard time. After a very short period of reflection Bobby decides he isn't interested in being the better man but in getting even.
