Heel Realizations in Fan Works.
Crossovers
- In The Babylon Effect, a Babylon 5/Mass Effect crossover, Matriarch Benezia decides to stop at Beta Durani to have a little talk with a captured Minbari Shai Alyt on the way to a Peace Mission to Minbar. After pointing out that the Minbari had killed an Asari Matriarch during an earlier battle during the war and that, by the Minbari's logic, the Asari had every right to exterminate them, among other things. The Shai Alyt has a combination of this and an Oh, Crap! moment realizing that there are only two ways their war with the Terran Systems Alliance will end; either they make peace with them, or the war will kill a great many people, Minbari included.
- Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron: Shirley has a moment during Tears of the Balmerra, when she stays with Shay's family. Not only is she deeply saddened by how they live their entire lives in tunnels, forced to mine crystals from a living creature in a manner that is implied to be extremely painful for it, but she also realized that something similar happens on Earth with all of the numbers that are forced to serve Britannia.
- The Dragon and the Butterfly has several, but Stoick gets two. After an extended Heroic Blue Screen of Death, Stoick realizes that the main reason why Hiccup chose to leave Berk was because of the neglect from his father and the mistreatment he received from the rest of their people. He then logicks himself into thinking that he only has to apologize, and Hiccup will kill Toothless, come home and everything will go back to normal. He then gets another one when he finds out that not only was Hiccup adopted by the Madrigals, who give him a happy life and unconditional love (for him AND Toothless) but that Hiccup has nothing but disdain for his former father, leading to Stoick realizing just how badly he'd messed up as a parent.
- The Force Is Not A Quirk!: Obi-Wan lectures Aizawa a fair amount about the importance of having a bond of trust with his students. It's only in Chapter 41 when Ahsoka calls him out for not defending her when Bakugo was threatening her with his Quirk in front of thousands of people that he realizes just how badly he's doing, even to the point of favoring people with flashy and powerful Quirks the way he hates that society does. Cementoss notes that Aizawa may as well be stuttering and trembling from how much the realization shook him.
- In the Battlestar Galactica/Supernatural crossover From Daybreak Into Darkness
, the angel that once posed as Number Six has this following a conversation with Castiel and the Winchesters trapping Lucifer back in the Cage; she has spent millennia reasoning that her and Baltar's actions were just following God’s Plan, but finds herself questioning that perspective when the Winchesters were able to defy fate. - Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters: At one point during her isolation in Mount Thanos, Nerissa realized that she was indeed in the wrong with everything she did in the events leading up to Cassidy's death, which was in fact her fault alone.There was no magical corruption, was there? There was no greater purpose. There was no accident. There was no mistake. There was only her. Only Nerissa Crossnic. That it was all her. Is her.
Only her.
She killed Cassidy.
She killed Cassidy because, when she should have stopped... When she should have grabbed Cassidy's hand and listened to her and talked to her... When Nerissa should have been thinking about Cassidy... Nerissa Crossnic was thinking only about herself. - Harry Tano: After Harry goes missing, the wills of Lily and James are read aloud...leading to the discovery that Peter Pettigrew betrayed the Potters to Voldemort, not Sirius, and that Pettigrew faked his own death to further implicate Sirius. What's more, they learn that Lily specifically asked in her will that Harry never be taken near her sister, as she knew that the Dursleys would be a bad choice to raise Harry. The entire wizarding council is in shock over how badly they messed up, and Dumbledore resigns over it, thinking that he can never trust himself around children again. On a lesser note, Severus learns from the wills that Lily and James had wanted to try and repair their relationship with him before they died, and that Lily forgave him. This leads to him dropping his vendetta against Harry and becoming a nicer person/better teacher.
- In How I Learned to Love the Wild Horse after Ranma (who fled to Beverly Hills to escape Nerima) apparently cheats on her, Clover considers telling his father where he is. But then she overhears Mandy agreeing not to do something that might lead to Ranma's father finding him because of how horrible the man is. Clover's horrified she was going to do something even Mandy wouldn't stoop to.
- If Wishes Were Ponies shows by the end of part 1 that Dumbledore was responsible not only for Harry ending up with the Dursleys, but he also prevented Harry from being removed from a clearly abusive household via numerous spells that prevented anyone from wanting to take Harry from the Dursleys' custody. This led to Harry being in an abusive home for almost nine years, and he would have died from injuries inflicted on him by Dudley's gang had he not wound up in Equestria. It's only long after Harry has formed a new family with Twilight, her best friends, the CMC, and Spike that Dumbledore learns the truth about how Harry was treated, and is completely appalled that his own actions are the reason why a) Harry trusts the "Atlanteans" more than he trusts wizards, and b) Harry wants nothing to do with the wizarding world and likely won't want to play his part in the prophecy. To his credit, he becomes visibly more open-minded and less arrogant as the story progresses.
- In The Infinite Loops, Pinkie Pie realizes that her constant hounding of Candy Cane (aka Ciphias Cain) to get him to party with her only hurts him and makes him fear her, which is something she'd never want with anyone. She tries to make it up to him with a Get-Out-Of-Party-Free card.
- Lighting Candles: After deciding to become a Guardian, Tadashi gets support from all the others...except Jack Frost, who taunts and makes fun of him. He doesn't realize that the reason Tadashi isn't completely happy to be a Guardian is because he not only recently died, but because he remembers his life (specifically his brother), and is going crazy with worry and grief over the fact that he can't protect Hiro like he used to. Once Jack learns this, he is shocked at his behavior (as he used to be a big brother, too). He apologizes to Tadashi, and the two become friends shortly after.
- Jorogumo: Taylor Hebert talks with Endeavor about Shoto and how people gain powers on Earth Bet, specifically trigger events. Her comment that if shortly after gaining her powers, she got another equally useful power that didn't constantly remind her of the worst moment of her life, she might very well never use her original power again caused Endeavor to truly think about what happened when Rei poured boiling water on their son's face. It makes the man realize that he never actually allowed himself to consider how traumatic the event must have been and that he never even told Shoto it wasn't his fault.But he was a fully grown hero when the incident with Rei had happened. He had taken it as one roadbump among many and powered on through regardless. But Shoto had been five when his mother scarred him and he’d never had the training to deal with-
Oh.
Oh God.
Shoto had been five.
Shoto had been five. - Leviathan in Manehattan's Lone Guardian deals with several of these during the story. The first centers on the "retirement" of innocent Reploids that she took part in previously, prompting her to come clean to the city's residents via the local newspaper. The other is when she forgets that she's dealing with flesh-and-blood ponies instead of machines and threatens to pull off the wings of several pegasi, driving her to apologize to them with the Royal Police as her witnesses.
- In Origin Story, the slow realization that the government is now hounding an innocent teenage girl solely because she is as powerful as she is (she's a Kryptonian, after all) and not because she violated any law despite what he has been told, causes Tony Stark to have one of these. It especially hits home after he's shown conclusively that the Registration Act effectively ignores the 13th Amendment. That's the one that outlaws slavery.
- Naruto in The (Questionable) Burdens of Leadership of a Troll Emperor makes a would-be assassin realize how evil his group is by forcing him to psychically feel the suffering of some of the people his group's actions hurt.
- In Reconciliator of Empire City, Cole MacGrath has convinced Kitty Pryde that she is the real bad guy during the Astonishing X-Men issues, not Emma Frost, whom she distrusts.Kitty: You're right. You're right all this time. I'm the bad guy here, not Emma.
- Ring-Maker: Taylor/Sauron, after fully regaining the memories of her past life. Note that this applies both for actions taken in-story as a Knight Templar, and for things done as Middle-Earth's Big Bad.Taylor: I was wrong. I was always wrong.
- Shadows over Meridian:
- Elyon and the Guardians have this when they realize that Kage was innocent of serving Phobos, meaning they've persecuted her for nothing since Kage, leading to the Queen of the Shadowkhan allying herself with Phobos. Will especially has this when she remembers how Kage confronted her for her actions regarding Raythor.Before Will finished her tone filled with despair and regret while her mind flashed back to Kage accusations against her for her actions against Raythor."Innocent…she was innocent." She shook her head in disbelief, "She was never with Phobos!"
- After Vathek has been dealt a massive reality check by Kage and reflected on everything he's learned, he becomes ashamed of the way he treated the girl in his hatred of Phobos and blind faith in the false Mage, and thus contributed to the Shadow Realm allying with Phobos. It also makes him realize that the Rebellion as a whole is turning out to be not that different from Phobos' government, so he resolves to redeem himself by both thwarting Phobos and Kage (the latter peacefully if possible at all) as well as putting a stop to the corruption of Elyon's government.
- Caleb has a small one in Chapter 11 when his father calls him out for losing his temper during his argument with Elyon in the previous chapter, feeling shame for snapping at his Queen like that.
- Elyon and the Guardians have this when they realize that Kage was innocent of serving Phobos, meaning they've persecuted her for nothing since Kage, leading to the Queen of the Shadowkhan allying herself with Phobos. Will especially has this when she remembers how Kage confronted her for her actions regarding Raythor.
- In the backstory of Star Wars Episode I: The Familiar of Zero, Guiche is part of a prank on Louise (as revenge for the damage her explosions cause) that starts with him asking her on a date. Throughout their dinner, he realizes what a wonderful (if magically inept) person Louise is and when she's knocked out by her drugged meal and several students write crude things all over her, Guiche breaks down crying over how he strung her along. Her sheer joy that a guy like him noticed her just makes it worse for him. Guiche later admits to another student that afterward, he didn't beg forgiveness because he couldn't stand the idea of Louise feeling anything for him besides hatred and revulsion. It's why he doesn't begrudge Louise's familiar for leaving him in constant agony from her Force Lightning, as it's no less than he deserved.
- A Triangle in the Stars: Bill Cipher, while he's had others too, has a rather harrowing and permanent one in Chapter Thirty-Two, realizing he had become worse than his parents. He gets better.
- In Twilight Storm, when Bella starts arguing with another prisoner in a Dalek labour camp about how the other woman sold the Doctor out to try and save someone else, Bella realises that she's basically done everything she was angry at the other woman for, as they're both willing to hurt others if it means being with the person they love. This marks the start of a chain of events that will conclude with Bella abandoning her old feelings for Edward even after she returns to her own time.
- Sasha and the Frogs: This happens in chapter 3 to Sasha after suffering constant nightmares.
- A Theory of Butterflies and Other Insects: Sasha has one while helping Fens, Bog, and the other toads gather Wartwood's 'unpaid dues', abruptly realizing that they're little more than bullies...and didn't she used to stand up to bullies once...?
- A Witch in Wartwood:
- While Marcy isn't typically a heel, she still manipulated her friends into stealing the music box and transporting them all to Amphibia. In Chapter 12, hearing Hop Pop talk about how unforgivably cruel it is to seperate families, she quietly realizes that her own actions were just as hurtful.
- In Chapter 15, she has a second one when it hits her that by supporting Sasha at the thrift store, she unintentionally reinforced Anne's feelings of inadequacy, convincing her that they only kept her around as their 'friend' so she could run errands for them.
- In Chapter 16, it's Anne's turn, as her empathic powers help her realize that she'd been unwittingly hurting Marcy by dismissing her interests.
- In The Blood of the Covenant, Kallik (whose firebending has steadily been getting better throughout their trip) finally calls Sokka out for his Fantastic Racism in the North Pole. Sokka, who is the closest thing to a brother that Kallik has, is shocked when he realizes that he's been acting that way, and is noticeably more accepting of his firebending heritage after.
- In Undone, Jeong Jeong has one after realizing that the Fire Nation has murdered children in the Earth Kingdom, and that while they may not be Fire Nation, the Earth Kingdom's people are still people. Iroh has one at the end as well after Lu Ten dies.
- All the Roofs of Uncertainty: Jason understands he's not a hero by the time the story starts, but the realization that he's an actual villain who's been murdering people "to get [his] dad's attention" slams into him pretty hard part way through when the reactions of others to his actions get thrown in his face enough.
- In the Angel fic Splinter, after spending months regarding Angel as the bad guy for abandoning them to pursue his vendetta against Darla, witnessing an alternate version of events where Angel lost them during Vocah’s attack force Wesley, Cordelia, and Gunn to acknowledge that they should have pushed harder to remain in Angel’s life, as even at his worst in this new reality Angel is still basically trying to do the right thing but has just lost any ability to connect to the people he’s protecting.
- Unconquerable Souls (set in a version of the Wishverse that didn’t end when Giles smashed Anyanka’s amulet) has Jenny Calender experience this when she uses a spell to assess the condition of Angel’s curse; seeing that the soul is the one actually suffering while the demon is just restrained leads her to realise that the concept of the curse as punishment is flawed, even if she resolves to ensure the curse isn’t broken for the sake of those who will die if Angelus escapes.
- Code Geass: Redo of the Rebellion: Viletta Nu is forced to oversee the distribution of medical supplies to refugee Elevens and has to fight from being physically sick at how many wounded there are, especially at the realization several of them are from the Shinjuku Massacre.
- In Second Time's the Charm, Zero forces an epiphany on Jeremiah Gottwald in order to lay the groundwork for him becoming Orange again. Notably, before the attack on Saitama, Jeremiah hears Cornelia's declaration of war being a "struggle between life and pride" and thinks to himself that slaughtering an entire neighborhood on the chance that Zero will show up is "nothing to take pride in."
- Class 78th Watches the Future: After Future!Sakura is revealed as The Mole in Chapter 4, Hiro and Toko adamantly insist that they will attempt to murder one of them. As the chapter's events play out, however, both gradually recognize just how wrong they were. Hiro grows increasingly guilt-ridden, with his attempts to defend himself ringing hollow, while Toko realizes that Sayaka's call-out of her was more on the mark than she wanted to admit.
- Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Denial: Fuyuhiko has one after discovering that the Imposter committed suicide, having cruelly referred to them as 'it' and 'that thing' in the past.
- Fractured Fates: The first killer, Azami Kurobe, realizes she truly did make a terrible mistake by committing murder, and tearfully acknowledges this before crying out how sorry she is for the crime.
- or did it eat the little girl? has Kokichi go through this twice:
- During the final trial, he realizes that his self-justifications for all of his provocative and manipulative behavior were built on faulty reasoning. In particular, he'd spent the whole game convinced that he was defying and undermining whatever their captors intended, only to realize that he was actually playing right into their hands and acting precisely the way they'd intended when they created his character in the first place.
- In let's go out with a bang!, he constantly harasses Miu, reminding her of all her mistakes and sins and insisting that she's Beyond Redemption. Even cheerfully declaring she should kill herself with a "Just Joking (but not really)" Justification. Eventually, this escalates to a one-on-one confrontation where they rip into each other until Miu reveals just how deeply she's been cut by his behavior. Including the bombshell that he haunts her nightmares since he was the last thing she saw as Gonta strangled her to death. After hearing this, Kokichi no longer feels quite so justified in his one-man crusade against her.
- System Restore: In the last moments of their execution, the second culprit abruptly realized how wrong they'd been to murder Pekoyama.
- Danny Phantom: Stranded: Misty Smith-Yang had one when she confronted Star face to face in an attempt to intimidate her into leaving Amity Park and Danny. She reveals all her bitterness over her own life and the resentment she feels towards Star because she believes Star is a shallow girl with an easy life and does not deserve Danny. However, after Star sets her straight and explains her own issues and difficulties, such as having a workaholic father and how her parent's marriage fell apart, her mother's abandonment, along with having a step-family whom she hates, as well as fake friends never truly cared for her. She admits that she is only NOW happy because of her relationship with Danny and how he helped change her into a better person. Misty seemed truly remorseful upon hearing this and realizing that she judged her without knowing her.
- And hearing from the woman Shi loved that she never loved him and that Shi refused to respect her feelings and was just delusional, Misty seemed to realize that her own feelings for Danny, and upon getting amnesia, she seemed to accept Danny's rejection and didn't put up a fight, making it seems that she had been a victim of circumstance and Shi's manipulation.
- It is ultimately subverted, as it's revealed that Misty FAKED her amnesia to avoid facing responsibility for her actions and manipulate Team Phantom into letting go of their grudges against her. She also makes it clear that she is still as infatuated as ever with Danny and still fully intends to steal him away from Star, showing that she learned nothing from the whole experience.
- And hearing from the woman Shi loved that she never loved him and that Shi refused to respect her feelings and was just delusional, Misty seemed to realize that her own feelings for Danny, and upon getting amnesia, she seemed to accept Danny's rejection and didn't put up a fight, making it seems that she had been a victim of circumstance and Shi's manipulation.
- Zig-Zagged in A Charmed Life: Light comes to realize he'd been acting like an asshole when it comes to the way he was treating Ryuk.
- In Death Note: The Abridged Series (kpts4tv), Mello's mafia henchmen wonder if maybe, just maybe, they're the bad guys. Also Light makes a Heel Realization before he dies and tries to stop his past self from using the notebook.
- Night in Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami:"Look Mr. L dude" dark said darkly. "I just want to blow up the world is that so evil?"
"Yes because then where will the kiddies live?"
Night looked shocked and stopped signing.
"BRO! I NEVER FORT OF THAT!"
- The Bolt Chronicles: In "The Blood Brother," Bolt finally realizes that he has been treating Mittens unfairly. He tearfully apologizes to the cat, who forgives him.
- Kimberly T's Gargoyles series features several of these:
- The series basically opens with Xanatos having had one as he realises that he wants to set a better example for his son, driving him to try and help the gargoyles be accepted by the modern world and atone for his past mistakes, with Xanatos getting directly confronted with the consequences of his past mistakes in Unsolved Mysteries when he meets Anne Marsden, who lost her husband and her job due to the Lost Nights and the Big Sleep.
- The Times, They Are a-Changin' gives one to Demona of all people, as her first meeting with the People for Interspecies Tolerance when they approach 'Dominique Destine' for corporate funding forces Demona to acknowledge that there are humans who want to befriend gargoyles just because it's the right thing to do, particularly when she overhears one of the P.I.T. members (who didn't know about her history) say that she's spent so long hating that she can't stop hating because it would force her to face that her life has been pointless.
- Mating Games 7: Moments of Silence, the entire Manhattan Clan have a relatively minor one of these when they all only realize how poorly they've treated the Labyrinth Clan after Brentwood (Lexington's clone) is killed by the Quarrymen, prompting Lexington to regret never taking time to get to know his clone beyond being a weird 'not-him' and the other gargoyles vowing to spend more time with their own clones when they return.
- The series basically opens with Xanatos having had one as he realises that he wants to set a better example for his son, driving him to try and help the gargoyles be accepted by the modern world and atone for his past mistakes, with Xanatos getting directly confronted with the consequences of his past mistakes in Unsolved Mysteries
- Intercom: Riley realizes that having her emotions help her out by providing answers for a test may not have been as innocent as she thought when cracks start appearing in Honesty Island.
- A Marriage Of Convenience: Elsa suffers a nervous breakdown and tells Hans she was fully aware of what he tried to do when he was last in Arendelle, attempting to kill her with his sword, admitting she was not against the idea at the time it almost happened. It finally hits hard what a horrible person he's been to her and finally expressing guilt for it.
- In fact, this and the Love Redeems trope are quite common in many Hans redemption fics, partly because he's been abused and neglected all his life, making him believe Love Is a Weakness and that the only way to succeed in life is to achieve power at all costs, combined with growing up in a harsh environment where the only thing that matters in life is Social Darwinism. Finally, his Heel–Face Turn makes him realize that this mindset was wrong from the get-go, how it made him an enemy of the main characters, and that there's more to life than just pursuing power.
- Trian Aeducan has one in Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns and it's bad enough that he becomes unable to sleep properly, falls into a depression he can only distract himself from by abusing his body through incessant workout, and this is when he's not having a Heroic BSoD. Gorim, surprisingly enough, tries to get him out of it, but he doesn't have much luck because of how both of them are half-convinced the dwarven noble protagonist is dead, so he has his own grief to work out. Trian only really manages to emotionally recover, somewhat, when he discovers his talent for sculpting, something that happens weeks after the realization. Things aren't made much better by what happens with the king and the city-state itself afterward. Let's just say those weren't the best few months of his life.
- King Endrin Aeducan is a sort of aversion because he knows what he's doing is wrong from the get-go. Still, his deathbed scene finally has him putting it into words, but it's far, far too late by then, or so he thinks. It actually wasn't, since everything had gone according to one of the DN's plans, but Endrin actually chooses to die because he didn't want to face his second son when he came back. It's just a very small point in his favor that part of the reason for his decision to give up on life before the second eldest prince has a chance to return is the fact that he doesn't want to put Raonar through the experience of having a second parent die in front of him. Needless to say, the second son in question quite rightfully calls him a stupid old man when he finds out.
- Walking in Circles:
- Solas has one when he understands that Evelyn, and by extension the people in the current age, despite their weak connections to the Fade are all true people with their own lives, emotions, desires, and dreams that are no different from the people of the old world.
- Evelyn also has one when she realizes that despite understanding what is a Tranquil, she, like everyone else, has taken them for granted, forget or ignore just how horrible it actually is.
- In What If Goku Won Against Master Roshi?, Goku becomes an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy with a serious Smug Super streak since he wasn't humbled by Jackie Chun. It takes Chi Chi's death for Goku to recognize that he's the real source of his own problems, spurring him to achieve Super Saiyan 2 and beat Cell.
- Louise truly realizes she's evil and in the wrong in An Acolyte of Zero after she resurrects Henrietta as a Lich and the latter shows no recognition of her or anything that denotes her as being Louise's childhood friend.
- In Forward, there are two instances of this:
- Colonel Dannett, a combat instructor for the Academy, realized what a monster he was becoming and had to decide between retirement and suicide. He chose to retire but is still haunted enough by what he did that when River comes after him, he is willing to let her kill him for revenge. Fortunately, River spares and forgives him.
- The second instance comes later on, with Inducer One-One-Nine, who is an eight-year-old psychic that can control emotions and thoughts, and went on a massive murder spree. She only comes to realize the horror of what she's done when Zoe shoots her in the stomach and she lays dying.
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
- In Wishing Only Wounds The Heart (sequel to More than My Friend), Terrence is given an opportunity to kill Mac as "revenge", as he blames the kid for how messed up Terrence's life has become. However, when he sees Frankie (who isn't even related to Mac) willing to give up her life to protect Mac, Terrence realizes that she's a better older sibling than he is, and is so shocked at himself that he doesn't go through with his plan and runs. He later redeems himself by giving up his heart to save Mac's life.
- Abraxas (Hrodvitnon): San (the former left head of Ghidorah) has an utterly brutal one when he's viewing Vivienne's memories, after spending the first several chapters of the story genuinely puzzled as to why his new sister is so miserable over him transforming her into a Titan and doesn't trust him. San's Evil Doppelgänger eventually also goes through this as a result of viewing Thor's memories.
Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed
- In What Could Have Been, Jin Guangyao gets a very subtle one when he comes across his very small, very frail nephew crying in his crib having been abandoned by the staff assigned to him and realizes that the neglect baby Jin Hua has been subjected to could well be traced to the rumors he himself encouraged that the baby was cursed. While he mentally admits that he was willing to let the child die at first, he works very hard to keep his nephew alive from that point on, even getting the baby food and letting him sleep in his room at night himself.
- In Amiss (part of a trilogy where Miley's wish that she could be Hannah all the time left her trapped in that other world), it is revealed that Miley tried to become friends with the alt-Lilly, but this ended with Lilly blackmailing her out of ten million dollars. In Astray, alt-Lilly is sent to the 'original' world after Lilly makes a wish to join Miley, but while alt-Lilly initially plans to pull the same blackmail scam, she comes to realize just why Miley was trying to be her friend. As time goes on, alt-Lily becomes horrified and disgusted with herself for threatening to destroy Miley when the other girl's reasons for spending time with her were relatively genuine, rather than part of some weird plan to look good.
- Downplayed in Departure From The Diary. At the end of his third year, Harry realizes that he's never really been a good person so much as a bad person trying to do good things. Notably, Harry admits that his arguing against Tam killing Aunt Marge was because arguing that killing was wrong was easier than admitting he enjoyed it and wished he'd done it himself. But even when he admits that he's a bad person, Harry just shrugs the revelation off and admits he can live with it.
- In For me, Harry asking if his leaving Hogwarts would make things easier leads Snape to the realization that he's become a bully and a coward.
- In Harry's Christmas Wish Arcturus Black realizes that his prejudices have gone too far when Harry evicts him from Potter Manor after he has Alastor Moody try to Imperius Harry into never having any contact with Hermione again.
- In Harry Potter and the Angry Grim Reaper Snape realizes he's become a bully when Harry asks what Lily Potter would think of his teaching methods.
- An important plot point in Harry Potter: Junior Inquisitor is the Order of the Phoenix learning that not only is the entire Order being coerced and/or blackmailed by Dumbledore, but that the crimes they've committed on his orders are far worse than anything most of them were being blackmailed for. Particularly noteworthy is when Bill, who got his job after Dumbledore lied about his NEWT scores, reacts to Fawkes liberating most of the Order from the ministry by throwing himself away from the bird.
- It's driven home further when Dumbledore doesn't stop Snape from using the Cruciatus on Harry but hexes someone for stopping Snape.
- In the dark!Harry AU Heir after Voldemort tasks Harry and Tom with running distraction duty at Hogwarts by setting the Basilisk loose on the student body they had originally picked the Muggle-born Hermione Granger to be one of their first victims, but after a week of stalking Hermione, Harry and Tom realize how brilliant she is and decide to choose a different target. When Harry and Tom give their report at the next Death Eater meeting and explain why they switched targets this even gets Voldemort thinking that maybe he was wrong about Muggle-borns.
- In Hermione Granger and the Marriage Law Revolution Minister of Magic Hermione Granger and Chief Warlock Harry Potter realize they have a serious problem when they learn that Neville may run for Minister of Magic and one of the first things they think of is to kill him to make sure he won't restore the old regime. They thus make sure someone sane and wise takes their place and get some much-needed therapy.
- In The Linked Mirrors, Snape realizes how much he's contributed to Harry's self-loathing after a viewing spell shows Harry cutting himself.
- In Seventh Horcrux, Hermione, who Harry has been accusing of being evil since her plan to knock out Crabbe and Goyle, replace them using Polyjuice, and interrogate Draco Malfoy back in second year, comes to a heel realization when Harry and Ron confront her over obliviating her parents and sending them to Australia. When she expresses worry that she might be turning into the next Dark Lord, Harry points out that Voldemort probably won't like that, so they'll have to kill him anyway.
- In Waking from oblivion Ron realizes how selfish and shallow he's been after Harry gives a "Reason You Suck" Speech which compares him to Pettigrew.
- Averted in Wish Carefully: Lucius doesn't believe that anything he did was wrong, he's only acknowledging that it didn't work, and that supporting Voldemort will completely doom Britain's remaining pure-bloods. Despite all this, he remains a racist, classist bastard to the core.
- In Yet More Fragments Harry explains to the Order of the Phoenix that given Snape's treatment of any non-Slytherin in his class, almost every job that requires a NEWT in potions (politics, aurors, healers, etc) is staffed near exclusively with Slytherins who buy into Voldemort's ideals. While checking the Order's reactions, Harry's surprised to note that Snape is one of those looking shocked.
- Like most things, this is Played for Laughs in Hellsing Ultimate Abridged.
- Rip van Winkle: Tell me, captain, how does it feel to betray your friends, family, and country all for the selfish wish of immortality?
Captain: Well when you put it like that, I feel like kind of a cunt.- After absorbing Shroedinger's essense, Alucard has an epiphany:
Alucard: Am I a bad person?
- Mistakes: The nations were quite happy to watch the humans kill each other, as well as getting their own hands bloody, since they don't really mind getting killed themselves. Once China gets attacked, however, both he and Japan realize just what they've been doing, and have to deal with the ruin of their multi-millennium worldviews on top of everything else.
- In Some Semblance of Meaning, Obsidian has one after realizing how ruthless his fellow Careers are and recognizing that he feels guilty about the kills he has made.
- Down And Out: In Chapter 6, speaking to Hazel makes Simon realize that he's responsible for his own actions, and said actions have only served to repel most of the people in his life, with Grace being the only person to stick by him despite being one of his biggest victims (albeit in her own twisted way at that point).
- The Final Straw: After Lilo tells Mertle the cold hard truth in a "The Reason You Suck" Speech, she begins to ponder her actions.
- For His Own Sake:
- Keitaro had one shortly before the story proper begins, realizing that he'd rejected his family's honest efforts to help him because he was too narrowly focused on keeping his childhood promises.
- Kitsune gets hit with one when she realizes that she's acting just like her Con Artist father, whom she absolutely despises.
- Motoko has one in Chapter 24, acknowledging that she's had similar realizations in the past, but repeatedly shunted them aside, unwilling to admit where she'd gone wrong.
- In the final chapter, Granny Hina admits that she wasn't actually helping the Hinata Girls, and that she effectively drove the rest of her family away with her constant attempts to manipulate and control everyone.
- The Story of My Life: Even after getting a scalding lecture from Nick, Abby and Leah for his actions during the events of the movie and being told he is the not the hero of the story, but the villain, Martin still refuses to believe he is the bad guy... until he finds Simon’s computer discarded in the trash and reads Blue’s last email to Simon, cutting him off. It finally hits home to Martin how he’s essentially isolated Simon from all his friends, during a time when he needs them the most.
- The Karma of Lies: Chloé realizes just how badly she screwed up when Ladybug refuses to forgive her for her actions as Miracle Queen, forcing her to take a good hard look at herself and realize she doesn't like what she sees. This spurs Chloé to become The Atoner, contrasting sharply with Adrien, who utterly refuses to acknowledge anything he did wrong.
- LadyBugOut:
- After having to deal with more unwanted advances from Chat Noir, Marinette realizes that her own pursuit of Adrien was just as obsessive in its own ways. She immediately tears down everything related to her crush.
- When Marinette calls out her parents on their tendency to never actually help with her problems, Sabine inadvertently proves her pointSabine: Oh... Marinette, that's not how it's supposed to be. You're supposed to rely on us. You—
(Marinette jerks away from her hand; Sabine realizes she just implicitly blamed her for not trusting them.)
Sabine: ...We're supposed to be reliable. - Nino has one when Lila accidentally outs herself as a liar by claiming that she's Rena Rouge, followed by Alya making excuses for her and rejecting the idea of apologizing to Marinette.
- Tikki has a Downplayed one after The Balcony Scene, as she quietly acknowledges that she wasn't always the most supportive and didn't necessarily help Marinette take care of herself.
- Leave for Mendeleiev: Kim recognized that Chloé was bullying Marinette, but didn't do anything about it because he was crushing on Chloé. After getting brutally rejected, he realizes just how awful it was for him to stand by and let one of his friends suffer for so long, and starts trying to make amends and repair their damaged relationship.
- Played With in Lila's Lament: Lila gives Marinette a Breaking Speech, claiming that she didn't do enough to discredit or stop her from deceiving the others. Marinette is driven to Tears of Remorse, with the story treating it as though Lila was completely correct to pin all the responsibility for stopping her on Marinette... while at the same time, Lila similarly blaming Adrien is treated as passing the buck.
- Truth and Consequences:
- Marinette has one after convincing Paris that Chat Noir has betrayed her trust, where she acknowledges that her actions haven't all been "the right thing to do". Unfortunately, she still believes that they're the right thing for her, and after dedicating four full years of her life to fighting Hawkmoth, she convinces herself that she's allowed to seek some small measure of happiness for herself. Over time, she slips fully back into her belief that she's acting for the greater good.
- She has another one at the climax of Chapter 33, following Hawk Moth's assault on Paris. This time, she swallows her pride and asks Chat to work together with her one last time.
- Villain Of Your Own Story features an Alternate Universe where Alya was the one who found the Butterfly Brooch and became Hawk Moth. After finding herself toeing the lines she'd promised herself that she'd never cross, Alya realizes how far things spiraled out of control, and planned to turn herself in... before abruptly being replaced by the Alya who'd Wished to know Hawk Moth's Secret Identity.
- Weight Off Your Shoulder: For years, Caline Bustier forced the victims of Chloé's constant bullying to forgive their tormentor, declaring they needed to "lead by example" by turning the other cheek. She finally recognizes how much damage that did when Chloé's Karma Houdini Warranty runs out, only for Chloé to blithely reveal her intention to work with Gabriel Agreste's legal team in hopes of evading the charges. Caline is horrified, all the more so when Chloé thanks her for all the times she forced her classmates to bow to her whim.
- What Goes Around Comes Around: Adrien has one after receiving a Breaking Speech from his mother Emilie, who calls him out on naively believing that things will just magically work out the way he wants because he desires it, and expecting others to bend over backwards to grant his wishes. This is paired with the irony of how the person calling him out is just as guilty of being a self-serving Entitled Bastard, forcing him to realize that It Runs in the Family.
- The Wolves in the Woods:
- Lila has one upon realizing that she horribly misjudged her new classmates, having vastly underestimated how readily they'd turn upon their 'everyday Ladybug'. Her horror only mounts as their bullying escalates to the point that Marinette is forced to transfer away, only for Alya to lead an angry mob to the Dupain-Cheng bakery.
- Implied with Alya when her parents confront her with evidence of her scheming to slander Marinette's new friends at St. Catherine's. During her Villainous Breakdown, she pleads with her parents to tell her that there's nothing wrong with wanting her 'bestie' back; when Marlena outlines all the ways Alya betrayed her former friend's trust, she switches to begging them to tell her she's not a villain.
- Some fanworks have Bakugou Katsuki finally realize the kind of Barbaric Bully that he was to Midoriya Izuku, by letting him bond with someone over time, then have a terror from that person's past reappear, causing them to freeze in fear, and having Bakugou recognize that same reaction as the one Midoriya always gets when he looks at Bakugou himself.
- In Lamarckian, Bakugou ends up getting a girlfriend in the main character Kanna and the terror from her past is her family's Arch-Nemesis, the Wendigo.
- Daymare: After seriously injuring Izuku with his explosions, leaving his former friend badly scarred, Katsuki starts reflecting upon his past behavior and realizes just how cruel he'd been.
- In Echo Chamber, Izuku and Bakugou fight each other during the Sports Festival without using their Quirks, each for their own reasons. Without the flashiness of Quirks to distract them, the spectators quickly realize they've been cheering on Blood Sport between children for their own entertainment. Nezu in particular comes to the conclusion that he's become just like the scientists who experimented on him.
- In Mastermind: Strategist For Hire, Izuku has a moment when he realizes someone killed Mt. Lady with the plan he provided. Rather than horrified, Izuku mostly feels satisfaction that his plan succeeded and admits it makes him a bad person.
- In Toward A Bright Future, Bakugou comes to respect and care for Class 1-A's new teaching assistant Y/N like the rest of his class, and the terror from her past is her old guardian Mumei.
- In Vice Principal II: Shinso, the VP explains to Hitoshi that being demoted to Gen-Ed was a far better outcome compared to two other students being charged with a variety of crimes, causing Hitoshi to realize that he was more fortunate than Bakugou and Mineta. However, it is also marred in the fact that he almost ruined his own future over his idolizing of Eraserhead and either went to Vigilantism like so many others, or become what society said he would be.
- In Perfection Is Overrated, Nao goes through a gradual one over time, as she realizes how much her mother's being put into a coma has affected her life by causing her to become a selfish and vengeful loner, starting when she is forced to ensure that it happens lest history be altered enough to cause a temporal paradox. After a chance encounter with Mai in the hospital, Nao realizes that Mai has, in the years since her parents' deaths, dedicated herself to something constructive in caring for Takumi, while Nao realizes how little robbing perverts ease her own pain. Eventually, she undergoes positive Character Development and becomes a better person, particularly after realizing her similarity with Natsuki.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
- In Address Unknown (Remedy), Rainbow Dash has one after she figures out that Fluttershy (her lifelong friend) and Derpy (whom she holds a grudge against for the town hall incident, amongst other screwups), aren't so different.All her life, the yellow pony had faced mockery from all sides but one, and it was the only difference between how Fluttershy and Derpy had grown. Rainbow Dash was the difference. Everypony made fun of Fluttershy everypony except for her. She had stayed by Fluttershy's side through it all, defending her from the teasing at her constant fear and virtually non-existent flying skills.
Fluttershy was still timid, still fearful, still a poor flyer, and just like Derpy, still hurt easily from the scars of foalhood. The only variation between her long-time friend and Derpy was that Rainbow Dash threw insults at Derpy instead of repelling them. It was time for that to change. - Sombra's Then Let Me Be Evil moment from Ask King Sombra is ruined when he sees that Luna (whom he had a thing for before he became evil) genuinely believed that he had been reformed and was heartbroken when she was proven wrong.
- The Dark Side of the Mirror Verse:
- Mirror Fluttershy has one of these when Captain Goodguy/Mirror Discord makes her realize Rainbow Crash's current issues are partially her fault thanks to her Bystander Syndrome meaning she never helped her when she was being bullied severely by Mirror Spitfire as a filly, and pointing out had Gilda had the same attitude, things may have been much worse. It really sinks in when Mirror Twilight's Mad Scientist activities (which Fluttershy had noticed but ignored) result in Twilight becoming a Nightmare and nearly destroying Canterlot, resulting in Fluttershy finally acting and coming to help stop her.
- Mirror Twilight has one of her own when she's defeated in her Nightmare form and restored to sanity by the Elements of Harmony, realizing she was just living out a power fantasy she never wanted to come true and nearly destroyed Canterlot as a result.
- A Diplomatic Visit: In the third story, Diplomacy Through Schooling, Garble enrolls in Twilight's new school after realizing that he does want to be good, but has no idea how to do so.
- Echoing Silence:
- Fluttershy and Rarity gradually figure out that the reason why Diadem (formerly known as Twilight Sparkle) wants nothing to do with them is because she didn't leave Canterlot and start living in the Dusklands willingly; she was banished there after they all turned their back on her during the wedding preparations, and is none too pleased that they've only just come looking for her years after the fact.
- The rest of the Mane Six are struck with this after Fluttershy and Rarity explain this, exposing Celestia's actions in the process.
- In Equestria: A History Revealed, only following her forces' defeat at the Battle of Canterlot, does Princess Luna realize the magnitude of everything she did in starting the Equestrian Civil War, and then suffers from a Villainous BSoD.
- Her Inner Demons: The Shadowbolts suffered a brutal one when Sci-Twilight explains her transformation into Midnight Sparkle was partly a result of their pressure and ridicule. The shame Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare was so bad, it caused them to Stress Vomit. Twilight herself is ashamed for letting her anger turn her into a monster, even though the Shadowbolts claim she had every right to be angry.
- In Inner Demons, a recently Face Heel Turned Sweetie Belle almost has one when she sees how bad Twilight Sparkle has become. Unfortunately, an ill-worded speech from Rarity hits an emotional trigger Twilight planted earlier, causing her to backslide and join up with Twilight fully.
- She has another one when Rarity is nearly killed by Trixie while protecting her. Apple Bloom has to help it stick this time, and she ends up sinking into a Villainous BSoD.
- In The Maretian, Dragonfly undergoes this as a major part of her character development. As she is listening to the last chapters of The Hobbit along with the rest of the castaways, she realizes that if the changelings had won during their attack on Canterlot years ago, they would hardly act any better than Saruman's thugs raiding Shire. This realization sticks, and by the end, she is considering moving out from the hive, lest she adopts the old mode of thinking again.
- The Pony POV Series Recursive Fanfiction Discord: Not One Of A Kind (declared an official Alternate Universe) has this happen to Discord (well, an alternate one implied to be the canon version). Bored with being Sealed Evil in a Can but unable to do much of anything about it other than send a piece of his spirit out to observe Equestria (which at present mostly consists of celebration of his defeat), he sends it to the Truth to take a look and sees the Dark World where he won. Upon witnessing how bad Dark World!Discord is, he realizes he's no different and is nearly completely broken by guilt. Thankfully, Twilight Tragedy finding the stars to still be beautiful, even in the horrible alternate future snaps him out of it and redeems him.
- At the climax of the Rainbooms and Royalty sequel May the Best Friends Win, Rainbow Dash calls out Trixie on her behavior, which forces her to face just how vile she's truly acted, leading to her becoming a better pony.
- Tarnished Diamonds plays with this. Checker Monarch told Diamond Tiara that she reminded her of herself back when she was a filly. After learning about the older mare's true nature, she's horrified and wants to avoid turning out the same way... but doesn't fully understand just why bullying the Cutie Mark Crusaders made her so much like Checker Monarch.
- A Taste of the Good Life: Ebony Glimmer is the mother of Scootaloo. She had also been an emotionally abusive alcoholic, which eventually prompted Scootaloo to run away from home. Two years later Ebby, having cleaned up her act, encounters Scootaloo by chance and tries to reconnect, but Scootaloo wants nothing to do with her. Ebby goes so far as to use Foal Protection Services to take Scootaloo by force, only for her to flee again. Tracking down Scootaloo again in the forest, the ensuing chase results in Ebony hanging for her life off a cliff. Scootaloo, the only pony around who can help and who is desperate to have Ebony out of her life forever, leaves her to her fate. Though she is rescued soon after, this moment, more than even Scootaloo's repeated declarations that she didn't want Ebby around, make the Heel Realization hit home, pushing her past the Despair Event Horizon and very nearly driving her to drink again.
- The main character in This is the Life: A Tale of a Human in Equestria has one after hiding from Pinkie Pie so he won't have to attend her party, only to come to the realization she's trying so hard to invite him (read: literally hunting around town for him) because she thinks he doesn't have many friends and wants him to have a fun time and meet some people.
- Through the Eyes of Anon-a-Miss: Each of the CMC has one over the course of the story.
- Sweetie Belle had the most misgivings about their plans, but when she overhears Flash Sentry refusing to accept the idea that Sunset was Anon-a-Miss, angrily condemning whoever was responsible, she realizes that participating was turning her into a bully.
- Scootaloo is similarly guilt-ridden after hearing her Aunts condemn Anon-a-Miss, along with seeing just how nasty some of the submitted secrets are. Then she witnesses Sunset getting threatened with injury and death because of how everybody mistakenly believes she's responsible.
- Apple Bloom's is the most drawn out, but when she dreams of being called out by her own she-demon counterpart, coupled with the discovery that Sunset is homeless, she fully realizes just how heinous her actions were.
- Why expands on Discord's from "Keep Calm and Flutter On" (taking place between his Heel Realization and the final scene). When the Mane Six confront him over his change of heart, he explains his Heel Realization in more detail;Discord: I lost the last time because I didn't understand your friendship as well as I thought I did, and once I finally did understand it... I realize how it must've felt when I broke yours apart.
My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!
- In Catarina Claes MUST DIE!, after Henrietta talks with Catarina while she's in the jail and sees up close how kind Catarina is, she is so overcome by guilt and regret that she decides to plead guilty to whatever crimes she is charged with so Catarina and Geordo don't have to deal with testifying at a trial. After Catarina and Geordo leave, her thoughts when she's back in her cell demonstrate just how wrong and short-sighted her actions were.Henrietta: I could've had a friend and instead wanted an enemy. I wanted to see an innocent woman suffer for my own selfish desires. I had happiness but threw it all away in favor of suffering. I am a vile woman and a fool.
- A Case Study in the Sturdiness of the Rookie 9:
- Kakashi exploits his team's trust to have them effectively manage themselves while he slacks off, patting himself on the back for being such a 'good teacher'. He also creates a fake C-rank mission where he encourages them to earn Genma's trust with the intent of pranking him, just because Genma swiped his dessert. He only realizes the full impact of his negligence when Team 7 goes on to betray Team 10's trust during the Chuunin Exam, with his students blithely admitting what they did, not seeing anything wrong with their decision.
- With Asuma's encouragement, Ino abuses her clan's Mind-Body Switch Technique in order to keep her unruly teammates in line. When her father finally finds out, he explains to her just what kind of impact their technique has on its targets, utterly horrifying her as the weight of her actions sinks in.
- In The Darkest Light, Tenten practiced for months with her team so they could kill Naruto/Naruichi in revenge for how (they think) he wronged them. As Tenten leads Naruichi to the ambush site, their conversation causes her to realize that what they plan on doing is wrong and Naruichi is an innocent masseur. Of course, it helps that except for Lee (who lost his parents to the Kyuubi), everything bad that happened to them from interacting with Naruichi was their own fault.
- It sinks in even further when Gai asks why Tenten attempted to murder Naruichi and upon hearing her answer, that she was jealous of Naruichi's skill and hated him for it, asks her, "Hated enough to kill?"
- In The Last Prayer, Sakura finally realizes how unhealthy her feelings for Sasuke are when he threatens to kill her parents so "she can understand him like she wants" and Sakura realizes she actually considered it for a moment. Sakura breaks down sobbing in Ino's arms at the idea she'd seriously consider letting her parents get murdered just for the chance it might get her closer to Sasuke.
- In The Sealed Kunai, Konan starts to realize Akatsuki is evil when she and Pain fight Naruto and Jiraiya inside Amegakure. Unlike their other battles that were out in the wilderness or villages they didn't care about, this one left half the village in ruins and thousands dead, causing her to realize what kind of suffering Akatsuki has been (and will be) responsible for.
- In A Teacher's Glory, Hiashi Hyuga reflects morbidly that the Invasion has been a day of disappointing realizations about himself. Disappointment that indulging his brother's son has created a spoiled brat of a genius, disappointment that his pride led to his own injury and has placed his younger daughter in danger, and disappointment in himself that his elder daughter has so thoroughly failed to live down to his expectations after all these years, and instead almost single-handedly saved dozens of lives while he barely saved himself and her sister.
- At the end of All Mixed Up!, Oprah realizes that she was completely in the wrong for rejecting and firing Mariana Mag due to her love of language and not math, and that the ex-villainess was right about her, and Odd Squad in general, being narrow-minded and needing to explore other subjects besides mathematics. As a result, she allows all cases involving non-mathematical subjects to be handled by agents accordingly.
- In Olive's Last Partner, following the events of the Odd Squad episode "How to Interrogate a Unicorn", Olive comes to the realization that for all the grief and hatred she's given Oscar, she misjudged him and actually misses his presence. She tries to throw out these thoughts once she goes back to her desk, but they still linger.Olive: Maybe I have been too hard on Oscar...
- In Blood Man Luffy when fighting the Don Krieg and his men, the Straw Hats are appalled that Gin is holding them hostage after they saved his life. Pearl brushes it off as the Krieg way, and Gin agrees but starts thinking to himself what the Krieg way means: Killing civilians, breaking promises, betraying allies, and leaving no survivors. At that moment Gin attacks Pearl.
- Crossed Lines: Because Zoro wasn't present at Shells Town, Helmeppo's wolf savaged Rika. Helmeppo himself was so horrified that he ordered his men to kill said wolf and has never returned to town since, all while sending money to pay for Rika's medical bills.
- Mellorine! Mellorine!: When Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp all go through a Gender Bender, Sanji naturally goes nuts over their new forms, particularly gushing over Usopp. However, he gets hit hard by one of these when he finds Usopp going through an emotional breakdown, realizing that the swap amplified all of their sniper's insecurities... and by harping on how delicate and dainty his new body was, he was unintentionally making it much, much worse.
- In This Bites!, Cross's words on tolerance and "perpetuating hate for hate's sake" make Hancock, Marigold, and Sandersonia realize they've become far too similar to the World Nobles they despise.
- Pokémon Reset Bloodlines: The 2021 Christmas special sees Daisy Waterflower having one after seeing a Christmas photo on Ash's Facebook account depicting Misty genuinely happy. She fully recognizes that their current Gilded Cage situation while Misty is out and happy is essentially Laser-Guided Karma, and that even if it was their parents who instilled in them their hatred of Misty, they're the ones who treated her so poorly even after they died, admitting to herself what she'd denied for years: they were awful sisters and people, and its for the best if they stay out of Misty's life now that she's found genuine happiness. Lily and Violet begin to share the same sentiment soon after.
- In Girl Days, Akane gets one when an emotionally unstable Ranma calls her out on her attitude."But... you always call me uncute..."
"That doesn't have anything to do with your looks."
"W—what?"
"Hitting me for anything I say, never listening, always taking things the wrong way, always blaming me for everything that goes wrong— what's cute about that? Humph. Don't know why I bother."
And Ranma turned her back with a sniff.
Akane stared. Even taking into account the possibility that Ranma was temporarily... odd... because of her biological ordeal, that had a frightening ring of sincerity. And accuracy.
Girl days was supposed to educate Ranma. But as little as she wanted to admit it, they were teaching her something also. Things she didn't like. About herself.
- In the pro wrestling story, The Return-Remixed, Maria Kanellis has one in the last act after DEAR took out Eve Torres with three powerbombs on an unpadded, concrete floor, putting her in the hospital. She mainly suffers in silence, feeling guilty over what they've done.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness Act III: Akua and Kahlua help Kiria in his plan to use the Chrono Displacement spell to rewrite history with the intent to make their father Issa one of the top dark lords of the world in the new timeline. In the final chapter, they get hit with this big time when they discover that Kiria actually planned to alter history so he would be the most powerful monster in existence, and part of said plan would have had him infect the two with Blackheart and sent back in time to destroy Issa's empire from within. The two spend the next three acts trying to atone for their mistake.
- A Year To Fill An Empty Home: Morita has two of these over the course of the story:
- The first comes when one of her students vandalizes her house, and she promptly expels him from her cram school... only for him to be absolutely ecstatic.
- Later, she looks on the Phan-site and sees just how many requests have been made for the Phantom Thieves to change her heart.
- Zigzagged in the Persona 5 AU fic The Delinquent and His Lover: Continuation. After Akira gives Sae a lengthy "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how she's been treating Makoto and the damage she's been doing, Sae takes it to heart and acknowledges to Makoto that he was right — only to then completely undercut the realisation by taking her behaviour to be the reason "that criminal" Akira got his hooks into her, refusing to give him any benefit of the doubt regarding his assault charge. However, when Makoto convinces Sae to look into Akira's arrest for herself, even she eventually has to accept that he was likely screwed over to protect someone, and that all she's done is perpetuate the injustice against him. When she finds out the truth of the conspiracy against him by talking to the prosecutor in his case, she thinks back to when Akira asked her, "Didn't you have me all figured out too?" and feels disgusted with herself, resolving to get justice for him.
- The AU fic It's Just a Light Rain (But the Storm's Still Comin') has Akira missing his chance to awaken to his Persona and never befriending Ann or Ryuji, who became outright hostile to him when the rumours about him escalate to the point where they believe he somehow played a part in driving Shiho to attempt suicide. After Ann, Ryuji and the other Phantom Thieves investigate Akira and discover he has a Palace, which takes the form of a prison, they eventually realise that their treatment of him played a huge part in creating it. It's cemented for Yusuke in particular when they find out the Inmate they had been trying to free from solitary confinement was Akira's Shadow the whole time. "All this time Kurusu's Shadow wasn't the Overseer. He was a prisoner. We're the real monsters here." Ann is also hit hard when she sees Akira's cognition of herself, a cruel and sadistic monster whose hatred of Akira isn't a huge exaggeration of how she had acted around him.
- In the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf story "Empath's Wedding", Hefty during his lonely night at Tapper's Tavern during Empath's bachelor party comes to the realization that he has been a jerk to Empath, Smurfette, and his fellow Smurfs for years and that he deserves what they all thought of him.
- In Robb Returns, Robert has a few of these as he gets back on his feet (metaphorically speaking), realizing how badly he has been messing things since the Rebellion. He pointedly tells his brothers that he has been a horrible brother, particularly to Stannis, who has done so much for him without receiving a just reward.
- Big Doors and its sequel To the Journey each feature two unexpected characters having these:
- In Big Doors, Lwaxana Troi has spent years thinking that Tasha is a bad influence on her daughter due to her rougher attitude, but when circumstances result in Lwaxana learning that Tasha had a baby when she was a teenager, only for the premature baby to die just a few days later, she re-evaluates her opinion of Tasha as a woman who has spent years struggling with a pain that Lwaxana compares to having a piece of your soul ripped out.
- In To the Journey, Q of all people has one when he looks back on an incident where he offered to bring Tasha Yar's baby back to life if she'll be the mother of his own child. Although Q simply erased Tasha's memory of the experience after she broke down sobbing when he briefly restored the baby and then took it away, after Q becomes a father himself, he recognises that Tasha was right to accuse him of being no better than Tasha's old rapists, and in order to atone, he gives Tasha a chance to save a friend, transporting her to Deep Space 9 in time to save Jadzia Dax from Dukat.
- A Changed World: Eleya realizes she's about to order a shipload of Klingons killed simply for being Klingons, rather than because they represent a threat."No. No. I refuse. I won't be that person."
- In the Star Trek: Voyager fic The Prodigal Daughter, Janeway in particular has one when she is confronted with the way she and the rest of the senior staff basically ignored the Equinox survivors, to the extent that Section 31 captured Marla Gilmore to try and recreate her work on the enhanced warp drive and assumed that nobody on Voyager would look for Marla afterwards.
- In What You Already Know - Resolutions, Ishta has a minor but significant moment when Daniel Jackson uses his psychic abilities to let Moloc's host talk before he is executed, with the host horrified to remember everything Moloc did to innocent children using his body and explicitly asking for death. When Ishta talks with Daniel later, she admits that she is ashamed that she spent so many years hating Moloc's face without acknowledging that the face she hated was of a man who suffered more from Moloc's actions than any of the Goa'uld's victims.
- In Faded Blue, Greg and Steven are both horrified when they learn that Blue Pearl is essentially a slave, and they didn't realize for over a decade.
- In On Trial, the king and his new head guard inadvertently drink Varian's truth serum and reveal the truth about what's happened to Cassandra. The queen and princess pull no punches in telling them that what they did was completely out of line and far too cruel a punishment for someone who admitted that they'd done wrong and had been willing to atone for it. Averted, in that neither of the guilty parties are willing to admit that they did anything wrong, and keep insisting that their actions were justified.
- In this The Hobbit fanfic, Dís (who has unsuccessfully tried to duel Tauriel to the death at this point) realizes what she has done when Tauriel gets misogynist hate mail from other dwarves, and Bilbo points out those dwarves must have assumed Dís would approve of their actions, due to her treatment of Tauriel.
- For Want of a Mohawk: Beth has hers regarding Heather after DJ gets injured saving her from a rampaging moose during the extreme sports challenge.Beth: (confessional) Today has been... a day. And now I'm flashing back to being on the ground, about to be crushed by a raging moose... when it hits me: Heather would have never done that for me. She's never stuck her neck out for me, she's never sacrificed anything to help me. Everything I've done for her and she was just going to watch... I... I don't want to be like Heather. I want to be someone like DJ.
- In Legacy, Heather reached out to Lindsay after the latter lost her baby, but Lindsay did not acknowledge the gesture. Lindsay did respond to condolences from Courtney, among others, so Heather assumed that old resentments still lingered. The incident left Heather questioning, for the first time, the wisdom of her game strategy.
- Fai has a gradual one in Shatterheart after he confronts Syaoran on his drinking: he wants Syaoran to ask him for help but realizes due to his previous coldness he is the last person Syaoran would turn to. Kurogane points out that Fai treats Syaoran as if he's a ghost instead of his own person, a problem not helped by the fact that Fai hasn't actually spoken much to Syaoran since Tokyo, which was several months ago in-story.
- In Strange Scales, despite the Quillettes having an associate who has been hunting mermaids for years confirming that they are 'monsters', the tribe realise that they were wrong after Riana, one of the colony, has a chance to talk with them 'directly' (albeit with Edward acting as translator as none of the mermaids can speak English on land).
- Second Chance, Second Choice opens thirty years in the future after Tori and Jade have experienced a bitter divorce, just before Tori experiences a form of Mental Time Travel that sends her back to the day before her and Jade's first date. Blaming Jade for their bad future, Tori breaks off the date in the harshest manner possible on the grounds that Jade would have hurt her anyway so it's best to get it done now. It takes the future Jade managing to recreate the events that sent Tori back to briefly visit the past herself to make Tori realise that she was the main reason their relationship failed in the future, as Tori became bitter after an accident ruined her potential singing career, leaving her desperate to regain what she had with Jade despite the young Jade's anger at her.
- Better Bones AU: Ivypool realizes how horrible the fake Bramblestar's actions that she has supported are after he kills her daughter Bristlefrost.
- Much of the drama of Vulkan Ascendant is Vulkan slowly coming to grips with the realization his father's Necessarily Evil Imperium, is nowhere near as justified as he previously believed. Once the Horus Heresy breaks out, and Vulkan learns of Chaos, he has to deal with the realization that the Imperial Truth, in the name of which he slaughtered civilizations, was not, in fact, the truth... and what that says about the Emperor.Vulkan had killed hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions, in the name of the Imperial Truth. He had bombed cities, he had wiped out civilizations and cultures, he had burnt planets to ash. Vulkan was called the most compassionate of his brothers by everyone who had a basis for comparison, and he knew that they did not do so without reason. But - though his hands might be the least bloody of his brothers, he was far from innocent. Compared to any other human who walked the galaxy, his legacy was drenched in gore.
- In The Taste of Peaches, Taylor punts Sophia through one by pointing out that her behaviour is that of a thug, not a hero - and when Sophia tries to claim that she is a hero, she remembers all the times she saw someone in danger only to turn away since they were not fighting back. This realization causes her to hit a Heroic BSoD.
- A Gentler Path: Taylor's power is Path to Gently Chiding (based on a joke in A Darker Path) that allows her to cause anyone she interacts with to realize how evil they're acting. Her first public use of her power causes Oni Lee to break down sobbing over what he's done with his life, something that freaks out Assault and Battery.
