History MortonsFork / FanWorks

* ''Fanfic/ExitumEternal'': Saren notes that the Exitium is either a hegemony of religious zealots bound together by a lie that they've been fighting demons for 50,000 years...or a government with incredible resources and a massive population that has been fighting literal demons from Hell for 50,000 years and ''still hasn't won''.

* ''Fanfic/ExitumEternal'': Saren notes that the Exitium is either a hegemony of religious zealots bound together by a lie that they've been fighting demons for 50,000 years... or a government with incredible resources and a massive population that has been fighting literal demons from Hell for 50,000 years and ''still hasn't won''.

* In ''[[https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/harry-potter-and-the-fairy-tome.632155/page-10#post-46928602 Harry Potter and the Fairy Tome]]'', things became tough for [[Franchise/HarryPotter Dolores Umbridge]] when [[VideoGame/{{Neptunia}} IF]] did some digging and published an expose on the witch's true past. When Umbridge confronted Dumbledore about this, the aged wizard said he would have the Ministry conduct a full investigation. This meant that either Umbridge admitted that the expose was true, getting removed from her post in disgrace for falsifying her record[[note]]she pretended to be a pureblood from Slytherin, when she was actually a half-blood from Hufflepuff[[/note]], or all of her dirty laundry would be revealed, guaranteeing her a trip to [[TheAlcatraz Azkaban]]. She chose disgrace.

** Lorgar has been forced into a difficult choice due to the [[spoiler:death of Slaanesh]] and the rise of Malal as a potential Chaos God. If Lorgar launches a Black Crusade now to reverse the situation and seal Malal, he will do so against both the Imperium ''and'' the Throne of Oblivion and the price the Gods will demand of him is likely to be ruinous. At the same time if he doesn't act, Malal will become a Chaos God which stands opposed to the rest of the pantheon. Not only will this undermine Chaos Undivided, the central dogma of the Word Bearer religion, it will also prevent ''any future Black Crusade'' as they must represent a combined force of all Chaos.
** Dark Apostle Oriax is locked in a room with a [[spoiler:Skaven]] bomb and the only way to stop it detonating is by perfectly reciting every word in a holo recording. Said recording the sermon of a pious Imperial priest. No matter how insincere Oriax may speak the words, his daemonic masters ''will'' punish him for saying them, meaning he'll either die to the bomb or suffer the torture of the Warp.

* In ''Fanfic/TheHurricane'', Laurel and Shado [[spoiler:face this when they learn that Ra's plans to work with the Joker to infect most of the other rogues with "Joker Gas" that will turn them into duplicates of the Clown Prince of Crime so that Batman will be forced to turn to the League of Assassins for help. Obviously neither of them agree with this plan, but they have no way of contacting the police or Batman without getting arrested themselves, and may not even be believed anyway]]. After [[spoiler:the Joker uses the gas on the League as well as the villains, with Shado basically sacrificing herself to get Laurel to safety, Laurel is forced to take a chance and contact the Bat-Family for help anyway]].

** Send Harry to St. Mungo's for professional help that could help him overcome his traumas, likely the best option... but Harry would be out of Dumbldore's protection, and there's no way that it could be kept a private matter and the public fallout would be devastating.
*** Ultimately, it's [=McGonagall=] who gives a fifth option that he takes: he resigns as Headmaster to focus on his other duties, assign her as Headmistress and places Harry in her custody, as she's managed to establish a rapport with him, which in the long run, is the best choice.

* In ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36162718/ The Devil and His Urchin]]'', Chloe and Dan initially feel like they're faced with this when Trixie manifests wings inherited from her biological father Lucifer (Lucifer and Chloe had a one-night-stand while Chloe and Dan's relationship was in a rough place). Obviously both initially panic when faced with evidence that Trixie is the daughter of the devil and what that might mean regarding his interest in her, but they also recognise that trying to sneak away isn't practical when their child has wings, and they are concerned that trying to ask for help will either lead to people dismissing them as insane or they will be faced with scientists trying to examine/dissect Trixie or priests trying to exorcise her. [[spoiler:Chloe ultimately chooses to ask Lucifer for his help, reasoning that he's clearly willing to tolerate them at least considering that Chloe can think of other people who would have punched Dan by now considering how he and Lucifer have interacted so far.]]

* ''Fanfic/{{BURN THE WITCH|MiraculousLadybug}}'': Lila finds herself in this position thanks to Ladybug's CruelMercy. After saving her, Ladybug spells out how she intends to ensure Lila doesn't cause any more trouble by treating her as her ''very special friend'', keeping a close eye on her. Since Lila previously claimed that [[CelebrityLie Ladybug was her best friend]], she can't call her out on this without admitting she lied about ''that'', too... and given how many of her ''other'' [[LiarRevealed lies were revealed]], telling the truth likely [[CassandraTruth wouldn't be believed]], anyway.

** In [[https://princess-of-the-corner.tumblr.com/post/648584727905943552/hero-chat-truth-yeah-i-figured-i-should-make-a the Hero Chat's version of "Truth"]] Anarka describes the situation that led to her not telling Jagged about Luka as this. While it wasn't the best move, the result of telling Jagged would have either led Jagged to give up his music career for his new family or try to make a balance that would have forced Luka into the spotlight for his entire life.

** Firstly, she dismisses Marinette's attempts to warn her about [[BitchInSheepsClothing Lila's true nature]] as [[YoureJustJealous purely motivated by envy]]. When Rose and Juleka present her with undeniable evidence that Lila ''has'', in fact, lied to them all, she feels as though she has to choose between MovingTheGoalposts and claiming this doesn't prove Lila lied about anything ''else''... or facing the idea that she was wrong. Which is a problem, since she already posted information Lila gave her on her Ladyblog, and issuing a retraction strikes her as a good way to lose the faith they've placed in her. Rejecting their evidence, meanwhile, leads into a ViciousCycle where Alya can't bring herself to admit her mistake, as that means she's done even ''more'' damage to her relationships and reputation [[AllForNothing for no good reason at all]].
** A similar situation develops when she posts a [[ManipulativeEditing Manipulatively Edited]] video on the Ladyblog. When people express suspicion about the video, she feels that all of her options suck: if she admits the truth, she loses the faith her audience placed in her. If she doesn't acknowledge the criticism at all and lets it go unchecked, the commenters have more time to convince others that there's something weird about it. And her attempt to deal with the problem by ''deleting'' all the comments calling her out only riles them up further. This only gets worse once Alya fully recognizes that posting the edited video was a mistake, as she fears that posting any kind of a retraction ''now'', after having tried to silence her critics, will just amplify the backlash.

* ''Fanfic/ErasedPotential'': In the wake of the USJ incident, all of the students are required to attend mandatory counseling sessions. Shouto regards it as this: if he says too much, Endeavour will punish him for 'tarnishing the family name' and his precious image. If he doesn't say ''anything'', however, the counselor won't clear him to return to school, and his father will punish him for ''that'' instead.

* ''Fanfic/MeanRabbit'': Aizawa [[SadistTeacher comes down hard on Izuku]], claiming that he's just teaching him how life is unfair and that he'll always face hatred and scorn for being Quirkless. If Izuku sticks it out at U.A., Aizawa will take it as proof that his methods worked; if he drops or transfers out, he'll insist it proves that Izuku never had the potential to become a Pro Hero. Izuku's current plan is to stick it out, graduate, then punch Aizawa in the face and tell him that he owes ''nothing'' to his cruelty.
* ''Fanfic/{{Think Before You Speak|MHA}}'': Aizawa's primary justification for targeting Izuku and attempting to force him out of the Hero Course is that he sees the kid as a MartyrWithoutACause who will inevitably get himself killed if he goes Pro. In ''Words May Hurt'', Endeavor learns about this and points out that if Izuku really ''is'' naturally inclined to risk his life to help others, then that's unlikely to change whether he's in the Hero Course or not... and that refusing to teach him might actually make Aizawa look ''worse''.
* In ''Fanfic/ThreeGuysGoToABarAndThenTheyBeatYouWithIt'', Bakugou, Tokoyami and Shinsou are faced with one when Aizawa explains their assignment to them. The three of them have been chosen to play the villains in that semester's final exams, and have two months to brainstorm six different scenarios -- one for each team of classmates they'll be facing off against. If they don't accept this massive responsibility, or the fact that they have been [[{{Typecasting}} typecast]] as antagonists due to their Quirks, then they'll immediately be expelled for the high crime of making Aizawa's job harder.

** It rears its head once more as they near their destination of Sabaody Archipelago. In spite of all the new crew additions, skills and weapons they've gained, Cross knows that the New World is sharply more difficult, and that even if they manage to fluke past Fishman Island, they'd most likely perish once they got to Punk Hazard. Knowing that Kuma is going to arrive to scatter the crew around the world to put them in the places fit for making them strong enough, he's left with the choice of holding his tongue until the last minute and facing Luffy's fury for hiding something this important, or trying to brave the New World as they are and risk dying. [[spoiler:Then when Cross learns Ace had still been captured and set to be executed, he's faced with a similar fork: attempt a rescue mission in a desperate last-ditch attempt to prevent Ace's death, which would most likely result in at least one fatality of their crew, or let Kuma separate them, leaving Luffy to tackle Impel Down and Marineford alone and risk fate being unchanged. In this case, Kuma forces the latter on them, explicitly telling Cross he doesn't have a choice in the matter.]]

* At the climax of ''Fanfic/APeacefulAfterlife,'' Kira gets under [[BigBad HOLY DIVER's]] skin by pointing out his FreudianExcuse is tied to one. [[spoiler: One of HOLY DIVER's last tasks for Kira was to find the whereabouts of his mother. They're both in Hell, so only one of two conclusions can be correct: Either HOLY DIVER's mother is in Heaven, and he can never see her again, or she's in Hell, and she's not as pure and good as he thought. Kira implies it's the former though, since he never found her. But he did find out his [[AbusiveParents father]] was there and bragged about his role in rearing HOLY DIVER, which Kira rubs in his face.]]

-->'''Shinji:''' (to Asuka) Ever since I converted her to Nurgle, Rei has shown great joy in causing things to break down. Ignore her or she will gain immense satisfaction from your annoyance.\\
'''Rei:''' (smiling) Ignore me and it will come back to bite you.\\
'''Shinji:''' Okay, I’ll amend that. Listen to her at your own risk, but ignore her at your risk as well.

* ''Fanfic/OhYouDontHaveToDoThatCommunication'' is set [[ForWantOfANail in a world where]] the whole class figures out early on that Lila is prone to telling {{Celebrity Lie}}s. However, after dealing with Volpina, Marinette warns Adrien that this doesn't mean it will make it easy to convince their classmates that Lila's also a ManipulativeBitch. After all, her classmates all know that Marinette ''[[BerserkButton HATES]]'' [[BerserkButton liars]], so if she attempts to warn them without having solid proof, they'll just assume that she's jumping to conclusions due to her bias. But if Ladybug informs them of how Lila was akumatized after being called out on her BlatantLies, they'll assume it was just another case of Hawkmoth taking advantage of someone's negative feelings.

* Adrien faces one in [[https://nobodyfamousposts.tumblr.com/post/734443964533489664/what-if-adrien-rejection-in-felix-culpa this what-if scenario]] when asked point-blank to either confirm or deny whether Lila is a liar. If he admits the truth, then not only will [[LiarRevealed Lila be exposed]] (and blame ''him'' for it), but the rest of the class will learn that he'd ''known'' she was tricking them all and [[BetrayalByInaction chose to stay silent]]. But if he vouches for her, then ''Marinette'' will know that all his claims that they were "in this together" were BlatantLies, plus everyone will remember this once Lila's eventually exposed and realize he lied in an effort to cover his own backside. Ultimately, he attempts to TakeAThirdOption by [[spoiler:claiming he was just trying to protect Lila from Marinette without addressing the matter of her truthfulness; this backfires when Lila twists things around and convinces everyone that he'd lied to Marinette about ''her'' lying in order to manipulate the other girl]].

* Later in ''Fanfic/SonicXDarkChaos'', Maledict eventually realizes that the entire conflict has become this. Either he ends the stalemate by destroying the Milky Way Galaxy himself with the ''Galaxy Crusher'', or the Shroud are going to eat the entire galaxy and destroy it instead. He decides on the former, rationalizing it as a MercyKill compared to letting the Shroud get more powerful.

* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'' fic “[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/14670495/ El Camino a Casa]]” sees Ernesto being faced with a variation of this when he confronts Imelda after Hector’s death after she’s satisfied herself that Ernesto poisoned Hector but has no definite proof of that. Ernesto had intended to take Hector’s already-written songs for himself, but Imelda vowed that if he attempted to use any of Hector’s songs she would reveal her suspicions about his role in Hector’s death, which would at least hamper Ernesto’s reputation even if she couldn’t prove anything. Ernesto threatened to become so famous that it would basically be impossible for Imelda to convince anyone that he killed someone, but Imelda counters that if he becomes that famous he won’t need Hector’s songs anyway. Ultimately, Ernesto becomes famous enough that he has to accept he didn’t need Hector’s songs, but this leads to him dying of alcohol poisoning as he becomes consumed by his own grief and guilt.

* This trope is [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] (by name, no less) during Chapter 1 of ''Fanfic/FracturedFates'', as the first motive boils down to this: If a murder doesn't happen by midnight the day after the motive is announced, then Monokuma will randomly kill one student that same night, and will continue to randomly kill one student each night until a murder ''does'' happen. However, if someone ''does'' commit murder, then a classmate will still be dead and the surviving students will be put through a class trial where either the rest of the spotless or the blackened will be killed.

* ''[[Fanfic/BurnTheWitchMiraculousLadybug BURN THE WITCH]]'': Lila finds herself in this position thanks to Ladybug's CruelMercy. After saving her, Ladybug spells out how she intends to ensure Lila doesn't cause any more trouble by treating her as her ''very special friend'', keeping a close eye on her. Since Lila previously claimed that [[CelebrityLie Ladybug was her best friend]], she can't call her out on this without admitting she lied about ''that'', too... and given how many of her ''other'' [[LiarRevealed lies were revealed]], telling the truth likely [[CassandraTruth wouldn't be believed]], anyway.
* ''Fanfic/DreadStringOfFate'': Whenever Marinette attempts to get closer to Adrien or [[LoveConfession reveal her crush on him]], the RedStringOfFate [[StrangledByTheRedString wrapped around her neck]] [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption prevents her from succeeding]], often [[HumiliationConga humiliating her in the process]]. Whenever she considers giving up, the string undercuts her efforts and punishes her for even ''considering'' it.

** A similar situation develops when she posts a [[ManipulativeEditing Manipulatively Edited]] video on the Ladyblog. When people express suspicion about the video, she feels that all of her options suck: if she admits the truth, she loses the faith her audience placed in her. If she doesn't acknowledge the criticism at all and lets it go unchecked, the commenters have more time to convince others that there's something weird about it. And ''deleting'' the comments only riles them up further. This only gets worse once Alya fully recognizes that posting the edited video was a mistake, as she fears that posting any kind of a retraction ''now'', after having tried to silence her critics, will just amplify the backlash.

* ''[[Fanfic/ApotheosisMHA Apotheosis]]'': All Might's fight with Izuku at Coruscant Stadium hinges on this:
** If Izuku wins, All Might faces depowerment, could be killed or [[spoiler:arrested and imprisioned for assaulting a government official]], leaving Izuku completely unopposed.

* ''Fanfic/{{Chiaroscuro}}'': The idea of the 'Friendship Rule' is [[DeconstructionFic Deconstructed]] this way. If you prioritize a mission over your teammates, then you're abandoning your friends and allies, potentially leaving them to die. But if you prioritize your teammates first, then ''other'' friends of yours who were depending on you taking that mission are likely to suffer instead.

* ''Fanfic/FallenKingdom'': Koops is stuck in one of these when Larry sends him after Mario's other partners. Either he fights his old friends, possibly killing them, or he ''doesn't'' fight -- and his slave seal activates, killing him and his family. Thankfully, a third option arises when [[spoiler:Vivian burns off his slave seal, letting him join the resistance.]]

* ''Fanfic/WeMustBeKillers'': District 1 potential tributes who wash out of the Career Academy are enslaved and pimped out or made to work in the mines, but any who do well enough are sent into the Hunger Games and either die or live to become a SexSlave. As a result, District 1 victors who [[SuicideByCop wanted to lose the games]] but failed to find a plausible way to do so (which is almost all of them) tend to be depressed and caustic.

* ''Fanfic/{{Chiaroscuro|Naruto}}'': The idea of the 'Friendship Rule' is [[DeconstructionFic Deconstructed]] this way. If you prioritize a mission over your teammates, then you're abandoning your friends and allies, potentially leaving them to die. But if you prioritize your teammates first, then ''other'' friends of yours who were depending on you taking that mission are likely to suffer instead.

* ''[[https://forums.sufficientvelocity.com/threads/one-more-trigger-worm-au.3830/ One More Trigger]]'' has a truly karmic example, when Tattletale calls Coil and tells him that she has the information she was sent to get, and that she needs to be extracted. [[spoiler:He splits the timeline, with one version sending a pickup and the other refusing, figuring that whether she's betrayed him or not, he'll just keep whichever one works out better. But the call was actually just to ensure that he would be distracted by her, while the team hits his base. Furthermore, unbeknownst to Tattletale, the very fact that he split the timeline for her meant he was already doomed, since he had to drop his "safe" timeline to do it.]]