Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You

"Oh, God. I've lost him. And I never told him anything. I just wasn't ready, Marcus. Five minutes would have been enough."

"[visibly distraught] Buffy, I...something's happened that... Willow's dead. [sees Willow standing over in the corner] Hey, Willow."

— Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Doppelgangland"

A character is presumed dead and the entire cast is crying over them. Next thing you know, the character is alive, wondering why everybody else is crying over them. The character tries to get the crying cast's attention, but they exclaim something along the lines of: "Not now X, we're too busy crying over X!" Then, the cast realizes that the character somehow came Back from the Dead, or never really died after all. Expect said character to be severely scolded for scaring the cast afterward.

If the "dead man" is particularly absent-minded, he might even join in on the mourning, with or without being aware of who's being mourned.

An extension of Not Now, Kiddo, and Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated. Often overlaps with Delayed Reaction. Sometimes the result of Faking the Dead, especially if the ones in mourning were unaware that the person being mourned over was faking, or a Mistaken Death Confirmation. Often occurs at the "dead man's" own funeral, or during a Premature Eulogy. Also compare Stealth Hi/Bye, where the characters are simply unaware of the other character's presence whether or not they are (believed) dead. Usually leads to a Tear Dryer moment. Compare Shut Up and Save Me!.

As this is a Death Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Cross Ange: Ange spends the majority of Episode 22 mourning the deaths of her love interest Tusk, and her best friend Momoka. After an aborted attempt at a suicide and a lot of tears, she silently confesses that she loved Tusk, and had she gotten the chance, she'd have gone all the way with him. As she breaks down again, the man she declared her love for hugs her from behind, touched that Ange said all that about him and relieved that she's safe. When she realizes it's Tusk, Ange responds with a Slap-Slap-Kiss and, just to make sure it's really him, initiates Their First Time. It's 12 hours later that Ange later finds out that Momoka is also alive, and was cooking them a meal while Tusk and Ange were having their tumble.
• Dirty Pair: In the last episode, the villain's volcano lair has exploded with Yuri and Kei trapped inside, using a cannon as a shield, after it explodes Kei lands on the ground injured but alive but Yuri is nowhere to be seen, she calls out to her and apologizes for eating her cake she had been saving, she eventually breaks down and cries, then we hear Yuri's voice calling out to her telling her it was a nice eulogy and that she's heavy, it turns out she survived by hiding under a piece of the armored spaceship and Kei is standing on top of it.
• Slightly more serious in Full Metal Panic!, where Kurz Weber apparently dies about 2/3 of the way through the story; before the final battle, his former teammates dedicate the battle to his memory^note Or rather, they say "If he were here he'd call it impossible. So let's win anyway just to show him up!" — when Kurz's survival is revealed via a Big Damn Heroes moment, pretty much everybody (even Sousuke) accuses him of ruining the moment by surviving.
• Fushigi Yuugi has an unusual variant in that the person in question Nuriko is dead and the characters are praying for his soul, not realizing that his ghost has joined them.
• Parodied in Haruhi-chan: Kyon and Haruhi are having a blowpipe brawl, and end up hitting Mikuru. Then they're mourning her while learning the lesson about violence that she taught them with her death, just before Mikuru mentions that she's still there.
• Inuyasha: The end of the "Fateful Night in Togenkyo" story has Kagome, Miroku, and Shippo standing at the edge of a cliff and mourning for Inuyasha, who apparently fell to his death. When Inuyasha, coming up behind them, takes exception to Kagome calling him an idiot for dying, it takes the rest of the cast an extra line or two of dialogue before they catch on.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Battle Tendency ends with Joseph Joestar missing and presumed dead, only for him to turn up alive and well weeks later at his own funeral, to his friends and family members' shock. He didn't do it on purpose; he was in traction the whole time and asked his new bride Suzy Q to send a letter to New York letting everyone know he was alive; she forgot.
• One Piece: In the Skypeia saga, Conis' father seemingly perishes after getting caught in the blast of one of Enel's attacks. The characters all mourn him, with the camera switching between each of their faces. It ends on Conis' father, who's just as sad as they are. The crew is pissed when they realize that he's there and crying over his own death.
• Pokémon: The Series has James manage to do this to himself. While telling the tragic story of his childhood (ending with his own death at the age of ten), everyone nearby (except Misty) dissolves into tears... including James, who must be reminded he is alive.
• Something similar happens at the end of Xenosaga anime: Everyone (particularly Shion) is very busy crying for KOS-MOS, who has seemingly pulled off a Heroic Sacrifice, when a communications officer spots her walking calmly on the ship's hull. He tries telling the others but The Captain orders him to shut up and not ruin the moment at first.

Asian Animation

• Played with in Lamput. In one episode, Lamput creates a decoy of himself using a balloon that Fat Doc accidentally pops, and he thinks he accidentally killed Lamput and starts crying. Lamput himself shows up to give him a handkerchief to use; Fat Doc is too busy mourning his "death" to notice who gave him the handkerchief.
• In a more serious example in the second Island season of Larva. Ivory the stick insect explains that in the absence of Red and Yellow, Grey and the other predators easily defeated the remaining Larva Rangers. Ivory then burst into tears after the tale. Mango couldn't believe what happened while Red and Yellow were horrified that they could've stayed in New York and help them. Grey is then seen wailing with them before things take a turn.

Comic Books

• Toward the end of the first story arc in Justice League International, the League fights a Kill Sat, and it appears that Mr. Miracle has died in the process of shutting it down. When Martian Manhunter declares that he will never be forgotten, Scott immediately answers that he would hope not.
  Blue Beetle: Pipe down, Scott—we're eulogizing you!

Comic Strips

• In a Li'l Abner story, this was inverted. Li'l Abner has escaped what seemed like certain death and goes to Dogpatch to find some of its citizens singing a funeral hymn for their poor deceased Li'l Abner. When he sees this and learns that they're mourning him, he starts singing along in a sadder tone than anyone else, because who wouldn't feel sad at his own funeral?

Fan Works

• In Lost Latte, Latte is brought home, btu Hinata doesn't notice her right away and says she's too busy grieving over her, but she's happy when she sees Latte is alive and safe.
• In Ninja Wizard Book 5 Fred and George mention seeing unexplained lights in the empty fifth-year boys' dorm. Ron, Seamus and Neville promptly decide that this indicates spiritual activity and since Dean is absent, he must be the ghost in question. Then a puzzled Dean walks into the Gryffindor common room.
  Harry: Hey, Dean. Good to see you. Can you tell our roommates you're alive so they'll stop crying already?
• In Alternate Tail Series, the team arrives to rescue Levy (who has already defeated her childhood tormentor Ore). Gajeel picks up Ore and threatens him to let her go, not yet noticing that Levy is perfectly fine nearby.
  [Levy playfully taps on his shoulder]
  Levy: Gajeel.
  Gajeel: Not now, Shrimp, we're trying to save you... Levy!
• In Sword and Shield Harry, thinking Sirius died in the Department of Mysteries, is too distraught at first to register that Sirius is speaking from behind him.

Film — Animation

• In Brother Bear, an elderly bear is convinced that she lost her husband earlier this year, despite how said husband keeps yelling at her offscreen that he's still alive.
• Cars: Lightning McQueen has finished the road and there is no sign of him, the others assuming that he just left without saying goodbye. Red the Fire Truck starts crying, at which point McQueen appears and asks what's the matter with Red. Mater then explains to McQueen about McQueen leaving, and stands staring at him a long while before realizing who he's addressing.
• In the film adaptation of Footrot Flats, in the Dog's flashback, this is Wal's reaction to the new puppy going missing. He's too busy telling Cooch what a great little fellow the Dog was to notice that the reason for Cooch's visit is that he's found the Dog and brought him back.
• Near the end of The Jungle Book (1967) after Baloo is thought to have been killed fighting Shere Khan, Bagheera gives a eulogy to his dearly departed friend (which is notable because Bagheera and Baloo frequently got into arguments earlier in the film). Just as he and Mowgli leave, Baloo sits up and says, "Hey, don't stop now, Baggy. You're doing great! There's more, lots more!" This causes Bagheera to be furious at Baloo ("Why you... big... fraud, you!") while Mowgli's reaction is relief.
• The Lion King 1 ½: It looks like Timon has sacrificed himself, and his mom is in hysterics. Then he climbs out of the pit he made and says "Mom, it's OK." She grabs him and shakes him and says a few things about it not being OK before she realizes that it's Timon.
• In the Disney version of Peter and the Wolf from Make Mine Music, Sasha the bird mourns the apparent death of Sonia the duck, who seemed to have been eaten by the wolf. However, at the end of the short, Sonia arrives on the scene unharmed and unknowingly starts crying along with Sasha.
• In Monsters, Inc., when Sully mistakenly believes that Boo has been smashed into a garbage cube.
  Sully: I can still hear her little voice.
  Boo: Mike Wazowski!
  Mike: Hey, I can hear her too.
  [hears other kids]
  Mike: How many kids you got in there?
• Jack is hit by a rocket in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Oogie Boogie is, therefore, understandably shocked when he appears in the nick of time to rescue Sally and Santa Claus moments after they hear the news.
• Piglet's Big Movie: Both Piglet and Pooh seemingly die, when a rotten log they are on plummets down a giant waterfall. It later turns out they really had hidden inside a hollow part of the log that stayed attached to the land. An unaware Pooh, however, joins Tigger and Rabbit, and starts crying along with them.
  Pooh: [using Tigger's tail to wipe his own tears] Something must be very sad.
  Rabbit: [sobbing] Well, of course—it's sad...
  [...]
  Rabbit and Tigger: Pooh?!
• At the end of Pinocchio, Geppetto is crying over the dead Pinocchio when the Blue Fairy brings him back to life and makes him a real boy:
  Pinocchio: Father! Whatcha crying for?
  Geppetto: Because...you're dead, Pinocchio.
  Pinocchio: No! No, I'm not!
  Geppetto: Yes...yes, you are. Now lie down...
  Pinocchio: But, Father, I'm alive. See? And... And I'm... I'm... I'm real! I'm a real boy!
  Geppetto: (finally sees him) You're alive!
• In Smurfs: The Lost Village, Smurfette sacrifices herself to save her fellow Smurfs and Smurfettes and is reduced to a pile of inanimate blue clay. She is brought to the Smurf Village, where the Smurfs and Smurfettes gather together to mourn for her. The Power of Friendship, however, restores Smurfette to life, and she arises to find her fellow Smurfs and Papa Smurf reacting as if she is still dead, only to realize one by one that she has indeed come back to life.
• Steven Universe: The Movie: The three main Crystal Gems are poofed with a weapon that causes Identity Amnesia. Amethyst, in particular, reforms as a Blank Slate who doesn't know how to do anything except for imitating others. After Steven manages to restore her memories, the two of them head over to see what Peridot, Lapis and Bismuth have found out about the antagonist's Doomsday Device. When Amethyst asks her a question, Peridot fails to notice that she's back to normal and dramatically declares that she doesn't want the other Gem near her when she's devoid of personality.
  Amethyst: [deadpan] Yo. I'm back, you dip.
  Peridot: [faux cheerful] Oh...! Well, you're just in time for the end of the world!

Film — Live-Action

• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade has Indy apparently falling off a cliff with a tank. The group with him leans over to see the tank hit the ground and not notice him crawling up a set of vines a few feet down. Indy notices the group mourning him and leans over himself to see what they're looking at only for the group to notice him soon after.
• Happens in the Maverick movie after Brett is thought to have fallen to his death over a cliff.
• Occurs in the Jackie Gleason film Gigot. The title character is a Cute Mute who enjoyed going to funerals, so when he is presumed dead, the townsfolk throw a lavish funeral procession for him although no body was found. Naturally, he is eventually discovered mourning at his own funeral.
• Abbott and Costello liked this gag, using it in multiple films, including Africa Screams and others. In each of them, Abbott's character mistakenly believes Costello has died and starts mourning, wishing he'd been nicer to Lou. Lou himself then shows up and commiserates with him. When Bud finally realizes that it's Lou crying on his shoulder, he immediately reverts back to his old self and slaps Lou.
• In Anchorman 2, Brick has been presumed drowned after chasing a duck out into a lake, Ron, Champ, and Brian attend his funeral and mourn for him only for Brick to show up at the funeral crying.
• Star Wars: In A New Hope, C-3PO mistakes Luke and company's whooping for joy for screaming after he and R2 shut down the Death Star's trash compactor. It takes a few seconds before Luke outright tells him that they're all right.
  Threepio: They're dying, R2! Curse my metal body, I wasn't fast enough!
• Abbott and Costello in Hollywood: When Buzz thinks Abercrombie has drowned, he begins mourning and wishing he'd been nicer to Abercrombie, only for Abercrombie to show up and commiserate with him. Once Buzz finally realizes that it's Abercrombie crying on his shoulder, he immediately reverts back to his old self and slaps Abercrombie.
• Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion: When Bud thinks Lou has been blown up with Fort Apar, he begins mourning and wishing he'd been nicer to Lou, only for Lou to show up and commiserate with him. Once Bud finally realizes that it's Lou crying on his shoulder, he immediately reverts back to his old self and slaps Lou.

Literature

• Discworld: Subverted in Interesting Times with Saveloy's death; at first, this trope seems to be invoked with him responding to the Silver Horde's suggestions on how to honorably bury him, until Death finally approaches him and he realizes what happened.
• At the end of Mr Gum: Book 8, all of Polly's friends think she died; she then wakes up and asks why everyone is crying. Hilarity Ensues as she fully goes along with it and begins to feel sad that she's died.
• In Myth Adventures, Aahz once got "We're Too Busy Planning Vengeance For Your Death" moment.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians: In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy ends up in a volcanic eruption that propels him to the magically isolated island of Ogygia, home of Calypso. When he finally manages to get back to Camp Half-Blood, it's been a few weeks, and he arrives just as they're holding his funeral, with Annabeth burning his burial shroud just as Percy walks up, confused.
• In The Willows in Winter (one of John Horwood's sequels to Kenneth Graham's The Wind in the Willows), Mole is presumed dead, and Badger decides that there must be a funeral. Mole was actually trapped on Pan's Island, managed to escape when a boat floated downstream and arrived at the funeral so thin and pale he was mistaken for his own ghost.

Live-Action TV

• From Buffy the Vampire Slayer, after the Scoobies encounter Willow's alternate universe evil vampire counterpart:
  • Buffy and Xander tell Giles that Willow has become a vampire. Giles is devastated at the loss of Willow, while Buffy and Xander both blame themselves. On cue, Willow walks in. "Geez. Who died?" Then, seriously: "Oh, God. Who died?" Xander runs up and sticks a cross in her face, telling her to "BACK! GET BACK, DEMON!" Getting no reaction, he shakes the cross as though it were broken and tries again.
  • Replayed when Angel barges into the library (in full mourning face) and, while breaking the news to Buffy, does a neck-spraining double take.
• Used a few times in El Chavo del ocho, one episode has Chavo faking having being run over by a truck so people would give him food while he was sick after Kiko helps set him up and tell everyone he was hurt, Chavo leaves for a while and everyone thinks that he was taken to The Red Cross. Later while they are mourning him, Don Ramón asks for some money for the funeral the people present, while Chavo appears crying at the emotional moment and offering 20 cents for his own funeral. Everyone thinks Don Ramón did it all for the money and they chase him out.
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Pandorica Opens" makes an Overly Long Gag out of the Doctor completely failing to make the connection that the person he's talking to is Rory, a companion he had mourned the loss of in a previous episode. He ends up being just a simulacrum of Rory, but one that seems to have Rory's soul.
    The Doctor: Oh, missing something obvious, Rory, something big, something right smack in front of me, I can see it...
    Rory (snarkily): Yes, you probably are.
    The Doctor: I'll get it in a minute.
    [walks out of the room before it dawns on him]
    The Doctor: Hello again.
    Rory: Hello.
  • The short extra "The Battle of Demons Run: Two Days Later" has an inversion — several episodes ago, minor character Strax appeared to die in a battle, but the short reveals that he only thought he was dying, as he was part of a warrior race and wanted to die in battle. As a result, two other survivors of the war were trying to convince him that he was fine, while he firmly insisted that he was dead.
• A later episode of The Goodies has a non-lethal variant. Bill is fired and replaced with a Job-Stealing Robot, but applies to take on a servant’s job Disguised in Drag. After seeing that their Hands-Off Parenting has basically turned the robot into a carbon copy of Bill, Tim and Graeme regret firing him, and wish that “Helga” could’ve known him, leading Bill to tear off his disguise. It takes a few seconds for Tim to register that “Helga” isn’t just being impertinent.
• In the Brit Com It Ain't Half Hot, Mum the Concert Party are given a mission to destroy a bridge, which gets cancelled at the last minute, only to see their raft move away from the bridge as though Lofty was still steering it and explode, leading to Sgt. Major Williams to provide an on-the-spot eulogy just as Lofty arrives safe and sound... and promptly gets a rollicking when Williams sees him.
• In episode 24 of Mimpi Metropolitan, Mami Bibir, Prima and Bambang hear from Pipin that she and Alan are in hospital after a motorcycle accident. While Alan is away taking care of Wawan's hospital bills, Mami Bibir, Prima and Bambang find Pipin sitting by a corpse covered in sheet. They mistake it for Alan's body and immediately sobs for him (Pipin doesn't explain things very well). Then Alan shows up asking about the dorm discount that Mami Bibir was telling the corpse about.
• In the Pee-wee's Playhouse episode "Reba Eats and Pterri Runs", the latter mentioned goes missing after having been reprimanded and picked on for the duration of the episode. Randy encourages him to run away, and Pterri comes to the realization that no one likes him. Pee-Wee sees the note Pterri wrote about his decision and him and the other characters go into mourning and begin blaming themselves for his departure. Pee-Wee begins gently sobbing after taking a look at a photo with him and Pterri together, and at that moment, gets a tap on the leg by Pterri, to which he responds, "Please, Pterri, not now.".
• Comedy News series Russell Howard's Good News has an episode covering a story about a man in Brazil turning up at his own funeral.
• Defied in Stargate SG-1 when O'Neill refuses to have a funeral for "someone who isn't dead" after Daniel's second death and ascension. Apparently O'Neill wants to avoid an instance of this trope (and, given Daniel's repeated cases of Death Is Cheap, he is right).
• Hilariously happens in an episode of Ultraman Dyna when Shin Asuka transforms into Dyna to do battle with Monster of the Week Neosaurus to escape his exploding plane (as usual, without his teammates knowing), and they assumed Asuka had died before he shows up.
• An episode of Perfect Strangers had Larry, Balki, and their girlfriends staying in a cabin when it gets buried by an avalanche. Larry and Balki try to dig an escape tunnel and Larry takes a break to get some sleep. When he goes to resume digging, he discovers the tunnel has caved in. As Larry's mourning his cousin, Balki starts calling out to them. It turns out Balki was able to make it out of the tunnel before it collapsed and get help, but it takes a couple of seconds for Larry to realize this.

Puppet Shows

• In the That Puppet Game Show episode "Jake's Dark Secret", Eddie disappears after a camping weekend with Jake, and the others (mostly Ian) suspect he ate him. Jake eventually explains that he simply made the mistake of giving Eddie chocolate, and he went mad for a bit.
  Ian: You expect us to believe that? You ate him! And you're going to swing for it! There isn't a jury alive that won't convict ... Oh, hey Eddie ... I never liked you! I always knew you were a canni... Eddie?

Radio

• In The Men from the Ministry, after Lamb and Mildred eavesdrop on Dr. Cribble and Mr. Lambry about the ministry's heating system out-of-context and come to the conclusion that Lennox-Brown is deathly ill, doctor Cribble calls the Office to inform the General Assistance Department that the Ministry's heating system has finally shattered that morning. Lamb and Mildred naturally assume that Lennox-Brown has died, and start collecting money for his wreath... only for Lennox-Brown to enter the office at that moment, leading to a priceless Double Take from Lamb.

Religion

• The Bible: Older Than Feudalism. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus meets two disciples after his own crucifixion and resurrection on the road to Emmaus, who are "kept" from recognizing him. Jesus asks what they're discussing, and they're both incredulous that Jesus seemingly doesn't know of the events surrounding Jesus in Jerusalem, before explaining what happened. Jesus spells out that his own crucifixion was prophesied, and later when having a meal with them, they finally are able to recognize him, and Jesus vanishes.

Theatre

• Depending on the director, A Midsummer Night's Dream has this when Bottom returns to the Mechanicals after his adventure with the fairies.
• In Guillen de Castro's Las mocedades del Cid (the original 17th-century source material for the El Cid) Jimena sees the champion she has selected return from battle and thinks that he has successfully killed Rodrigo to avenge her (as she requested). She launches into an impassioned speech about how now that Rodrigo is dead she can admit how much she loved him and how he is the only man she could ever love...only to be interrupted when Rodrigo walks in, very much alive, and tells her that since he won the duel he has the right to claim her hand in marriage and that since he couldn't help overhearing what she was just saying, he doesn't think she can really object. He loves her, but he's obviously enjoying her total embarrassment as payback for trying to kill him.

Video Games

• In Fallout 4, a bug can cause this regarding the Railroad's resident Action Girl, Glory. Since several factions want the Railroad destroyed, it's possible for Glory to die in the course of the player completing the game's main storyline, and the group's leader Desdemona has dialogue sadly reminiscing about her. But if the player defeated the Institute with the Minutemen while staying on good terms with the Railroad, you can visit Desdemona afterward and hear her congratulate you on your victory, then mourn the "fallen," potentially while Glory is standing right behind her.
• In Project × Zone, Ichiro Ogami gets a Guilt Complex that he "killed off" their companions after using the revolver cannon bridge to catapult themselves to the Tarqaron. Only for Zephyr, Leanne, X, Zero, Alisa, Ryu, Ken, and Neneko to pop out at the other side of the tower. Estelle even delivers the classic line that "if only we could save Neneko" only to be surprised to find that they're all okay. Even before that, the party is mourning Arthur's (and thanking him for his) Heroic Sacrifice, only for him to basically respond "You're welcome"; turns out his armor protected him from the blast. This is foreshadowed by him asking Valkyrie to prepare something for him (another suit).
• In Romancing Saga 3, if the player manages to defeat Algernon soon enough, the post-battle cutscene has them lament about how Nina was sacrificed and they didn't make it in time to save her. Then Nina walks up behind them and gets their attention, which the party notices soon enough.

Web Animation

• Red vs. Blue: In Season 9, after Lopez — disguised as Simmons — gets sniped by Tex, the other Reds do a eulogy for him. When Simmons walks up to them, they try to brush him away, but Simmons decides to let them continue the eulogy in order to hear them praise him; it turns out they didn't have much to say about him.

Webcomics

• Gunnerkrigg Court: A bald robot-turned-human is stabbed to death by a memory of Jeanne. While onlookers are still processing what happened, they turn up behind them. Subverted: it's their ghost.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: When the presumed-dead Emil and Lalli make it to the extraction spot that the rest of the crew has reached the previous day, the following things happen in exactly that order:
  • Mikkel opens the door of the barracks to let them in and is so happy to see them that he gives them a big hug here and there.
  • Emil asks about the possibility of having a bath, well within hearing range of anyone inside the building.
  • Sigrun complains about the cold air getting inside the building because it's distracting her from her mourning over Emil and Lalli.

Western Animation

• In the Adventures in Odyssey video series episode "A Stranger Among Us", Eugene, believing that Connie is dead, collapses in tears. Even after Dylan and Connie walk up to him to comfort him, it takes a few moments for the meaning to sink in.
  Eugene: [crying] Can't you see? It's All My Fault! All — my — fault!
  Connie: Actually, it's mostly my fault, Eugene.
  Eugene: No, it's not, Connie, it's — huh? [he sees her, smiles from ear to ear, and faints]
• The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle: When Rocky attends his own funeral in the episode "Stink of Fear", he tries to get Bullwinkle's attention, only to be met with this response from him.
• Amphibia: After being brought back from the dead by an entity that can best be described as god almighty, Anne walks over to her friends who are busy mourning the ashes of her former body and asks what they're all looking at. Hop Pop initially brushes her off, but he and everyone else soon realize what happened.
  Anne: What's everyone looking at?
  Hop Pop: Not now Anne, we're mourning the loss of a true hero and the greatest kid who ever-
  Sprig: ANNE!
• In Back to the Future, Doc is panic-stricken, thinking his son, Verne, has been crushed under a pile of bricks and begins tossing the bricks aside to try and pull him out. Verne is, of course, elsewhere and completely unharmed, and tries to go up and tell him he's okay, but Doc exclaims, "Not now, Verney! I'm looking for Verney!"
• Code Lyoko: At the climax of the episode "Zero Gravity Zone", As Odd and Yumi hold off the swarm of Hornets, it gets progressively worse as more of the Mooks appear, Yumi collapsing from exhaustion from her telekinesis and Odd running low on arrows. Finally, Aelita seems to make a very foolish move and tries to cross the bridge too soon by creating a bypass around it. Naturally, the Hornets swarm at her and open fire until, eventually, she appears to plummet into the abyss below. For a few seconds, Odd and Yumi start to cry, thinking she's dead — until they hear her voice say, "As soon as you're finished crying, just let me know." Clearly, she had created an illusory clone of herself to fool them; Jeremie's response is, "Aelita, you are the greatest!"
• Duck Dodgers:
  • In the episode "Duck Codgers" Dodgers and the Cadet get exposed to the spores of a plant that causes them to rapidly age by the hour. If they don't reach the cure, which is located under the Martian base, they will age into dust. Near the end, Dodgers becomes separated from the Cadet and he finds a pile of dust with the Cadet's glasses on top. He cries for him, but moments later the Cadet arrives on a walker also crying. He then asks him why he was crying, and he replies that he lost his glasses.
  • The same thing happens in "I'm Gonna Get You, Fat Sucka", Dodgers awakens from being brainwashed by Count Muerte and yells for Cadet, but gets no response. He tearfully assumes that Muerte killed him, only to be surprised by Cadet asking him if they hadn't better get a move on.
• In the Futurama movie Bender's Big Score, Bender thinks he's killed Fry while Brainwashed and Crazy.
  Bender: [crying] Ohhh, Fry, I'd give anything to unmurder you!
  Fry: Did someone call me?
  Bender: [irritated] No! [Delayed Reaction] Fry!
• The Garfield Show: At the end of the episode "Underwater World", Jon is stranded on an island lamenting while he believes that Garfield and Odie have died after falling to the bottom of the sea, while the two are right behind him, Garfield speaks to him and Jon asks them to not comfort him, Garfield counts to three and right after that Jon realizes they are still alive.
• The DiC Entertainment version of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero had this happen in the episode "That's Entertainment", where General Hawk mistakenly thinks that Jackie Love and Fiona have died and is oblivious of the two surviving their fate and approaching him while he laments their assumed demises, initially thinking that Jackie Love calling for his attention is Captain Krimov trying to console him.
• Hilda: In "The Deerfox", Hilda thinks Twig has left for good. When he chooses to stay, she briefly brushes him off, then realizes he's back with surprised joy.
• As a possible Shout-Out to a similar scene in the source material (see the Animated Films section), The The Jungle Book (1967) Spin-Off Babies series, Jungle Cubs has a surprisingly long sequence of this when Baloo and Kaa are presumed dead after falling off a cliff and turn up drifting along the river in front of the others.
  Louie: I keep thinking they'll turn up around the next bend. I tell you, animal, it's nuts. [blasely says hi to Baloo] Everywhere I look, I see their faces.
  [...]
  Bagheera: Weird, now I'm seeing 'em too.
  Baloo: Hey, what's with you, Lou? You look like you lost your best friend or something.
  Louie: [looking away] I did...
  Baloo: That's terrible! Who?
  Louie: You. [eyes bulge] WOAH! HANG ON A SEC! BALOO! [shakes him madly] YOU'RE ALIVE!
  Baloo: [dazed] Last time I checked.
• King of the Hill: In the episode "Tankin' It To The Streets", Bill hijacks a tank and Hank, Dale, and Boomhauer attempt to get it back to the army base. Unfortunately they end up on the practice range during a live fire drill, and Bill forces the others to evacuate while he draws fire, with the tank getting blown up shortly thereafter. Hank and friends start crying over what a good friend he was ("like a big ol' stuffed teddy bear!"), only to hear Bill crying over the nice things they said; it turns out he got blown out of the tank, injured but alive.
• Little Robots: In "Seeing Double", when Sporty and Messy accidentally break Tiny's replica of himself into pieces, Sporty apologizes to the replica just as the real Tiny walks up behind him:
  Sporty: Not now Tiny, I'm talking to TINY—?! [Double Takes]
• Mirthworms: In A Merry Mirthworm Christmas, Burt, the new worm in town, feels rejected and leaves for another place. Crystal and the other worms find his note and go off to find him. Unfortunately, a blizzard kicks up, and they have to turn back without finding him. At the community center, the others comment on how hard Crystal is taking this, and Burt, who had turned back when the blizzard got started and took shelter in the community center, asks what's wrong. One of the worms starts to explain before realizing whom she's addressing.
• My Little Pony 'n Friends: In "Baby, It's Cold Outside, Part 2", as Charlatan laments over his evil deeds after having accidentally frozen his son solid, Edgar tries to talk to him. Charlatan begins to scold Edgar for interrupting him before realizing he's alright.
• The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: In "Groundpiglet Day", Pooh, Tigger, and Rabbit think Piglet's been turned into a snowman. As Piglet appears to have melted, Rabbit starts crying that it was all his fault and begs forgiveness, to which the real Piglet comes up to him and says he does.
  Rabbit: How do you feel?!
  Piglet: Well, I feel badly for saying it was spring in the middle of winter.
  Rabbit: What? That? Don't worry about that! It was all my fault!
  Piglet: But I was the groundhog...
  Rabbit: But my calendar! Snow! Spring! Winter! The pages! (blubbering) I never should have asked you to be a groundhog in the first place! Do you understand?!
  Piglet: I think...
  Rabbit: Can you ever forgive me?
  Piglet: Of course, Rabbit.
  Rabbit: Did you hear that, Piglet? Piglet forgives me! (realizes; following Wild Take) ...PIGLET!!
• Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!:
  • In the episode "Scooby-Doo and a Mummy, Too", Shaggy did this over a stone statue of Scooby: "He was like a brother to me! (the real Scooby approaches him) Look, Scoob, you've been turned to stone!"
  • In the Scooby-Doo Show episode "The Tar Monster," we get a repeat performance: "I'll never forget you, old buddy, old pal. (The real Scooby approaches. Casually:) Oh hi, Scoob. Oh, he was like a brother to me!"
• Seven Little Monsters: When Four laments being unable to find where Five went in "Mystery of the Missing Five", he gets annoyed by someone licking him, but is elated when he sees that the one licking him is Five.
• Slugterra: In "The Emperor Strikes Back", Pronto believes his faithful steed Fernando has been destroyed battling an Iron Guardian. He launches into a tearful speech about how he cannot go on without Fernando when Fernando wanders up behind him and nudges him in the back. Pronto pauses and says "In a moment, Fernando" before launching back into his speech.
• The Smoggies features a scene in which Miss Emma and Clarence believe Polluto has drowned and begin to weep for their fallen friend. Polluto, who has of course survived unharmed, walks up behind them and joins them in mourning his own apparent demise.
• The Smurfs (1981): In "Clumsy Luck", Clumsy gets this when he returns to the village and sees that all his fellow Smurfs are mourning for him because they believe that he was killed inside his house when a meteor crashed right on top of it.
• SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In the special "Where's Gary?", Gary returns after SpongeBob has had a breakdown over him, in time to find him crying.
    SpongeBob: If only I could hear you meow one last time.
    Gary: [crawls onto SpongeBob's head] Meow!
    SpongeBob: Yeah, like that.
    Gary: [purrs]
    SpongeBob: Gary, your purring is making it hard to forget you. (happily) ...GARY!
  • Happens in the episode, "Le Big Switch", when Mr. Krabs gets upset after realizing that it was a mistake to exchange SpongeBob for another chef.
    Mr. Krabs: Oh, I've been such a fool! I turned away SpongeBob, the best fry cook I ever had, and it cost me everything!
    SpongeBob: Mr. Krabs?
    Mr. Krabs: Oh, I can still hear his sweet little voice.
    SpongeBob: Mr. Krabs?!
    Mr. Krabs: Okay, now I'm scared.
    SpongeBob: MR. KRABS!
    Mr. Krabs: Darn his cursed mocking voice! I — (turns and sees him) SpongeBob?!
    SpongeBob: Ahoy, Mr. Krabs!
• In Steven Universe, during a short arc where Steven is stuck on Homeworld, Pearl worries that they are running out of time to save him. She then throws a "Hi, Steven" when she sees him just standing in the living room before the realization sets in.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012): The Showdown episode has a moment where Raphael mourns Leonardo (after his heroic sacrifice) before realizing he has joined the conversation.
  Michelangelo: I can't believe he's gone.
  Raphael: Leo... I gave him nothing but a hard time. If I had it to do over again, I'd definitely be nicer.
  Leonardo: [offscreen] Really?
  Raphael: Really.
  [...]
  Raphael: Leo? Leo!
• T.U.F.F. Puppy: In the episode "Toast of T.U.F.F." after Keswick "sacrifices" himself to save everybody, Dudley, Kitty, and the Chief are all crying in a huddle. Keswick appeared and asked why they were still crying. Kitty then exclaims, "Not now Keswick, we're too sad about what happened to Keswick!" Then they all realize that Keswick is alive and the Chief says "Wait a Minute! Keswick? You're alive!"
• Wild West C.O.W.-Boys of Moo Mesa: Happened in the episode "Cow Pirates of Swampy Cove", where Dakota Dude mourns Cody's apparent demise after finding his hat in a gator's mouth before Cody appears alive and well to ask him what's wrong.

---