History Main / BelatedHappyEnding

* The fifth installment of ''Film/{{Scream|2022}}'' reveals that not only Sidney Prescott has recovered from the events of ''Film/Scream4'' by moving out of Woodsboro for good, but she has started a family with Detective Mark Kincaid (who was her ImpliedLoveInterest in ''Film/Scream3'', until [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome he disappeared]] in ''4'') and had at least two children with him.

* ''ComicStrip/LittleOrphanAnnie'' ended with Annie in the hands of a notorious assassin, who while he wouldn't kill her [[WouldNotHurtAChild because she was a kid,]] still refused to let her go because she might report him to the authorities, so she was stuck with him. Daddy Warbucks, meanwhile, had assumed her to be dead, and gave up hope of ever seeing her again. A crossover with ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' a few years later finally reunited the two in a FullyAbsorbedFinale.

!!Examples

* Back in 2006, [[http://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Asatsuki_Dou Asatsuki Dou]] released a horribly depressing ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' doujin called "Happiness". Not quite two years later they released "Happy End", which exists entirely to give "Happiness" a happy ending.

** In 2009 a fan wrote a real depressing and dark story called [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5158315/1/A-Throne-of-Bayonets "A Throne Of Bayonets."]] Five years later another fan read the story, thought the main characters deserved a happier ending than being two broken wreckes, and wrote an authorized sequel where they get slowly over their worst traumas and fix their strained relationship.
** In a short scene the main characters of [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2748982/1/The-Way-Out-is-Through "The Way Out Is Through,"]] a fic written in 2008, also appear and are given a chance to have a happy ending.
* For ''Manga/MyHeroAcademiaVigilantes'' in ''Fanfic/CrimsonAndEmerald'' Kouichi married Tensei and joined him as a sidekick in Idaten. Pop☆Step is poached from Idaten as sidekick for Hawks, which means she's on her way to fame as she's his top sidekick.

* In Creator/WilliamGoldman's ''Brothers'', [[spoiler:Scylla]] (a character who was thought to have died in ''Film/MarathonMan'') is brought back, and finally gets a chance to reunite with ''Marathon Man'''s main character, Babe. [[spoiler: Then the world ends.]]

* A [[TrilogyCreep sequel]] to ''Literature/TheDarkswordTrilogy'' was written a few years after the series was completed, in which [[spoiler: Simkin]] turns out to be alive, the war is finally settled, and Joram gets to finish all of his unfinished business.

* ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy.'' To start, Creator/DouglasAdams had expressed the desire to continue after ''Literature/MostlyHarmless''' DownerEnding, but he DiedDuringProduction. One of his acquaintances, Creator/EoinColfer, was then given the rights to finish it by Adams' widow, and the book, ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'', ends on a fairly happy ending compared to the previous one.

* ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' book ''Who Killed Kennedy'' has a very grim ending, in which Dodo Chaplet dies at the hands of the Master's patsy, and her widower is doomed to travel to 1969 to shoot JFK. Years after original publication, the author penned an extra final chapter for the reprint, in which said widower successfully contacts the Twelfth Doctor, allowing him to travel back, stop the mind-controlled goon and save Dodo. He is well aware he is destroying his own timeline, but saving her is all that matters to him, so he allows himself to burn in the Vortex to give his past self the happy life he would have otherwise had.

** Cullen gets one spanning the original trilogy; ''Origins'' puts him through a TraumaCongaLine, ''2'' has him become more stable but also becomes an anti-mage hardliner. His appearance in ''Inquisition'' has him finally learn to let go of his prejudices (for the most part) and retire in peace, potentially with the Inquisitor as his wife. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Unless you hated his guts since the first game and specifically choose to make it end badly for him.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' does this in regards to what was previously a definitive DownerEnding for [[spoiler: [[EvilMentor Lucien Lachance]] from [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion the previous installment]], who after his horrific demise following being framed as a traitor is revealed to live on as the Spectral Assassin.]]
* The True Ending of the first route in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' ends with [[StarCrossedLovers Saber and Shirou separated]]. Saber dies in the past and Shirou resolves to follow his dream, which is heavily deconstructed in the other routes with the implication that he'll ultimately end up following a similar path to Archer. The ''[[UpdatedReRelease Realta Nua]]'' version has an OmegaEnding where the two are reunited in Avalon, which also reveals Shirou didn't go down the same path as Archer because he had the goal to finally reunite with her.

* Alex manages to contain the vengeful spirits at the end of ''VideoGame/{{Oxenfree}}'', but at the cost of her and her friends becoming stuck in time themselves, apparently for all eternity. Or in any case until ''Videogame/Oxenfree2'', where they manage to break out of their endless time loop and trap the other ghosts even more securely. Keeping with the bittersweet theme, this does require them to sacrifice one other person, chosen by the protagonist of the sequel.

* Akiha's True Ending in ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' is rather bittersweet at best and very ambiguous on whether or not Shiki is even alive. The sequel/sidestory ''Kagetsu Tohya'' then had the short story "A Story for the Evening" which follows said ending. It reveals that he is alive.

** Cullen gets one spanning the original trilogy; ''Origins'' puts him through a TraumaCongaLine, ''2'' has him become more stable but also becomes an anti-mage hardliner. His appearance in ''Inquisition'' has him finally learn to let go of his prejudices (for the most part) and retire in peace, potentially with the Inquisitor as his wife. [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential Unless you specifically choose to make it end badly for him.]]

* ''Literature/DoctorWhoMissingAdventures'' book ''Who Killed Kennedy'' has a very grim ending, in which Dodo Chaplet dies at the hands of the Master's patsy, and her widower is doomed to travel to 1969 to shoot JFK. Years after original publication, the author penned an extra final chapter for the reprint, in which said widower successfully contacts the Twelfth Doctor and instead succeeds in stopping the mind-controlled goon and saves Dodo. He is well aware he is destroying his own timeline, but saving her is all that matters to him, so he allows himself to burn in the Vortex to give his past self the happy life he would have otherwise had.