History Main / TheBusCameBack

* ''WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'': Sean, who used to be Agent Luxury's boyfriend, returns after an absence of nearly a decade to help a team of newbies tackle an NSFW crossover involving a [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Slimer]] replacement raping Sam from ''Film/{{Transformers}}''. His disappearance is {{handwave}}d by him explaining that he spent most of the decade lost in a plothole.

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** Volume 10: Quite a few characters return to the story in this volume. [[spoiler:After having not been seen since Volume 5, Kordri appears in Indrath's great hall to hears about Taci's death then Wren Kain IV makes a reappearance wherein he joins Aldir in defecting from Epheotus. Following up on this, Avier, the late Cynthia Goodsky's bond who had not been seen since the attack on Xyrus, makes a sudden reappearance near the end of the novel to establish contact between Arthur and the Hearth, the [[HiddenElfVillage hidden enclave]] of the Lost Prince Mordain wherein Aldir and Wren have found refuge in since leaving Epheotus. This culminates in Arthur finally being able to bring back Sylvie after her HeroicSacrifice at the very end of Volume 7. Kaspian Bladeheart, who had not been seen since Volume 2, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Blackbend. His reappearance is followed by that of Vincent and Lilia Helstea and Vanesy Glory when Arthur retakes Xyrus. Lastly, Lyra Dreide, the Retainer who paraded the corpses of Dicathen's kings and queens at the end of Volume 7 to mark the end of Agrona's conquest, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Etisin as she surrenders herself and the remaining Alacryan forces on Dicathen to him. On a more minor note, Draneeve, the leader of the Radicals, is revealed to have been ReassignedToAntarctica since the attack on Xyrus as punishment for inadvertently endangering Agrona's plans with the Legacy]].

* Canto 11 of ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'''s fourht book starts with the narrator making note of how long it's been since Florinell got taken away by Proteus and decides to return her to the forefront of the story.

-->'''Tyce:''' "It took you ''that'' long to bring me back ?!

** Volume 10: Quite a few characters return to the story in this volume. [[spoiler:After having not been seen since Volume 5, Wren Kain IV makes a reappearance wherein he joins Aldir in defecting from Epheotus. Following up on this, Avier, the late Cynthia Goodsky's bond who had not been seen since the attack on Xyrus, makes a sudden reappearance near the end of the novel to establish contact between Arthur and the Hearth, the [[HiddenElfVillage hidden enclave]] of the Lost Prince Mordain wherein Aldir and Wren have found refuge in since leaving Epheotus. This culminates in Arthur finally being able to bring back Sylvie after her HeroicSacrifice at the very end of Volume 7. Kaspian Bladeheart, who had not been seen since Volume 2, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Blackbend. His reappearance is followed by that of Vincent and Lilia Helstea and Vanesy Glory when Arthur retakes Xyrus. Lastly, Lyra Dreide, the Retainer who paraded the corpses of Dicathen's kings and queens at the end of Volume 7 to mark the end of Agrona's conquest, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Etisin as she surrenders herself and the remaining Alacryan forces on Dicathen to him. On a more minor note, Draneeve, the leader of the Radicals, is revealed to have been ReassignedToAntarctica since the attack on Xyrus as punishment for inadvertently endangering Agrona's plans with the Legacy]].

* Wrestling/ChrisJericho appears to be turning into this, alternating stretches of helping to put over younger wrestlers or rookies on WWE programming with tours with his rock band Fozzy.

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': Phil in ''The Grim Grotto''. Tons of examples in ''The Penultimate Peril'', including Mr. Poe, Jerome, Justice Strauss, the teachers from Prufrock Prep School, residents of the Village of Fowl Devotees, Hal (running an Indian restaurant), Carmelita Spats, Sir, Charles, and Bruce (a minor character from ''The Reptile Room'').

** Volume 9: [[spoiler:Taci, the young Asura whom Arthur sparred with during his time in Epheotus, makes a return. His return is significant as he is not only chosen to be the inheritor of the [[FantasticNuke World Eater]] technique that destroyed Elenoir, but as a RiteOfPassage to prove he is worthy of inheriting said technique, he gets sent to slaughter the Dicathian resistance at the end of the volume when Kezess deems that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they have outlived their usefulness to him. He ends up being killed by Arthur once he returns from the Victoriad]]. In addition, Feyrith Ivsaar III, who has not been seen since the attack on Xyrus, makes a return. He unfortunately ends up being a case of BackForTheDead as the following volume reveals he was one of the casualties of Taci's rampage]].

** Volume 6: Sebastian, the former Court Conjurer of the Glayders who coveted Arthur's bond Sylvie during the 10th Annual Helstea Auctions, makes a reappearance where he is shown to have become a slave trader since being stripped of his position. He ends up being a case of BackForTheDead as he ends up dying not long afterwards. Similarly
** Volume 7: [[spoiler:After having been missing since he was taken by the Vritra back to Alacrya during the attack on Xyrus Academy three volumes ago, Elijah Knight makes his return at the end of the volume having been seemingly ReforgedIntoAMinion. As Arthur [[TheReveal finds out]], Elijah is in fact Nico Sever, the EvilFormerFriend of Arthur's past life King Grey, and has been willingly working with Agrona and the Vritra to exact revenge on Grey for murdering his fiancée (and their shared ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest) Cecilia in their past lives]].
** Volume 9: [[spoiler:Taci, the young Asura Arthur sparred with during his time in Epheotus, makes a return. His return is significant as he is not only chosen to be the inheritor of the World Eater technique that destroyed Elenoir, but as a rite of passage to prove he is worthy of inheriting said technique, he gets sent to slaughter the Dicathian resistance when Kezess deems that [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness they have outlived their usefulness to him. In addition, Feyrith Ivsaar III, who has not been seen since the attack on Xyrus, makes a return. He unfortunately ends up being a case of BackForTheDead as the following volume reveals he was one of the casualties of Taci's rampage]].
** Volume 10: [[spoiler:Quite a few characters return to the story in this volume. After having not been seen since Volume 5, Wren Kain IV makes a reappearance wherein he joins Aldir in defecting from Epheotus. Following up on this, Avier, the late Cynthia Goodsky's bond who had not been seen since the attack on Xyrus, makes a sudden reappearance near the end of the novel to establish contact between Arthur and the Hearth, the [[HiddenElfVillage hidden enclave]] of the Lost Prince Mordain wherein Aldir and Wren have found refuge in since leaving Epheotus. Kaspian Bladeheart, who has not been seen since Volume 2, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Blackbend. His reappearance is followed by that of Vincent and Lilia Helstea and Vanesy Glory when Arthur retakes Xyrus. Lastly, Lyra Dreide, the retainer who paraded the corpses of Dicathen's kings and queens at the end of Volume 7 to mark the end of Agrona's conquest, makes a reappearance when Arthur retakes Etisin. On a more minor note, Draneeve, the leader of the Radicals, is revealed to have been ReassignedToAntarctica since the attack on Xyrus as punishment for inadvertently endangering Agrona's plans with the Legacy]].

* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Councilor Saladaz, who'd been the villain in the first story, "Swan's Braid", turns up again here as a ghost organizing a secret society to get revenge on the Council for beheading him because he had been in bed with bandits.

* ''Literature/SwansBraidAndOtherTalesOfTerizan'': Councilor Saladaz, who'd been the villain in the first story, "Swan's Braid" turns up again here as a ghost organizing a secret society to get revenge on the Council for beheading him because he had been in bed with bandits.

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars 2'': [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], after initially appearing in ''Remastered'' to slay [[spoiler: Giga Bowser]] and never receiving any more screen time after that, returns as one of the central protagonists of this series (Alongside [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros Mario]] and [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Master Chief]]).

* A surprising one from ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' was [[spoiler:Grif's sister Kaikaina, who was only seen in the final season of ''The Blood Gulch Chronicles'' saga and claimed to have [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Bridge On Her]], though Grif knew this was unlikely.]]

* A total of ''one'' "disappeared" character from ''FanFic/{{Fractured}}'', a ''Franchise/MassEffect''[=/=]''Franchise/StarWars''[[spoiler:[=/=]''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'']] [[MassiveMultiplayerCrossover crossover]] reappears in its sequel ''Fanfic/{{Origins}}''. Anna Erickson, a [[TheBattlestar Star Destroyer]] captain, pops in for a few chapters but isn't seen again after that. Given that there's a whole cruiser load of characters to begin with...

* In ''Fanfic/TheUltimateEvil'', original character [[HunterOfMonsters Nataline "Nat" Homato]] leaves the story at the end of the Demon Portal arc. She doesn't reappear until the end of the seventh chapter of the sequel, ''The Stronger Evil''.

This works several ways: we may get to find out what they've been up to, and then they go back to whatever it was; or it's used as a way to advance their character development even though they're no longer on the show. At the end of the episode, the character generally ends up on a different, [[LongBusTrip longer bus]].

In rare cases, the character in question returns for good and resumes their major role. This can happen when the character's been an EnsembleDarkhorse and the authors are either [[AuthorsSavingThrow trying to fix the removal]] that was controversial in the first place, or simply attempt to [[PanderingToTheBase win some favors]] [[FanService from the fans]]. In this case the character has all the chances to turn into a SpotlightStealingSquad. Or it might be that it's the show with a lot of characters and this particular one simply was OutOfFocus, if maybe a bit too long. It may also occur when an actor recovers from an illness, finishes work elsewhere or when legal issues are resolved. Actresses who go on maternity leave may have their characters written out of a story only to be written back in once the actresses are ready to return.

* A surprising one from ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' was [[spoiler:Grif's sister Kaikaina, who was only seen in the final season of ''The Blood Gulch Chronicles'' saga and claimed to have [[DroppedABridgeOnHim Dropped A Bridge On Her]], though Grif knew this was unlikely.]]

* ''Machinima/GamingAllStars 2'': [[VideoGame/GodOfWar Kratos]], after initially appearing in ''Remastered'' to slay [[spoiler: Giga Bowser]] and never receiving any more screen time after that, returns as one of the central protagonists of this series (Alongside [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros Mario]] and [[VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved Master Chief]]).

** An even longer example with Tyce, a contestant who mysteriously disappeared in episode 3 and was replaced with a [[CardboardPal cardboard cutout]], when Burger King decides the cutout joke isn't funny anymore and [[BalefulPolymorph transformed him to his sentient, non-cardboard self]].