Please Don't Leave Me

Scarlett: Rhett! Rhett, where are you going? Rhett: I'm going to Charleston, back where I belong. Scarlett: Please, please take me with you! Rhett: No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about? Scarlett: No! I only know that I love you. Rhett: That's your misfortune. (turns to walk down the stairs) Scarlett: Oh, Rhett! (watches Rhett walk to the door) Rhett! (runs down the stairs after him) Rhett, Rhett! Rhett, Rhett... Rhett, if you go, where shall I go? What shall I do? Rhett: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn. —Gone with the Wind

A Stock Phrase said by one character desperate for another not to leave. Often said by a very lonely character, or maybe a young character with no one else to look after them. Said by a love interest frequently as well.

May be accompanied by a Caught the Heart on His Sleeve moment. Many many variations exist, such as "Don't leave me alone again!" "Don't abandon me!" or "You can't go!"

If the person being addressed has to go on alone regardless for whatever reason, expect a Tear Jerker moment, especially when done coldly, such as with a Little No. This is also quite common when the person being addressed is dying, in which case this becomes How Dare You Die on Me!. Can also be a plea to prevent Dying Alone. To turn this trope into an instant Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, just add one You Are Not Alone.

Examples of Please Don't Leave Me include:

Anime and Manga

• In Ai Yori Aoshi, Mayu does this to keep Kaoru from going home.
• Sakura to Sasuke right before his Face Heel Turn.
• In Fruits Basket, Akito says this after Kureno's curse breaks.
• Spike and Faye's final conversation in Cowboy Bebop, before Spike goes off to fight Vicious after Julia dies, has serious elements of this. An example of How Dare You Die on Me!.
• In Junjo Romantica, Nowaki's about to leave, thinking Hiroki doesn't want him there, when Hiroki stops him by putting his hand on the door from behind Nowaki and holding it shut.
• Spice and Wolf. Holo's character is based around this. Although she tries to hide it, she's terrified of being alone.

Holo: "I don't ever want to wake up alone again! I'm tired of being alone. Being alone is cold. Being alone... is lonely." Holo: "Solitude is an affliction as grave as death."

• • Lawrence experiences this midway through the anime/at end of the first book. Afraid that Holo will leave anyway if he asks her not to (it's a long story), he instead demands that she stick around to pay for the clothes she ruined. It works.
• Gungrave, episode 24: Grave is about to leave Mika permanently because his necro-rise is wearing off with no hope of getting a transfusion, and since Mika's become rather attached to him, naturally she pleads with him to not leave her alone.

Mika: Let's go far away, just the two of us! No matter how hard it gets I'll never give up! I'll survive on bread and water if I have to! I'll study hard and learn bio-mechanics and take care of you like Mr. Tokioka! * breaks into tears* So please...Grave, just don't go, oh please...don't go!

• Game X Rush has Miyuki give the tearful, desperate version to Yuuki-whom-she-thinks-is-Memori, shortly after the real Memori gives the angry "I'll kick your ass if you try to leave, so stay here with me!" version to Yuuki. Neither speech is romantic. We think.
• Ouran High School Host Club manga chapter 80 has this. While in the car on the way to the airport to see his mother after three years, Tamaki grabs Haruhi's hand and says, "Please stay with me until the end," after she tells him she'll wait in the car with Kyouya.
• In episode 91 of Ranma ½, Ryoga proposes to Akane, after being possessed by Maomolin, the Giant Ghost Cat. The actual phrase isn't spoken until later on in the episode, when Ranma dreams of Ryoga and Akane marrying.
  • In the manga, Ranma thinks this when he believes that Akane is dead.
  • Happens again when Ranma dreams that Akane is leaving him forever. He says this to her, wondering why she's crying and telling him goodbye, before realizing that it's because he has turned into a frog.
  • Done for comical effect, when Ukyo tries to give Ryoga and Akane some time alone together. He's petrified of the idea, because he doesn't know what to do in that sort of situation. Cue Ryoga clinging to her, begging her not to leave him, while she whacks him with her oversized spatula.
  • In the manga, Ranma has an amusing Imagine Spot about Akane being very distressed over him leaving the Tendo household to go stay with his mother. She clings to his leg, begging him not to leave, while Ranma is equally dramatic and tells her that it's hurting him too. The real Akane notices Ranma acting out his fantasy and interrupts by popping a balloon right next to his head.
• Shinji says this to Asuka at one point in The End of Evangelion.
• Sunao to Sora in Sukisho.
• Kaede attempts one of these moments with Rin in Shuffle by getting in bed next to him while naked, and trying to give him a kiss at the same time. Instead of working, it freaks him out, causes him to leave the room, and later decide to move out of her house.
• Alois to his butler Claude in the first episode of the second season of Black Butler.
  • He also says it to his little brother Luca when he finds him dead and to Claude in episode 8 shortly before Claude kills him.
  • Ciel's breakdown over Sebastian's "death" in the murder mystery arc can be considered this, although later on this is subverted, as they were just acting.
• Kaoru to Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin, when he's about to leave for Kyoto.
• Done without words at the start of Chobits. Hideki finds Chii in the garbage, but when she can't talk, he considers walking away from her. Before he can start, she grabs his arm and stares at him in desperation. He promptly reconsiders.
• Mikael says something to that effect to Raphael at the very end of the series when it looks like Raphael is leaving him behind. Turns out Raphael was only pretending and he eventually takes Mikael with him back to Heaven.
  • Also, Natsumi said this to her brother, Fuyuki who is technically Raphael, but in this case he did leave her behind. Tells you a lot about Raphael's preferences, I guess.
• In the last episode of Angel Beats, Otonashi asks Kanade to stay with him. However, it turns out that she was there because she wanted to thank him for his heart donations. Massive Tear Jerker ensues when Kanade thanks him but Otonashi hugs her, screaming to not to say it and stay with him, but eventually she disappears, leaving Otonashi who proceeds to scream her name out loud...
• In the last volume of Hellsing, when Alucard's disappearing after absorbing Schrodinger, Integra orders him not to. It doesn't work.
• Yuma of Oriko Magica really, really doesn't want Kyouko to leave her.
• Roy to Riza in Fullmetal Alchemist. Riza gets her throat slit, Roy screams his lungs out at her to not die from where he's being held down by ninja old men. When the old men are finally dealt with, and Roy can reach Riza (who by the way is on the verge of unconsciousness/death), he begs her not to die and leave him. Complete with hug when she is healed, and the fandom squealed their hearts out. The trope is even more present in the anime, when Roy - holding her in Pieta Plagiarism style - specifically pleads, "Don't you dare die! Stay with me, Lieutenant!"
• Axis Powers Hetalia has a few.
  • Colonial America to England when England has to go back to Europe. America is lonely without his Big Brother Mentor. The American Revolution has overtones of this going the other way around, but the words aren't actually said.
  • Chibitalia to the Holy Roman Empire, as Holy Roman Empire goes off to fight in the Napoleonic Wars. They swear they'll see one another again, but the Holy Roman Empire is defeated and dissolved by Napoleonic France. Both a CMOH and Tear Jerker.
  • Italy to Germany, sometimes with no impetus at all (he's insecure like that), but most notably after Germany and Russia sign their non-aggression pact and Italy is afraid he's being replaced.
• In Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle Sakura says this to Syaoran in the Tokyo arc.
• Although the romanticism is questionable, Nagi uses this in typical Tsundere method in Hayate the Combat Butler by implying that Maria and Hayate will eventually leave her (presumably for romantic relationships), and after convincing attempts are made by Hayate, she 'allows' him to continue working as her butler.

Comic Books

• Issue Seven of the third Blue Beetle has a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming. Jamie, having vanished for a year, has his family not exactly accepting of him, and so he explains what's happened, eventually reliving a moment when he cries out "Don't let me die alone!". Which is when they go to him.
• Issue Eleven of The Maxx by Sam Kieth. Julie and Maxx are sitting on a rooftop, where Julie is struggling to find the words to explain to him why she has to move away, with little success. While Maxx stares stoically off into the distance, The sky around him is literally comprised entirely of the words "please please please please...don't leave."
• When Jon Osterman is trapped in a lab device that will, as far as he knows, kill him in a few seconds when it switches on, he breaks down and begs Janey Slater not to leave him. She does, though - she says that she can't stand to watch.

Fan Fiction

• In the Harry Potter fanfic "Fire Burns," Katherine is sick and on the verge of death, as well as having constant nightmares. When Severus is visiting, there is the following exchange:

Katherine: Don't leave me...(falls asleep) Severus: I won't. And don't even think about leaving me.

• In the Fullmetal Alchemist fanfic "Brilliancy," Riza is kidnapped and possibly dead. After she's recovered alive:

Roy: Don't ever leave me again. Riza: I'll do my best, sir.

• In Ace Combat: The Equestrian War, Derpy, in probably the biggest Tear Jerker in the whole story says this in chapter 15 to Carrot Top while gagging on tears:

Derpy: Carrot... Please... Please, don’t die... Don’t leave me... Don’t leave me all alone!

Film

• Dory to Marlin in Finding Nemo.

Dory: "No. No, you can't... STOP. Please don't go away. Please? No one's ever stuck with me for so long before. And if you leave... if you leave... I just, I remember things better with you. I do, look. P. Sherman, forty-two... forty-two... I remember it, I do. It's there, I know it is, because when I look at you, I can feel it. And-and I look at you, and I... and I'm home. Please... I don't want that to go away. I don't want to forget."

• Gone with the Wind. See the title quote.
• Coraline had a nightmarish version.
• Randal to Dante in Clerks II.
• Mr. Orange to Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs.
• Gong-gil pretty desperately to Jaeng-sang in The King and the Clown.
• Adam to Lawrence at the end of Saw.
• Elinor to Marianne in Sense and Sensibility.
• Belle to the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
• And in what is almost certainly a Shout-Out to the above, Robert to Giselle in Enchanted.
• 9 1/2 Weeks just after she walks out.
• A Face In The Crowd has Andy Griffith's character screaming "Don't leave me, Marcia", long after his girlfriend had left, even after she'd admitted she'd been the one to sabotage his career, over frustration with his raging ego.
• In the little-known film Nocturna, Tim says this to the Cat Shepherd after the latter dies.
• The Israeli film Ushpizin, when Moshe runs after his wife, begging her not to leave him.
• Inverted in Return of the Jedi: as he lies dying, Anakin/Vader tells Luke to leave him (which Luke refuses to do).
• Ever After: Rodmilla does one of these to Auguste as he lays dying of a heart attack, but it's more selfish than loving, since she's wailing that he "cannot leave [her] here" while basically ignoring his heartbroken young daughter kneeling beside him; after he does die, Rodmilla proceeds to be horrible to Danielle for the next ten years.
• In Tangled, after Eugene has cut her hair and is dying of a stab wound, Rapunzel begs him not to leave her.
• In Fern Gully, Crysta says this to her mentor, Madgie, who is about to essentially die.
• In Far and Away, Shannon says this to Joseph, after his Dying Declaration of Love.

Shannon: Joseph. Joseph, please. Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me alone...

• "Remember..."
• An especially wrenching version in the film Open Water, where the female lead tearfully screams at her husband, who's dying from the wounds sustained in a shark attack, to "hang on! Don't you leave me out all by myself!" Sadly, it proves useless. He dies and the heartbroken woman finally gives up hope of rescue and kills herself

Live Action TV

• In Leverage, Hardison has been captured, and buried alive. Parker is holding up pretty well, but as things heat up, she begins to lose it.

"Don't leave me, Alec!"

• In Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Justin loses his memory, resulting in Alex desperately begging him not to leave her, after she starts crying and telling him that he is everything that she has ever wanted to be.
• Doctor Who's recurring villian coaxes one of these out of the Doctor:

Master: [Do you think I would want to] spend the rest of my life, imprisoned with you!? Doctor: You've got to, come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done? Axxons, remember the Axxons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left. I've no one else. REGENERATE! Master: How about that? I win! ...will it stop, Doctor? The Drumming? Will it stop? *Dies*

• During the first two seasons of Punky Brewster, Allen Anderson was usually the addled tag-along chum. In season three's "Divorce Anderson Style," Allen is consigned to moving away with his mom to another city. As he says his goodbyes, Henry, Mrs. Garrett and Cherie hold up just fine. Punky is another story: when Allen gets to her, she loses it. As Allen leaves, Punky collapses into Cherie's arms, crying her eyes out.
• House
  • House does this to Cuddy in the episode "Bombshells." It's completely heartwrenching.
  • Wilson to Amber in the season four finale. It's even more of a Tear Jerker.
  • House to Wilson when Wilson decides to give up a part of his liver for a patient. "If you die, I'm alone."
• Criminal Minds: The UnSub of "The Uncanny Valley" says it to a victim that's trying to escape. It manages to be both a Tear Jerker and the stuff of nightmares.
• Torchwood: Children of Earth.

Jack: Ianto? Ianto? Don't leave me, please. Please.

• Claire more than once in season 6 of Lost.
• An episode of Xena: Warrior Princess that added much fuel to the Les Yay fire had Xena screaming, "Don't you leave me!" while trying to resuscitate a not-breathing Gabrielle.
• Effectively said by Dean in Supernatural when his brother is dying in his arms at the end of the first part of season one's two-part finale.
• The Top Gear Bolivia features a terrifying drive along the cliff-filled Death Road. Afraid of heights and stuck with a car with no headlights, presenter James May begs this, word for word, of his Vitriolic Best Bud Richard Hammond, whose car does have functioning lights. In a Friendship Moment, Hammond remains.

Literature

• Brekke, in the second Pern novel, pleads with F'nor to not die after he is severely injured during a dangerous scouting mission to the Red Star. Her anguish is so amplified by dragon minds that pretty nearly the entire planet hears it and gives F'nor and his dragon the willpower to teleport back home.

Brekke: Don't leave me alone!

• In the Darkest Powers series, Chloe has an unvoiced one when Derek admits that he often believes that he should leave the group, because he endangers them due to being a werewolf. (Not because he might hurt them, but because staying puts them in the line of fire of the numerous people trying to kill him.)

Chloe: I need you. I didn't say that, of course. How could I, without it sounding weird? But I felt it, heart hammering against my ribs, and it wasn't some romantic I can't bear to be without you nonsense. It was something deeper, more desperate. When I thought of Derek leaving, the ground seemed to slide under my feet. I needed something to hold on to, something solid and real when everything around me was changing so fast. Even if there were times when I thought it would be easier without Derek there, ready to tear a strip off me at every misstep, in some ways I relied on that--someone to keep me thinking, keep me striving to do better, keep me from burying my head and praying that it all worked out.

• All over the place in the Twilight saga.
• Scout, in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, was grudgingly taken on as a Padawan by a Jedi who didn't want to like her, since he thought she'd wind up killed. Her previous Master, just before she became his padawan, had been killed in the Clone Wars, and this one was mortally wounded in an ambush.

He was smiling. She didn't think she'd ever seen him smile before. Tears welled up inside Scout. "Don't try to talk. It will be all right, Master. Master Yoda will be here soon to take care of you." Tears dropped from her eyes onto his shattered chest. There was a long hitch in his breathing. His eyes closed. "Master Maruk? Master Maruk! Don't go," Scout cried. "Don't leave me!" His eyes opened, and he smiled again. "Never...," he whispered. "... my Padawan." His eyes closed, and he was gone.

• Lord of the Rings The Two Towers, from Sam to Frodo: "Don't go! Don't go where I can't follow!"
• "Stay With Me" "Always

Music

• Pink's "Don't Leave Me". Goes straight to Nightmare Fuel if you watch the music video or listen closely.

You're my perfect little punching bag.

• "Don't Ever Leave Me" from the musical Sweet Adeline.
• City and Colour's "Constant Knot" and "Weightless".
• Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is a song about a woman begging her beloved to stay with her, they don't have to admit their love for each other, because just being with her is enough. The fact that Dusty was a bisexual seems to add an extra layer of potential sadness to the song.
• In Fairy Tales, by Eric Lane Barnes, the song "A Humming Bird" is about a man desperately pleading for his dying lover to cheer up and get well again, because he doesn't know how he could possibly live without him.
• Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas."
• Supertramp's "Don't Leave Me Now."
• Pink Floyd has a much darker song also called "Don't Leave Me Now," in which the narrator begs his wife to stay with him because he's dependent on abusing her.
• Get Set Go has the song "Please Destroy Me", where the narrator makes a long list of things they will allow the lover to do ("choke me, bleed me" and "murder everything I am" among others) just so long as the lover will stay with him.

Video Games

• In Fatal Frame 2, Mayu says this to Mio when she is locked in the repentance cell. She will also say it if Mio runs too far ahead of her.
• In Heavy Rain, Ethan tearfully uses a variation of this when his attempt at CPR on his son seems to fail.
• Many comedic examples from Guilt Based Gaming. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri uses the phrase: "Please don't go! The drones need you! They look up to you!"
  • Similarly, although somewhat more meta, the final confirmation for canceling a World of Warcraft subscription is accompanied by a picture of an orc with a tear rolling down its face, while the form chides you for "making the peons cry".
• God of War: Chains of Olympus has Calliope using this on Kratos, when he's forced to leave her forever in order to become the Ghost of Sparta again so he can defeat Persephone. The game even twists the knife by making his pushing her away into a button-mashing minigame!
• Visas' dialogue if you walk away after her possible Heroic Sacrifice during the duel with Nihilus in Knights of the Old Republic.
• In Bioshock, one of the female splicers (the young one in the cocktail dress, not the old one or the one with the coral on her face) shouts, "Wait! Don't goooooo-o-o-o!!" if you try to run from a fight.
• The end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two where Eli is killed. Alyx cries over his body and says "Don't leave me...".
• In Final Fantasy V, Krile says this to her grandfather Galuf or rather, his spirit after his Heroic Sacrifice.
• In Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, it turns out that Layton's girlfriend is alive. It was thought that she died in a time machine experiment ten years before, but the machine worked for a split second and sent her to the present day. Unfortunately, her body can't hold and she has to go back to that time, where she'll die in the explosion after all. Professor Layton begins yelling "I don't want to say goodbye again! I can't! I won't!"
  • Biggest. Tear Jerker. Ever.
• In Yo-Jin-Bo, this is the usual course of action in the Bad endings. The pendant pulls Sayori away from her chosen man, and leaves them both crying for the other to not leave.
• Persona 3 Portable: In a New Game+ you can pick a love interest to spend your last moments with. Out of all the love interests only Ken Amada seems to realize that the protagonist performed a Heroic Sacrifice and asks her to stay with him. Granted he lost his mom but some of the others have missing parents and Dead Little Sisters too. Children Are Observant? Actually yes. Fridge Brilliance reminds us that Justice sometimes represents clarity and that is Ken's arcana.
• In Mitsumete Knight, Linda says this sentence almost word for word in her Ending:

"Don't go... I don't want to lose you... I don't want money nor fame anymore... I just don't want to lose you... All I am now is a woman without merit who has fallen in poverty, but I'd wish to stay by your side... Please... Don't abandon me..."

• In Okami, after you free Kaguya from the prison, she says that she feels that she must go to the bamboo field in Sasa Sanctuary, as though being driven by an unseen force. When she gets there, she meets her adoptive grandfather, Mr. Bamboo. She says that it would have been better if they didn't meet before she left, and you help her unearth a rocket. Mr. Bamboo reveals that he always knew the rocket was there, but it quickly turns into a desperate plea for his precious granddaughter to not leave him alone. When she leaves, the rocket becomes a Twinkle in The Sky, and a Single Tear escapes Mr. Bamboo's eyes... which is a hell of a lot less than what will come out of yours.
• Odd example in Pokémon Black and White in one of the ferris wheel cutscenes, the girl you're riding with goes over to your side and desperately wants you to hold her until it's over. Afraid of heights, or...
• Chie says this almost verbatim towards the end of Persona 4 when you've died and are getting encouragement from every character with whom you've maxed out your Social Link.
• In Fable II when you are about the leave the "perfect world" your sister Rose begs you not to leave. "Don't go! I don't want to be on my own again." The heartwrenching Noooooo! she gives out as you do leave almost makes you cry.
• In Tsugumi's Good Ending in Ever 17, Tsugumi says this to Takeshi as he's pulling off his Heroic Sacrifice. Made even more potent by the fact that Tsugumi's always insisted on being alone up until now.

Western Animation

• Bugs Bunny does this in "A Wild Hare" during his "death" scene, which makes Elmer Fudd wallow in self-pity after Bugs "dies."

Real Life

• As Alexander Graham Bell lay dying, his wife signed, "Please don't leave me." Bell signed the word "No" and died.
• Supposedly, "Please don't leave me" were Chris Farley's last words to a prostitute that was with him during his fatal drug overdose.
• Anne Sullivan, of Helen Keller fame, even as she studied to be a teacher, had to deal with her sick brother James begging her to stay with him in the Orphanage of Fear where they'd been sent in childhood.