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!" May be accompanied by Please, I Will Do Anything!.

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. Alternatively, to instantly turn this trope happy, just add one You Are Not Alone.

There's a third variant as well, which is less heartfelt or tragic (or more accurately, less tragic for the speaker, and even then there are exceptions) and more disturbing—this variant is generally meant to make the speaker of the phrase seem more abusive or possessive, as detailed a bit more in the Real Life section below. In these cases, expect a smidge more emphasis on the "me" part of the phrase.

Contrast with Please Dump Me. Compare Please Wake Up.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• In Ai Yori Aoshi, Mayu does this to keep Kaoru from going home.
• 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 donation. 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...
• The English dub of the 2003 Astro Boy series has Dr. Tenma utter this after Astro's Heroic Sacrifice. It's heartbreaking because he really believes Astro is his dead son, and perfectly summarizes how both lonely and delusional he is.
  "Tobio...I have already lost you once before. Please don’t leave me again..."
• In Attack on Titan, Carla Jaegar's last words are a plea to not be left alone, which she keeps as quiet as possible so her children, whom she'd just been demanding to flee without her, won't hear and try to come back to the Titan that's about to eat her.
  • When the Female Titan rips Eren out of his Titan and carries him in her mouth Mikasa is seen watching horrified and whispering tearfully “Wait...Eren...Don’t go...” before putting on a determined glare and chasing after them, hellbent on getting Eren back.
• Ayakashi Triangle: When Yayo and Lu assume Reo would hook up with Soga, they tell Matsuri that would keep other girls like "her" from talking to Soga casually. As Soga had become Matsuri's Living Emotional Crutch, he desperately chases after him, begging that they stay friends either way. Whether because of Soga and Reo's actual disinterest in each other, or pointing out Matsuri was being ridiculous in the first place, they're shown talking again afterward.
  Even if you get a girlfriend, I want us to stay friends, so we can talk about anything with each other!
• Berserk does this canonically and non-canonically. The canonical examples come after the horrible Eclipse, when Guts has a dream where the Band of the Hawk are riding off into the distance, leaving Guts behind. It symbolically represented their deaths during the Eclipse. The non-canonical example comes in the Sega Dreamcast video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, when Casca becomes sane from the effects of the mandragora plant, which makes normal people crazy but crazy people normal. However, despite Guts' efforts at keeping Casca conscious, the effect begins to wear off and Guts and Casca only have a few moments together before she becomes insane again. All Guts can do is cradle her, crying, "My love... come back."
• Black Butler:
  • 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.
• In Bleach, Mareyo Oomaeda tells this to her older brother Marechiyo in 548.
• Blood+: The first time George meets Saya, she grabs his ankle with a helpless look on her face.
• At the end of a highly emotional case in Case Closed, Miwako Sato tearfully begged Wataru Takagi not to leave her, which is especially meaningful since her former partner and First Love Matsuda was murdered. Takagi said he wouldn't, and they're now together.
• 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.
• In Code Geass, Lelouch has a moment of this in the second season. When Shirley's been shot through the stomach, she gives him a dying speech about how she'll always fall in love with him, even in the next life. Lelouch doesn't want her to go, so he tries using his Geass to keep her alive, at one point screaming "No, don't die! I order you not to die!" It doesn't work; Shirley knows she's done for, and his mind control effect does absolutely nothing.
  • Nunnally gets a moment of this, too. After Lelouch allows himself to be killed as part of his Zero Requiem, Nunnally freaks out the moment she realizes her brother, who had played the role of a tyrannical megalomaniac until now, just died for the sake of world peace.
    Nunnally: You can't leave me! You can't! Please open your eyes, Big Brother, please! BIG BROTHER!!!
• Spike and Faye's final conversation in the Cowboy Bebop episode "The Real Folk Blues (Part 2)", before Spike goes off to fight Vicious after Julia dies, has serious elements of this. An example of How Dare You Die on Me!. IF he did!
• A Cruel God Reigns: Ian repeatedly begs Jeremy not to leave England, comes up with a lot of conditions to prevent Jeremy from leaving.
  • Sandra pleading with Jeremy to stay with her also qualifies as this.
• Shinji says this to Asuka at one point in The End of Evangelion.
• In Fruits Basket:
  • Akito says this after Kureno's curse breaks. This happens again after Momiji's curse is lifted. This one is less hysterical than the first one.
  • A heartbreaking one in Chapter 122, when Kyo witnesses a badly injured Tohru after she fell from a cliff, right after he sort of rejected her love confession. He doesn't state this word-for-word, but the implication is the same.
    Kyo: Wait, Tohru, wait, this is not what I want!
• Roy to Riza in Fullmetal Alchemist. Near the finale, Riza gets her throat slit, and 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 at this point is unconscious and near death), he begs her not to die and leave him. She is healed in the nick of time, prompting him to hug her tightly, and the fandom squealed their hearts out. The trope is even more present in the Brotherhood anime, when Roy - holding her in Pietà Plagiarism style - specifically pleads, "Don't you dare die! Stay with me, Lieutenant!"
• Game×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.
• 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!
• 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.
• In the last volume of Hellsing, when Alucard's disappearing after absorbing Schrodinger, Integra orders him not to. It doesn't work.
• Hetalia: Axis Powers 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.
• I'm Gonna Be an Angel!:
  • 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.
• The Irregular at Magic High School: In Volume 8, when Tatsuya is about to leave to take on the invading army, Miyuki says this to him. She's initially reluctant, thinking that it sounds too much like what a lover would say, but decides that his safety is more important. Tatsuya still heads out, though.
• In Junjou 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.
• In Kimi ni Todoke, Chizu does not take the news that Ryu is going away to university very well, and begs him not to go at one point (although she quickly rights herself, not wanting to hold him back).
• In Kotoura-san, Haruka begs this of her mother in the first episode, but she ends up leaving anyway. In fact, Haruka falls into both "very lonely character" and " young character with no one else to look after them" categories — at the point she said this, she was a child who was socially shunned due to her telepathic powers.
• Manyu Hikencho: Said verbatim by Kaede in episode 1, during the Manyuu Clan's on-foot pursuit of Chifusa. Kaede makes a single halfhearted attempt to attack Chifusa with a pair of kunai, before ceasing to ask Chifusa why she was abandoning her. When she doesn't respond, Kaede bursts into tears:
  Kaede "DON'T LEAVE ME! TAKE ME WITH YOU! PLEASE!!"
• Moriarty the Patriot has a variant on the cover for chapter 55, with text reading "Catch me. Don't leave me alone," next to William's figure and "I finally caught you. I won't leave you alone," next to Sherlock, who is holding him.
• In Chapter 53 of My Clueless First Friend, a sick and feverish Nishimura is being visited by her friends, and, thinking its a dream, grabs Takada's sleeve when he tries to leave, telling him she'll be lonely and begging him to stay in front of their friends. Cue furious blushing from all present, especially Takada. Naturally, Nishimura is mortified the next day when she realizes it wasn't a dream.
• In Naruto, Sakura says this to Sasuke right before his Face–Heel Turn.
• Natsuyuki Rendezvous: While Atsushi was on his deathbed, Hazuki begged him not to leave her. He fulfilled the request, and now wanders their flower shop as a ghost.
• A Nightmare Fuel variant in Now and Then, Here and There: In his debut episode, King Hamdo, after strangling his Right-Hand Cat and beating the protagonist for not giving in to his pointless interrogation, throws a childish temper tantrum and desperately begs his second-in-command Lady Abelia to never betray him as he thinks that everyone in the world is against him.
• Nurse Angel Ririka SOS:
  • When Kanou dies in episode 14 Ririka has this reaction.
  • When Ririka sacrifices herself Seiya and Dewey both cry for her not to do it.
• One Piece: Heavily deconstructed with Charlotte "Big Mom" Linlin. When she as an orphan, she was part of an orphanage under the care of Mother Caramel. When Mother Caramel and the other orphans disappeared on the day of her sixth birthday with the heavy implication being that she ate them, she was left depressed and hurt at the belief that they abandoned her, which would help shape her into the tyrannical ruler she would grow up to be, as she would kill anyone who ever tried to leave Totland.
• 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.
• Mashiro plays with this trope towards Sorata in episode 4 of The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. When Sorata looks at the manga Mashiro was making, he finds out it's about his situation with her, except with the gender roles reversed. The editor tells him that the ending where the girl leaves is depressing, and suggested Mashiro revise it. When he goes to her room later, he finds her napping after working on a revised ending, where the girl decides that she wants to stay, and he begins to realize that he doesn't want to leave Sakura Hall after all.
• In Pokémon: The Series, a couple of the Pokémon departures fall into this category in terms of the behavior of said Pokémon:
  • Team Rocket's Arbok and Weezing were a total wreck when forced to leave their trainers with a group of other Pokémon to get away from a poacher.
  • Jessie's Dustox in the Sinnoh episode "Crossing Paths" fell in love with a Shiny Dustox. But when it was time for them to leave to participate in a breeding migration with other Dustox, Jessie's Dustox tried to remain with Jessie, not wanting to leave her. Jessie had to resort to crushing her Poké Ball underfoot in order to sever her bond and force her to leave.
• Yuma of Puella Magi Oriko Magica really, really doesn't want Kyouko to leave her.
• In The Quintessential Quintuplets, after her father Maruo informs her that he wont be coming home yet again, along with her mother being dead and her sister Ichika seemingly leaving, Nino begs Fuutarou not to leave her, fearing that everyone else will eventually leave as well. And this is after he decides to leave after her push-pull technique backfires.
• Ranma ½:
  • In episode 91, 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.
• In Ring ni Kakero, when Kiku and Ryuuji pretty much run away to Tokyo, their mother Chiyo begs them not to go. As the kids have already boarded their train, they can't return so they promise to come back for her later. Chiyo watches them leave and promises "I Will Wait for You!"
• Kaoru to Kenshin in Rurouni Kenshin, when he's about to leave for Kyoto. He gives her a hug and gently thanks her for all that she has done for him, but he leaves anyway. After recovering from the ensuing Heroic BSoD, she goes after him with Yahiko.
• 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.
• Superior: Angelica begs her long-lost grandfather not to die when he starts succumbing to an unspecified illness, until it turns out that he was merely suffering from a minor pollen allergy.
• In Tokyo Ghoul Tsukiyama tries to prevent Kaneki from essentially going on a suicide mission and breaks down crying when he fails, begging him "For dear life Kaneki. Would you please not go?"
  • Mutsuki realizes he has feelings for Sasaki as a result of jealousy and stabs Uta who disguised himself as Sasaki while demanding that he never leave him again.
• In Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-, Sakura says this to C!Syaoran when he is about to defect from the group in the Tokyo arc.
• A particularly heartbreaking instance of this occurs in chapter 42 of Whispered Words. Ushio tells her best friend Sumika that she has to move away to take care of her grandmother, eliciting a long-awaited and tearful Anguished Declaration of Love from Sumika as she clutches Ushio against her and begs her not to go. Ushio reciprocates . . . but says that she's sorry, insisting that she has to.

Comic Books

• Blue Beetle: In Vol. 3 issue #7, 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.
• At the end of "Get Mystique", Raven, grievously wounded by Wolverine, begs him not to walk away without finishing her off. He ignores her, and walks away, leaving her to expire slowly and painfully, screaming and cursing at him (don't worry, she gets better).
• In the seventh issue of Infinite Crisis, as her cousin Golden Age Superman is dying, Power Girl cries out "please, don't leave me alone".
  Power Girl: No. Don't leave me alone, Kal. Please, don't leave me alone again.
• At the end of Innocence Lost, X-23 kills her mother in a chemically-induced berserker rage, just as they destroy and escape the Facility that bred her. As Sarah Kinney dies and tells Laura that she loves her, for a moment she stops being a weapon and is just a little girl again, hopelessly begging, "please don't leave me."
• All-New Wolverine: In a flashback scene in the seventh issue, Laura begs this of Wolverine when he rides off after leaving her at the Xavier School, claiming that it's the best and safest place for her to be and that he can't offer her the sort of family life she wants. Later, Gabby says the same thing about Laura's intentions to send her away to find somewhere safe for her to live a normal life. It triggers Laura's memories of Logan, and twists the knife even further about the guilt she's feeling about the entire situation. Eventually she decides otherwise, in part for that very reason.
• 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."
• Superman story The Life Story of Superman: When Pa Kent dies, Clark cries and begs him to not leave him (again, since he was losing his second father).
• The Ultimates: When Hulk thought that Betty was getting away in a military transport plane, he got nuts and yelled "DON'T LEAVE BANNER ALONE AGAIN"
• In Watchmen, 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.
• Zombo: Shouted by the bloke who had his arms and legs eaten on the Deathworld by a Cannibal Tribe. His friends say "screw that!" because he's too big to carry.

Fan Works

• 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!
• Always Visible: This is exactly how Delia reacts when Galbraith urgently leaves her house.
• In the 11th chapter of Bearquarter's Toy Story 2, Mabel and Sherman share a tearful argument before Jimmy delivers a reminder of what Sherman went through to get him and Jimmy reunited with Trent Cooper.
  Mabel: That's it?! We finally found you, and this is how you repay us? You don’t want to come back home with us?
  Sherman: Mabel, you don’t understand what I’m up against! What I’ve been through! When I first met these guys, they told me everything, about toys and kids. And they were right. Kids are meant to grow up, and there's nothing we can do about it!
  Mabel: How could you say such a thing? Toys are meant to make children happy! You thought him that. And yet...(points at Sherman)...it looked like you forgot. Are you turning your back on Trent like he’s nothing? On us?" (She pointed to herself, her voice laced with a hint of anguish) On me?
  Sherman: Well, what about you? What if what happened to me, might happen to you? Trent’s already outgrown me the moment he ripped my arm. I realize, now, that what you told me a few days ago got off on the wrong foot. Goten was right about him, about me. Trent doesn’t care about me anymore.
  Mabel: There are OTHERS who care about you too, Sherman! You have us! You can’t go wasting your life in a museum if you still have a family who misses you, who needs you, who CARES for you! (Mabel softened up a bit and put her hands around Sherman’s cheeks, trying her best to get through to him, to make him understand.) Please, Sherman. We’re doing this because we care. Because we love you.
  Sherman: (as he pushes away Mabel's hands) I cant.....
• The Child of Love: This happened several times:
  • In chapter 5 Asuka asks Shinji if he promises he will not leave her and their unborn child:
    Asuka: [softly, in Shinji's ear] Shinji?
    Shinji: [softly, in Asuka's ear] What is it?
    Asuka: You'd never leave us, would you?
    Short pause.
    Shinji: I promise you, right here and now, that I'll NEVER leave you two...
  • In chapter 9 Shinji said this line to Asuka when he thought she was dying.
    Shinji: [tears coming] Stay with me, Asuka! Fight it! Stay alive! Please, don't leave me...!
  • In chapter 5 Misato asks Kaji if he promises not leaving her:
    Kaji: Tssss... no.... nothing on earth could make me leave you alone.
    Misato: Y-you won't l-leave me? You promise? Even if I'm a slut?
    Kaji: No. You're wrong. I could never love a slut. And I love you, Mit-chan.
• Children of an Elder God: In chapter 23 Shinji to Asuka are resting in his room, wondering if they would be killed by the latest Eldritch Abomination in the next battle. Shinji kissed Asuka and begged her never leaving him:
  Asuka: Shinji, love you.
  Shinji: I love you too, Asuka. Don't ever leave me. Please.
  Asuka: I won't, [...] Never.
• A Crown of Stars: One of the promises Asuka asked from Shinji was: Never leaving her.
  Asuka: Can you promise me you’ll always be there, Shinji? Promise me you’ll never leave me again?
• In Brilliancy, the second installment of the Elemental Chess Trilogy, Riza is kidnapped and possibly dead. After she is recovered alive, her commanding officer/husband issues this literally as an order: "Never leave me again."
• In the Empath: The Luckiest Smurf novel, young Empath cries this out when Papa Smurf finds him standing alone in the village in a crying trance, which, as it turns out, is Empath reliving the moment when his father, Papa Smurf, left him in Psychelia as an infant.
• Evangelion 303: In chapter 13 Asuka ran away and Shinji followed her to plead her to not leave him.
• In Family Ties England gets drunk in a bid to recover from Scotland and Northern Ireland leaving the Union and winds up at Wales's house at three in the morning. Once he's let in he clings onto Wales and says:
  “Don’t leave me too.” Mumbled England. Wales stopped struggling. The shorter blonde held on tighter, taking the silence as a rejection. “Please, don’t leave me all alone.”
• 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 Gold Poisons, Nie Mingjue says this quietly to Lan Xichen while the latter is unconscious and suffering from the titular gold poison.
• Combined with Please Wake Up in Heated Storm Yields a Wild Horse's Heart when Ranma is thrown into a wall during his and Nabiki's match against Azusa and Mikado. After taking the hit to protect Nabiki, she begs Ranma "Don't leave me alone! ...not like mom". Thankfully, Ranma is merely unconscious and wakes up shortly.
• HERZ: In chapter 2, after an awful nightmare Asuka clings to Shinji and whispers: "Don't ever leave me..."
  She hugged him fiercely and whispered, "Don't ever leave me..."
  "I've always been yours."
• Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Hakkōna: Feliciano said this word-for-word to Kiku.
  "Please don't leave me! Don't leave me all alone! PLEASE!"
• Last Child of Krypton: In chapter 11 (original version) Shinji is trying to burst in Leliel's illusion to save Asuka from being Mind Raped. When he tries to talk Asuka into lowering her mental shields and letting him into she replies that he will just leave her. Shinji assures that he will not do, and she asks him if he promises (what he does).
  Shinji: Asuka, listen to me. I can't get through the doors unless you let me. It's trying to keep me out.
  Asuka: [sobbing] Why should I bother, [...] You'll just leave me. Everyone leaves me.
  Shinji: I won't.
  Asuka: You promise?
  Shinji: I promise.
• In Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide:
  • Asuka says this to Shinji several times.
  • Keiko says this to her guardians Miko and Nakajima in chapter 10 when Miko berates herself for being –to her eyes- a bad caretaker:
    "Please… don't leave me."
• In the Fairly Oddparents story, Never Had a Friend Like Me, Amanda starts pleading desperately when Norm is dying.
  Amanda: " Norm, wake up. Please. You need to listen to me. Don't do this. Just… just stay with… Norm, don't give up. Please. I need you to do this for me."
• Once More with Feeling: In the middle of a nightmare, Shinji hears Asuka begging him not to leave her as she sinks into a volcano.
  Please, I don't want to die Shinji! Please don't leave me Shinji! I don't want to die! Help me Shinji! Please, HELP ME! Please…please don't let me die… Shinji… Sh—
• In chapter 11 of The One I Love Is... Shinji tells Kaoru those words after having a terrible nightmare.
  Shinji: "Don't leave me alone. Please... I'm scared... I don't want to be alone...
• Peter Parker Needs A Hug: When an explosion rocks the Wayne Foundation Phone Drive (which is being attacked by the Joker), Peter begs Commissioner Gordon not to leave him. Jim thinks this trope is in play, but it's actually because Peter's spider sense just told him that things are about to get a whole lot worse and he doesn't want the Comissioner to get hurt.
• In A Pikachu in Love Pichi says this to an unconscious and near death Pikachu after he risked his life to save her from an Ursaring. It really hits home with her because she feels it was her wacky and carefree antics that caused this to happen in the first place.
  Pichi continued to weep, and she whispered into Pikachu’s ear, knowing he could not hear her, "<Please be all right. Please...you have to be okay! I…I want us to be friends forever…I want Faith to meet you…I…I’m in love with you…>"
• A sidestory of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines centered on Character of the Day Arnold has him meet a young girl named Laila. The two quickly become friends and later she reveals to Arnold's mother Anna that her parents kicked her out after she was outed as a bloodliner, and she tells them she has nowhere else to go. Moved by this, Anna quickly decides to take her in their home and make her part of their family.
• In Say It Thrice, Lydia invokes this during her "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight with Betelgeuse. She points out that, owing to the circumstances which have brought them to this point, she's lost too many loved ones already and she can't bear the thought of losing her best friend too. It works.
• Scar Tissue: Asuka is frightened of hurting Shinji again so in a scene she asks him if he wants her going away. Shinji pleaded her staying with him. This is because after events of the series and Third Impact they had become so codependent that they would never want to be apart from each other.
• The Second Try: Inverted and after played straight in chapter 4. Asuka does not want to be alone, but she feels that she needs to push Shinji away so she yells at him: "HATE ME! LEAVE ME! KILL ME!". When he refuses, her resolution crumbles down, so she hugs him and asks him if he promises not leaving her.
• Steel Soul Saga: From Steel Soul, right after Sweetie Belle's Robotic Reveal, and Rarity wants to leave:
  Their faces turned slowly. Green eyes, filled with confusion and panic, met sapphire eyes swelling in shock and pity.
  "...we..." Rarity breathed in. "We... I'm going to get Twilight."
  "Don't leave!" Sweetie Belle begged. "I can't— I don't know what's going on! Please don't leave me alone!"
• Vow of Nudity: When Ayrwyn hears that Haara plans to escape their slavery in the Genasi Empire, she pleads (and Haara promises) that she won't be left behind when the time comes. Later, when Haara seizes an unplanned opportunity for freedom, Ayrwyn never forgives her for abandoning her.
• In Wake, Asuka begs Shinji to not leave her alone when he states they should part ways.
  Asuka: Don't go, don't leave me alone. It almost killed me whan I saw you at the water and I thought... Shinji... Please don't run away from me."

Films — Animated

• Belle to the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. This is right after Gaston has seemingly dealt him a fatal wound and she follows this up by telling him that she loves him. After that, he transforms and the curse is broken.
• Coco: Miguel says this to Héctor as he and Imelda are giving him their blessing to send him home, just as the sun is coming up.
• Coraline had a nightmarish version, when Coraline is crawling through the tunnel between her house and the Other World to escape the Other Mother, who frantically pounds on the small door, begging her to come back:
  The Other Mother: AAAAAAHHH! DON'T LEAVE ME! DON'T LEAVE ME! I'LL DIE WITHOUT YOU!
• In FernGully: The Last Rainforest, Crysta says this to her mentor, Magi, who is about to essentially die.
• 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. When I look at you...I'm home. Please, I don't want that to go away. I don't want to forget.
  Marlin: I'm sorry, Dory..... but I do.
• Kung Fu Panda:
  • In the final scene, Po says this to Shifu when he thinks that he's succumbing to Mentor Occupational Hazard. Hilarity Ensues.
    Po: Don't die, Shifu, don't die...
    Shifu I'm not dying, you idiot! (Beat) Dragon... Warrior...
  • Played straight during Oogway's ascension.
    Shifu: Master! You can't leave me!
• The Lion King: When Mufasa's spirit appears to Simba, telling him to remember who he is and go back to reclaim his rightful place as king, Simba chases after him while he's disappearing, begging him to not to leave him. However, Mufasa's words finally sink into Simba's mind and he decides to go back.
• In the little-known film Nocturna, Tim says this to the Cat Shepherd after the latter dies.
• An example coming from a villain comes in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Wilson Fisk's inter-dimensional super-collider shenanigans are motivated by trying to find alternate-universe replacements of his now-deceased family, who ran away after stumbling upon him attempting to kill Spider-Man, tragically dying in the process from a car accident. During the climactic battle inside the collider, he and his plans come to utter ruin when they begin to fizzle in, reacting with the exact same horror at the sight of him trying to kill Spider-Man. Both times, he drops everything to beg for them to come back.
• In Tangled, after Eugene has cut her hair and is dying of a stab wound, Rapunzel begs him not to leave her.
  • In line with the Real Life example below, Mother Gothel convinces Rapunzel to stay in the tower with her by claiming she's too weak and naive to handle the world by herself. Gothel even follows it up by claiming how heartbroken she'd be if any misfortune were to befall Rapunzel if she went out on her own.
• Roo begs this to Tigger teary-eyed during the climax of The Tigger Movie, after Tigger attempted to leave the Hundred Acre Wood to pursue his family.
• Megatron, critically injured after his battle with Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, is mocked and kicked by Starscream who orders the Decepticons to leave without him. Megatron begs Soundwave not to abandon him who obliges and carries him along with the others.
• In Turning Red, Mei's red panda spirit is practically bawling its eyes out as Mei goes through the red moon ritual to banish it into a talisman. This forces her to rethink and relive all of the happy moments it has brought her and her friends. In the end, Mei refuses to separate from it, acknowledging that the red panda is part of her.
• At the conclusion of Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope hugs Ralph, and with tears in her eyes, tells Ralph he could stay in her castle with his own wing where he'd be appreciated as he wasn't in his own game.

Films — Live-Action

• The Batman (2022): A woman who Batman helps onto a medevac chopper near the end of the film holds his arm not wanting to be separated before he wordlessly calms her. This is deliberately contrasted with earlier in the film where Gotham's civilians are just as terrified of him as criminals, symbolizing both the public's changing perception of him and Batman's decision to switch from being a Terror Hero to a Hope Bringer to Gotham.
• Randal to Dante in Clerks II, on the last day before Dante plans to move to Florida from New Jersey. Also in Clerks III as Dante dies.
  Randal: Don't fucking leave me, man. Don't leave me! HELP!!!
• Robert to Giselle in Enchanted, in what is almost certainly a Shout-Out to the aforementioned Beauty and the Beast.
• 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.
• A Face in the Crowd ends with Lonesome Rhodes screaming "Don't leave me, Marcia," even after his Beleaguered Assistant admits to him that she was the one who sabotaged his career, over frustration with his raging ego, and tells him to never call her again.
• 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...
• In The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, Max begs this of Lavagirl when Sharkboy is electrocuted in the water by literal electric eels, shouting, "I CAN'T LET YOU GO! You'll die..." She turns back, ruefully saying that Sharky is her best friend. Later, Max begs them to not die after Lavagirl drags Sharkboy and herself back onto the surface, only for them to temporarily die anyway.
• Gone with the Wind ends with one, quoted atop this page. And many people sympathized with Rhett, given dealing with Scarlett is a pain.
• Interstellar has a variant where Cooper sees into the past and sees when he said goodbye to his daughter Murphy. Having endured a lot throughout the movie including learning that his children have come to hate him, Cooper begs Murphy to not let him leave, but being outside of space-time, she can't hear him.
• Gong-gil pretty desperately to Jaeng-sang in The King and the Clown.
• Lethal Weapon 3 has a platonic example. For the first two-thirds of the movie, Murtaugh has had nothing but good-natured ribbing from his partner Riggs about his imminent retirement. When Riggs tries to snap him out of his Heroic BSoD after he shoots a teenager in the line of duty, however, tempers run high and Riggs' real fears emerge:
  Riggs: After all the shit we've been through, don't you get it? Don't you get it? When you retire, you're not just retiring you, you're retiring us! You're retiring us!
  Murtaugh: That's not my problem!
  Riggs: Yes it is!
  Murtaugh: That's not my problem!
  Riggs: You're the only family I've got! I've got three beautiful kids, I love them, they're yours! Trish does my laundry! I live in your icebox! I live in your life! What am I gonna do? What am I supposed to do?
• In Man of Steel, Jenny begs Perry not to leave her when she's trapped under some rubble as the deadly shockwaves from the Kryptonian World Engine get closer and closer. Perry abandons his chance at escape to stay with her and keep her calm.
• The Miracle Of Our Lady Of Fatima has this — based on what Lucia Santos said was an actual conversation with "the lady from heaven" — as Lúcia realizes the lady means to take her little cousins "to heaven" long before herself:
  Lúcia: You're going to take them? You mean they're going to—
  The Lady: Have no fear for them!
  Lúcia: But why must they go, why? What will I do without them? Please, dear lady, don't you see — we've been together since we were babies! They're like my sister and my brother. I took care of Jacinta when she was just a little thing. Besides my mother, I love them more than anyone in the world... Forgive me, my lady. I'll do anything. Let me suffer for them, and I'll be glad. But don't take them. Don't leave me here alone.
  The Lady: Dear child, I'll be with you always... I will never abandon you. My immaculate heart will be your refuge and the path that leads you to God.^note According to Lúcia, those really were the lady's words.
• John to Elizabeth in 9½ Weeks just after she walks out.
• Towards the end of North Face, Toni is close enough to a team of rescuers to be able to talk to them, but there's some very hard-to-pass terrain between them, it's getting dark and very cold, and it's not safe for them to stay. He's freezing to death and it's unclear whether he'll make it until the next morning when they promise to come back. He begs them to stay and help him; his girlfriend ends up spending the night out there with him, although she can't do anything to help.
• 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.
• John Reed to Louise Bryant in Reds!.
• In The Return of the King, Sam, cradling Frodo's unconscious body, begs him, "Don't leave me here alone. Don't go where I can't follow." ^note That's canon, by the way, and fans of the book deeply appreciated that Jackson understood why it must be included.
  • Also, near the end of the film when the hobbits are gathered at the shore, and Frodo must say goodbye to Sam. This also counts as a Tear Jerker, when Sam realises Frodo intends to leave and not come back.
    Frodo: We set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved. But not for me.
    Sam: You don't mean that. You can't leave.
• Adam to Lawrence at the end of Saw as Lawrence is crawling away out of the bathroom to go get help for the two of them.
  • Amanda does this with Daniel during Saw III when it looks like he's died from the nerve gas.
• Elinor to Marianne in Sense and Sensibility, when the latter is dying of a fever.
• Shane ends with Joey calling out to the titular gunslinger as he rides off into the sunset:
  Joey: Shane! Come back!
• Star Wars
  • Twice in Attack of the Clones:
    • Padme's pleads with her bodyguard (who has been posing as her) not to die on her in the opening scene.
    • Anakin finding his mother, who was captured and tortured by the Tusken Raiders, and cries for her to stay with him. She's only able to smile in happiness at getting to see him one last time before dying as he cradles her.
  • Inverted in Return of the Jedi: as he's dying, Anakin/Vader tells Luke to leave him (which Luke initially refuses to do).
  • The Force Awakens: During the flashback, a young Rey is seen begging whoever left her on Jakku (presumably her family) to come back as they're leaving on a ship. She also begs Finn, her first real friend, not to abandon the fight against the First Order, to no avail.
• In Thor: The Dark World, Thor begs an apparently dying Loki to "Stay with me, ok?"
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day:
  • Sarah has a dream of Kyle berating her for getting herself locked up and leaving John vulnerable. As Kyle walks out, Sarah chases after him begging that he stay but he vanishes out of her sight.
  • In the final battle at the steel factory, John expresses the same sentiment for Sarah as she works to hide him and sacrifice herself to T-1000 to buy him enough time to escape.
• The Israeli film Ushpizin, when Moshe runs after his wife, begging her not to leave him.
• In Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?, Aunt Roo screams and begs Katy and Christopher not to leave her alone, saying everyone has abandoned her, as the two flee the burning house with Aunt Roo locked in a supply room.

Literature

• A Brother's Price: When Jerin goes off to get married, his littlest sister says she doesn't want him to leave, just like their father did. (The father died not long ago). Cue crying by every kid under five in the family. He eventually comforts them by suggesting they bake a cake, and clarifying that he will come and visit them.
• Cradle Series:
  • The primary thing that gets Yerin worked up is the thought of people leaving her, for whatever reason. Her family was slaughtered when she was a child, she was adopted by the Sword Sage, and then he died at about the time the story started. Despite her complaints, she quickly latches onto Lindon, and gets very anxious several times in the early books when it looks like he might leave her. He never does, but when they get separated in Ghostwater, they both have a lot of trouble being apart for a few weeks. They hadn't been apart for more than a day or two since they had met, so they constantly worry about each other.
  • Everyone on Lindon's team is like this, Yerin is just the most obvious about it. Lindon was the weakest of his clan and treated as a criminal just for existing, so all he wants is people who appreciate him. Little Blue started life as a non-sapient spirit destined to be used as a reagent in some potion, left in a box until Lindon found her. Eithan, for all his smiles and self-promotion, has been isolated by his incredible skill and genius his entire life and just wants people to be able to walk with him on an even level. Orthos was a great guardian who burned out his own sanity protecting the family, and was left in a cave waiting for a Mercy Kill until Eithan found a way to cure him. Mercy was the genius of her clan who was always friendly to everyone, but her revelation that her motives weren't as pure as she thought shakes her to her core and leads to her exiling herself to prove that she can be a good person after all. Ziel was one of the greatest geniuses in his generation, leading his own sect at an incredibly young age, until he was crippled in a fight against the Sage of Calling Storms while trying to buy time for his sect to escape—and they all died anyway, so it was All for Nothing. None of them will give up on each other, because none of them want to be left behind again.
• In a Celia S. Friedman novel, the protagonist, a young woman orphaned and homeless because of war, becomes the mistress of a soldier who is very much in love with her but whom she doesn't love at all, though she is deeply grateful for his kindness and protection. As he lies dying, she engages in a bit of method-acting, remembering how much she loved her mother and how desperately she misses her, and with all that emotion in her voice cries out: 'I love you, don't leave me!'.
  "I was in time. He heard me."
• 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.
• 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.
• Brekke, in the second Dragonriders of Pern novel, pleads with F'nor to not die after he is severely injured during a dangerous scouting mission to the Red Star. To make the situation even worse for her, this happens not very long after the death of her dragon, an event that has been known in other cases to drive the surviving rider to suicide. 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!
• It's not said out loud on-page in Dr. Franklin's Island, but as Miranda progresses much faster through changes, and is more subject to The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body than her friend Semi, it weighs very heavily on Semi's mind, and she often thinks of Miranda as leaving her behind.
• Karl Oskar does this with Kristina in The Emigrants. Twice. First when she's sick with scurvy on the journey across the Atlantic, then again when she's sick after a miscarriage. It only works once.
• In A Fightingman of Mars, the titular hero, Tan Hadron, has been betrayed by the woman he (supposedly) loves. He realizes that while he can cope with that, he could never survive betrayal by his 'friend' Tavia and begs her never to leave him.
  "Swear you will never leave me, I cannot live without you!" (but they're just good friends and comrades - right).
• The Hunger Games:
  • "Stay With Me." "Always."
  • Also when Clove takes a fatal blow to the head with a rock and Cato begs her to stay with him.
• Hurog: When Oreg is separated from Ward (to whom he is bound as a slave by ancient magic), he suffers so horribly that, once reunited, he clings to Ward's leg and begs him never to leave him again. There is some amount of Fridge Horror, as his suffering when spending too much time too far away from his "owner" is likely an intentional side-effect of the magic that binds him.
• The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, from Sam to Frodo: "Don't go! Don't go where I can't follow!"
• Spice and Wolf: At end of the first volume, Lawrence, afraid that Holo will leave anyway if he asks her not to, he instead demands that she stick around to pay for the clothes she ruined. It works.
• All over the place in The Twilight Saga.
• In When Women Were Dragons, Alex is terrified of losing people she loves. When she fears being left behind by her sister Beatrice, she pleads, first silently and then out loud, for Beatrice to stay with her.
• In Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff begs this of Cathy, oddly enough, after she is already dead.
  "Oh! you said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer – I repeat it till my tongue stiffens – Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you – haunt me, then! The murdered do haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts have wandered on earth. Be with me always – take any form – drive me mad! only do not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I cannot live without my life! I cannot live without my soul!"

Live-Action TV

• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In "Passion", after Angelus murders his love interest Jenny Calender, Buffy's Watcher goes on a Suicide Mission to kill Angelus, only to be saved at the last minute by Buffy. Giles rages at her that this wasn't her fight; Buffy slugs him, then gives Giles a Cooldown Hug, crying and saying "You can't leave me. I can't do this alone."
  • And again when Giles leaves Buffy after realising he's a Living Emotional Crutch for her.
  • In the Angel episode "A Hole in the World", Wesley holds Fred as she dies and begs her to hold on. When she dies, he is so distraught that all he can choke out is a repeated "Please."
• Criminal Minds: The UnSub of "The Uncanny Valley" says it to a victim who's trying to escape.
• Doctor Who:
  • "Last of the Time Lords": A recurring villain coaxes one of these out of the Doctor:
    The Master: [Do you think I would want to] spend the rest of my life, imprisoned with you!?
    The 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!
    The Master: How about that? I win! ...will it stop, Doctor? The drumming? Will it stop? [dies]
  • "Amy's Choice": Amy does it twice:
    • First to the Doctor and Rory when they're made to fall asleep, leaving her alone in the freezing TARDIS with the Dream Lord.
    • Second towards Rory when he's been hit with the dissolving gas, and he's crumbling away into dust.
  • Done again in "The Angels Take Manhattan", when the Doctor breaks down and full-out begs Amy not to let an Angel touch her and send her back in time to Rory in a section of spacetime that the TARDIS can't go to without ripping a hole in the universe. She refuses him. The fact that it's played as being incredibly pathetic and selfish on the Doctor's part makes his utterly honest, tear-choked "I will never see you again!" and his shriek of anguish as he falls face-down on the ground in grief when Amy vanishes even more heartbreaking.
  • "The Time of the Doctor": Clara tries her best to stay composed while the Eleventh's reaching his very end, but when he begins regenerating, she breaks down into tears and begs him in a hushed voice to not change.
• In the series finale of Flashpoint, Parker is shot multiple times and critically injured. As they wait for medical help to arrive, both Ed (on scene) and Dean (listening in through the radio) plead with him to stay with them.
• Friends: Chandler claims that he and Monica have split up to get them out of going to dinner with his newly-divorced, obnoxious jerkass boss Doug. Doug proceeds to drag Chandler to a bunch of strip clubs to help him "celebrate his freedom". After a horrible evening, and seeing just how pathetic Doug has become, Chandler returns home to Monica and says this to her:
  Chandler: You know what the worst part was? I got to see what my life would be like without you...please promise that you will never leave me, that we will grow old together, and be with each other for the rest of our lives.
  Monica: I promise.
  • One that didn't work out so well was when he changed his mind about telling Janice she should break up with him to go back to her husband. He ends clinging to her leg in the middle of the coffee house and begging her not to leave. It's both sad and pathetically funny.
• In General Hospital, Tracy Quartermaine is talking to her father who is dying, and says "Please, don't go!"
• In Girl from Nowhere, TK asks Nanno of this in "Lost and Found". Unfortunately, she does and it's the saddest moment of the first season.
  TK: I really like being with you. Please don't disappear on me.
• House
  • House does this to Cuddy in the episode "Bombshells".
  • Wilson to Amber in the season four finale.
  • House's behavior towards Wilson in early Season 5 is also rooted in this.
  • House to Wilson when Wilson decides to give up a part of his liver for a patient. "If you die, I'm alone."
  • House trying to push Wilson to undergo chemo to prolong his life is this in typical House fashion. He's a jerk about it, but ultimately he just doesn't want to lose his best friend.
• 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!"
• Lucifer: In the Season 4 finale, Chloe begs Lucifer not to leave her so he can retake the throne of Hell, also confessing her love for him. It doesn't work, but he does give her a parting kiss.
• The O.C.: In the season 3 finale, when Marissa and Ryan get in a car accident, a dying Marissa begs Ryan to stay when he says he needs to go get help. This leads to Died in Your Arms Tonight.
• 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.
• In Smallville:
  • Clark and the women in his life (Clark and Lana, Clark and Chloe, and Clark and Lois) do this. A lot. Whenever one of them gets one of their many deaths or near-deaths, trust the other to exclaim this.
  • In "Reckoning", this happens with Clark and Martha saying this to Jonathan after his heart attack.
  • "Phantom", Chloe to Lois as the latter dies. She gets better.
• Effectively said by Dean in Supernatural when his brother is dying in his arms at the end of the first part of season two's two-part finale.
• The Top Gear Bolivia special 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 promises to stay with him.
• Torchwood: Children of Earth:
  Jack: Ianto? Ianto? Don't leave me, please. Please.
• In The Tudors, as Queen Jane Seymour lies dying of puerperal fever following the birth of her son Edward, Henry VIII visits her bedside and invokes the trope by name.
  "Please... don't go. Just because you have done everything that you promised, please don't leave me."
• 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.
• 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.

Music

• The subject of Ane Brun's "Don't Leave" requests this of the narrator, who assures the subject that this was never their intention.
• Bal-Sagoth's "Return to the Praesidium of Ys" has one where the narrator tells his love interest to stay with him. To put it on perspective, he is Zurra, a demonic demigod responsible for the destruction of entire civilizations, lord of the denizens of the Black Galaxy and a being capable to stand his ground against some of the major powers of Bal-Sagoth-verse, yet by the end of the song his tone is one of someone begging the Sylph he is in love with
  Return with me beyond the stars, rule with me a thousand worlds.
• Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now".
• 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.
• Peter Gabriel: "No Way Out" is narrated by someone dreading the impending death of a loved one, begging them to hang on to life to no avail.
• 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.
• Hitoshizuku-P's song "Sunflowers of Parting Regrets," sung by Kagamine Rin and Kagamine Len, is about a brother and a sister living in Japan during World War II. Though the siblings wanted to go through life together, watching the sunflowers in their garden grow, the brother is drafted into the army, to the sister's dismay, which is understandable given that their father's death in battle led to their mother's suicide when they were children. As her brother is boarding the train to join his brothers-in-arms, the sister grabs his sleeve and tearfully begs him not to go. He pulls her hand away, saying that in going to war he is protecting her, and asks that she give him a smile as a parting gift. She refuses, not wanting to reward him for causing her so much grief. The final picture in the video, which depicts the sister as an adult holding three sunflowers, seems to imply that her brother never returned, as the three flowers seem to represent the three people she lost.
• Jacques Brel's "Ne Me Quitte Pas."^note French for "Don't leave me."
• "Mother" by John Lennon, which has him wailing "mama don't go, daddy come home" at the end.
• Madeline Harper Guest's "Not Ready" has this as a main theme, possibly with shades of How Dare You Die on Me! or Stay with Me Until I Die mixed in, depending on how you interpret it.
• Michael Jackson's "Don't walk away."
  • Electric Light Orchestra's "Don't Walk Away"
  • Jade's^note R&B girl group from the early 1990s "Don't Walk Away".
• "Red, Red Wine" by Neil Diamond has the narrator addressing this sentiment to a bottle of wine—in the second person, even—seeing it as the only company he has to turn to.
• P!nk's "Please 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.
• Pink Floyd: In The Wall, the track "Don't Leave Me Now" revolves around Pink contemplating the collapse of his marriage and begging his wife not to leave him, claiming that he's dependent on abusing her (the film adaptation clarifies that he's simply exaggerating his faults as a byproduct of his ongoing mental breakdown, with his real issue being his emotional detachment from his spouse).
• Radiohead has the fan-favorite "True Love Waits", which went unreleased for over 20 years, and which includes the repeated line "Just don't leave/Don't leave". The original version of the song on acoustic guitar is a bittersweet song about finding love and wanting to hold on to it, written shortly after frontman Thom Yorke entered a relationship with Rachel Owen; the song finally got a studio version on 2016's A Moon Shaped Pool, just after the end of Yorke's 23-year relationship with Owen, as a mournful-sounding piano ballad reflecting sadly on love lost.
• The song "Ikanaide" by Sohta featuring the Vocaloid Kaai Yuki, whose title translates to "don't go" from Japanese, is about someone who pretends that they aren't bothered by a loved one going away on a trip/moving, but who internally wants to beg her not to go.
• Supertramp's "Don't Leave Me Now."
• "Don't Ever Leave Me" from the musical Sweet Adeline.
• VNV Nation has a song "Illusion" where the chorus is this trope said a different way.

Theatre

• Aspects of Love includes a particularly cathartic and pathetic one from Rose in the finale.
• In Follies, in the Pensieve Flashback of Ben breaking up with Sally, Young Sally says, "Don't leave me, Ben. I'll kill myself, I'll die!" Ben doesn't take her suicide threat seriously at the time.
• Frank Wildhorn's Dracula has this in the song number Loving You Keeps Me Alive where the titular vampire pleads with Mina for her not to go to Jonathan and instead stay with him.
• In Hamilton, Maria Reynolds says this to Alexander Hamilton during "Say No to This" when he confronts her after her husband James reveals that he knows about (and most likely orchestrated) their affair and blackmails Hamilton into giving him money.
• In Lizzie, the titular character's home life is so awful that when her older sister leaves town for a few days, she begs her not to go.
  Please, don't leave me here, alone with them!

Video Games

• In Episode 2 of the Burial at Sea DLC of Bioshock Infinite, while Elizabeth is having a mental conversation with her hallucination of Booker as he tries to help her remember why she sent herself to Rapture while she was still omniscient and what the "ace in the hole" is, she turns around to find that he's vanished. She breaks down sobbing and begs him to come back.
  Elizabeth: I don't know what to do, Booker, I— (turns around to see he's not there) B-Booker? Booker?! No, please! (falls to her knees and slams the ground with her fists) Please, just don't leave me here! BOOKER!
• Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: At the end of the second trial, the students have deduced the killer is Peko, who killed Mahiru on behalf of Fuyuhiko, as she's been his bodyguard, companion, and assassin since they were kids and was raised to see herself as just his tool. As she prepares to go to her execution, Fuyuhiko finally reveals that he never wanted a tool and just wanted her, before breaking down with this:
  Fuyuhiko: Please, Peko, don't go! I need you! Don't leave me!
• Miu Iruma in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is suggested to have severe abandonment issues. In her Love Suite Event with Shuichi, she tries to get Shuichi to make a baby with her, believing that it is the only sure way he will not abandon her.
  Miu: N-No! I don't want you to abandon me, too! S-So we...we gotta make a baby!
• This is inverted in Dead Space 2 when Isaac in a bid to save Ellie, activates the ship that she was investigating so she could get to safety, as Isaac admits that he just wants her to live and where they were would likely end in their deaths. Ellie tearfully responds:
  Ellie: ...You bastard....
• In the Helios ending of Deus Ex, the last we see of Bob Page is him still plugged into the device he's planning to use to integrate with Helios, unable to escape it and asking Helios (who has already decided to integrate with JC instead) not to leave him.
• Trish in Devil May Cry when Dante is leaving her behind after he is angry at her for betraying him over to Mundus.
• There is a slightly skewed version in Dragon Age: Inquisition if the player character romances Cullen. There is a conversation shortly before the final battle in which Cullen acknowledges that she has to leave him - to fight the Big Bad. What he can't accept is the idea that she might not return.
  • Played more straight in the Solas romance, because despite her protests and declarations of love, there is no way for the player character to prevent him from breaking off the romance before the endgame, and leaving as soon as the Big Bad is defeated. It isn't because he doesn't love her - it's because he's really the Dread Wolf Fen'Harel.
• Ever17: In Tsugumi's Good Ending, 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.
• 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." Then she gives out a "Noooooo!"
• In Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, 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 Final Fantasy V, Krile says this to her grandfather Galuf or rather, his spirit after his Heroic Sacrifice.
• Fire Emblem: Awakening:
  • Henry tells this to Panne in their supports, after he explains his Dark and Troubled Past to her and few later he begs her not to leave him alone.
  Henry: Geez, Panne. What WILL convince you to let me stick around? You remind me of the fuzzy animals that raised me, and they all died, and now I... Come on, Panne. Please don't abandon me like my parents did. I'll do anything you want. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g! Enemies? Gone! Rivals? Kaput!
  • Also present in some of Noire's talks, especially the event tile one with her neglectful mother Tharja, her Love Confession to a male Avatar and her death quote in The Future Past DLC..
  Noire (to Tharja): In the future, you used me as a guinea pig. You subjected me to all kinds of nasty curses on a day-to-day basis! But when it mattered, you used your magic to sacrifice yourself and...save me. But try to leave me again, and I’ll hex you back a hundredfold!
  Noire (in her Confession): You fill me with the strength that I never thought I would have. Please stay with me always.
  Noire (as her last words in The Future Past): Father, Mother... Come for me... I d-don't want to die...alone.
• Fire Emblem Fates:
  • Velouria's general supports with her mother have her asking for hugs and for the chance to smell her mom's scent. It's related to this trope, since the Future Children of this game were raised in Pocket Dimensions and could only see their war-bound parents once in a while; in Velouria's case, she has missed her "Mama" terribly and is trying to remember her via being physically closer.
  "Mom... Don't ever go anywhere... I want to stay with you...forever..."
  • Niles, despite being a sadistic Troll, does not take abandonment well due to the incident in his past in which his gang left him for dead when a heist went wrong. If he marries an Avatar of either gender, in the original Japanese he'll plead with them to stay by his side and hold his hand while he sleeps.
• Ike says this to his father in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance after witnessing the latter's fatal battle with the Black Knight.
• 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!
• The end of Half-Life 2: Episode Two where Eli is killed. Alyx cries over his body and says "Don't leave me..."
• At the end of A Hat in Time, just as the Hat Kid is about to leave, she finds all the characters she's met throughout the game hanging onto her spaceship, begging her to stay for more adventures. She pushes them off with a broom and quietly sheds a tear before leaving.
• In Heavy Rain, Ethan tearfully uses a variation of this when his attempt at CPR on his son seems to fail.
• Visas' dialogue if you walk away after her possible Heroic Sacrifice during the duel with Nihilus in Knights of the Old Republic.
• One of Ashe's possible responses to Tryndamere dying in Legends of Runeterra, tearfully begging him to come back.
• Little Busters!: Never quite said word for word, but effectively said a few times by Riki. Most notably, when it's suggested that Rin transfer to another school for a while, he abandons all reason and demands that she stay back because he cannot accept her leaving. In her full route, he accepts her leaving, but only very reluctantly. And when Kyousuke begins to leave forever, Riki demands he stay because he doesn't care about anything else but staying with Kyousuke forever. However, rather than try to convince Riki it's the right thing like he's done at many points until now, here Kyousuke admits he doesn't want to leave just as much as Riki doesn't want him to go, and he's extremely upset and despises that he has to go, but he has no choice. It's eventually revealed that this abandonment complex of Riki's stems from his parents dying when he was young. Since they suddenly left him, he's always been terrified that his friends will as well.
• Mass Effect 3 has Tali (if romanced) tearfully begging a male Shepard in the most heart-breaking voice ever to let her come with him as he airlifts her off Earth.
  • Garrus and Liara do it too. It's just as depressing.
  • Kaidan uses the trope almost word for word: "Don't leave me behind."
• A platonic example in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots occurs halfway through the game from Raiden to Solid Snake. At this point to his knowledge, Raiden has lost the love of his life (who divorced him and married Colonel Campbell after he went missing), as well as his unborn son (after Rose had seemingly miscarried), had recently underwent a traumatic cybernetic conversion, and is near-death from his duel with Vamp. Severely wounded and at the most hopeless he's ever been, Raiden uses his remaining strength to grab Snake, pleading for the closest thing he last left of "family" to not leave him in his Darkest Hour.
• 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..."
• Of Love and Eternity: What the Knight does to his dying soulmate in the game's Downer Beginning. He keeps pleading to her even though she is clearly dead, and doesn't even try to defend himself from her murderer afterward.
• In Ōkami, 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.
• In OMORI, Basil has this BAD for Sunny, who is moving out. If nothing is done, then on the final day, coupled with his grandmother's hospitalization and implied death, he kills himself out of despair for Sunny leaving, and should Sunny try and stop him, and he violently attacks Sunny and make him lose an eye and both are taken to the hospital.
• Persona 3 Portable: In a New Game Plus 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.
• 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.
• 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...
• 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!"
• Sakura Wars (2019) features a flashback to the time the combat revues of old performed a Heroic Sacrifice to seal away the Archdemon. Sumire Kanzaki, a member of the original Imperial Combat Revue, could not join them since she was no longer able to pilot her Mini-Mecha, leaving her powerless to do anything but reach out to her friends as they sealed themselves away along with the Archdemon and plead with them not to leave her behind.
• 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".
• In one ending of Sunrider 4: The Captain's Return, a drunken Ava admits that she missed Kayto Shields during the six years that they spent apart between this game and the previous one. She asks him never to leave her side again. When he promises her that he won't, she passes out with a contented smile.
• This becomes a major plot point in To the Moon as Johnny struggles to come to terms with his wife's death. Most notably seen when Johnny pours his heart out to Isabelle.
• Used in Undertale on the pacifist route. The final boss is Flowey's true identity: Asriel Dreemurr. Asriel and the first fallen human died together as children. After being reborn as the sociopathic Flowey, Asriel associates the player character, the latest fallen human, with his best friend. He aims to keep killing and reviving them over and over again so that they can "play" together forever. As you wear him down, he starts crying his eyes out and begs you not to leave him again. Once his soul is soothed, Asriel apologizes and realizes that he was projecting his best friend onto the protagonist, even though they are completely different people. He gives up the souls he stole and accepts becoming Flowey again.
• Albedo from Xenosaga. When he first finds out that his brothers aren't immortal like he is, he breaks down crying, begging Rubedo not to die and leave him alone.
• 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.
• At the end of Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin, when it looks like the others are leaving Raz behind in the flooding base, Raz calls out to them and begs them not to leave him behind. They weren't in the first place. Raz was having an out of body experience and eagle eyed players can spot Milla carrying his body back to the jet.
  Raz: Hey. Hey, you guys! What about me?! Don't just leave me here! You guys?!
• Cookie Run: Kingdom, the Frost Queen and the Lantern in the Snow event has Cotton Cookie beg this of her friend Sherbet Cookie as he fades away into the snow.
  Cotton Cookie: Sherbet Cookie! SHERBET COOKIE!!! No! PLEASE STAY! DON'T GO!!!
• The very end of Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil has Lolo crying inside Klonoa's arms as she lets out a Rapid-Fire "No!", not wanting to see Klonoa leave. Klonoa comforts her by telling her that even though he'll leave, and as long as she doesn't forget the sadness of this moment, they'll always be together.

Webcomics

• Lucy of Bittersweet Candy Bowl is terrified of Mike leaving her forever, and reacts poorly when she thinks, after Mike has rejected her, that Paulo wants nothing to do with her as well.
• Stand Still, Stay Silent: Tuuri and Onni share a mutual moment of this on one of the first pages. Tuuri, who is going on an expedition into the Silent World with their cousin Lalli, pleads to Onni to join them because she doesn't want to leave her big brother behind alone. Onni, who for some reason hates everything that has to do with the Silent World, refuses to go outside the walls of his home town and is for very good reasons afraid his little sister and cousin may not come back, pleads for Tuuri to stay home. In the end, neither manages to sway the other.
• Unsounded: In the companion story Orphans Matty breaks his silence after loosing his eyesight for the first time to beg his father not to leave him.

Web Original

• In the Ask Jappleack blog, a spin-off of the PONY.MOV series, Jappleack would regularly abuse (physically and otherwise) her sister Apple Bloom for various reasons. One reader finally demanded that she stop mistreating Apple Bloom and love her, dammit! Jappleack ponders for a minute, then yells for Apple Bloom. She stares down at Apple Bloom, who's clearly expecting another beating. Instead, she wraps her arms around her neck and says "Don't you leave me. Don't you dare fucking leave me." Confused, Apple Bloom tells her that she loves her too. Jappleack herself seems relieved that she's finally been nice to her sister. Naturally, Apple Bloom is crushed by Discord in SHED.MOV almost immediately after.
• Done through song in The Nostalgia Chick's date with The Nostalgia Critic. After it dies a crashing death with Critic having an Am I Just a Toy to You? breakdown and both of them running offscreen, you'd think the ship had sunk if it weren't for the chorus of "Baby Come Back" playing over the ending credits.
• The Nostalgia Critic chased after Tamara after she tortured him in The Wicker Man (2006) review, not angry that she'd hurt him but annoyed because she left and he wanted to give her a job.

Western Animation

• In Adventure Time, we have Betty's heartbroken reaction as her fiancee, Simon Petrikov (who would later become the Ice King) goes insane due to the influence of the crown he's wearing:
  Betty: Simon... don't leave me like this...
• Arcane: Powder begs Vi not to abandon her after accidentally killing the rest of their adoptive family and that she needs her as Vi is walking away. Vi was going to return to save her from Silco but gets arrested before she can. Powder in general has some massive attachment issues.
• Played for Laughs in the Bob's Burgers episode "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins". After Bob tells the unstable-but-harmless vagrant they've invited into their home for Christmas that the woman he loves (who is a mannequin) is "probably in a dump somewhere", the man runs from the room in tears. Linda is pissed at Bob for ruining the man's Christmas and angrily orders the kids out of the room, which Bob asks them not to do. This goes back and forth with Bob getting more desperate for them to stay, culminating in him shrieking "Don't leave me!", probably because he figured Linda wouldn't kill him in front of the kids.
• Played for laughs in the Danger Mouse episode "Mechanised Mayhem." As Greenback's transport, the Frog's Head Flyer, is rebelling against him and Stiletto kicking down the door of their hideout, Stiletto issues an S.O.S. which DM retrieves. As DM and Penfold prepare to backtrack to London:
  Stiletto: Oh, don'a leave me! What-a shall I do?!
  DM: Just keep your beak crossed and hope the Flyer gets cramp before the door gives in.
• Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: In "Home Sweet Homing Pigeon," Dick Dastardly uses this along with Crocodile Tears to keep Klunk, Zilly and Muttley from leaving him as their discharges have come in.
• Though not outright stated, Krass in He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2021) has a fear of abandonment after her parents died in a crash. She was Happily Adopted by the Tiger Tribe, but fears having any of her new family leave her, especially her pseudo-brother Adam. She regularly argues with him over his desire for them to be heroes as the Masters of the Universe because she fears he'll leave the tribe for a new life. In the season two finale, Skeletor's ghost convinces her that the Masters have abandoned her for positions in the Eternos Royal Court, and offers to bring her parents Back from the Dead if she'll help him come back to life too. This triggers her Heel–Face Turn into Rampage.
• In Justice League Unlimited, Ace begs Batman to stay with her in her final moments before the same condition that gave her powers ultimately kills her. He does.
• Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol: Magoo (as Ebenezer Scrooge) to the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come, when the latter abandons him in a cemetary.
• In the Oscar's Oasis episode Lost, Harchi does this to Oscar when he gets separated from his friends.
• 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 deaf 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 who was with him during his fatal drug overdose. She left anyway, after taking pictures of him and stealing his watch.
  • One of many, many eerie parallels between Farley and his hero John Belushi. They died at the same age, of the same cause, and had very similar dying words. Belushi's were "Just don't leave me alone." He died alone too.
• Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller's teacher and lifelong guide, was reportedly haunted by the memory of these words from her tubercular brother James, who was shut up with her in the county poorhouse and died at the age of eight.
• The last known person to see Layne Staley alive was former bandmate Mike Starr. According to him, about a week and a half before Layne's corpse was discovered, he visited with him briefly and saw that he was deathly ill. He urged Layne to call 911, but he refused, threatening to break off their friendship. This led to an argument, and Mike stormed out. Mike later stated that as he was leaving, he heard Layne calling after him, "Not like this! Don't leave like this!" He is believed to have died that same night or the day after.
• Abusive Parents sometimes intentionally provoke this reaction in their children. The parents' own low self-esteem causes them to crave a sense of being "needed", so they may convince the child that they cannot be left alone, in a situation where the parent is absent, or doing anything independently, lest something terrible happen. And if it does, they blame the child's foolishness for thinking they could do anything by themselves. Replace "parent" and "child" with "spouse", and the situation is the same.
• A deep fear of abandonment is a common sign of Borderline Personality Disorder. Unfortunately, when combined with other symptoms of the disorder, such as mood swings, impulsive and/or dangerous behavior, and a Hair-Trigger Temper, someone with BPD may end up driving their loved ones away anyway, sometimes in a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

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