This article is part of my Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis series, focusing on Mio and Mayu’s psychology in The Abyss Ending.
Among all the endings in Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, The Abyss Ending is one of the most complex.
The guidebook also includes an afterstory titled The Far End of the Abyss, which was not included in the main game.
The director himself said that it was removed because he considered it “unnecessary,” but its contents make the uneasiness of The Abyss Ending stand out even more clearly.
In this article, I will organize The Abyss Ending, then examine Mayu and Sae’s true feelings revealed during the battle, whether Mio really saved Mayu, and the bitter aftertaste left by the afterstory.
Please note that this article contains major spoilers for Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly. If you want to review the main story first, I recommend starting with the Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly main story overview before reading this analysis.
- The Abyss Ending | Synopsis
- The Abyss Ending Analysis
- Sae’s True Feelings | Why She Kept Waiting While Hating Yae
- Mayu’s True Feelings | Even So, Mio Reaches Out
- Why Did Mio Look into the Utsuro?
- Mio, Who Lost Her Light, and Mayu With Her Injured Leg
- Was Mayu’s Final Smile Kindness, or Possessiveness?
- The Far End of the Abyss | Was the One Mio Saved Really Mayu?
- Summary: What Was The Abyss Ending?
The Abyss Ending | Synopsis
Mio finally reaches the Utsuro, hidden deep beneath Minakami Village.
At the edge of the Utsuro, Sae’s feelings lie sunken like a dark lakebed.
Yae…
I was so happy when you asked me to run away with you.
I thought we could leave the village and live together, just the two of us.
That is why I ran away with you.
But then—
on that day, you let go of my hand and left me behind.
We promised we would always be together.
Why did you never come back for me?
If we were going to be separated, I wanted you to kill me.
I wanted to become a butterfly.
And now, at last…
we can become one…
“So, it’s okay…
Kill me… kill me… kill me… kill me…”
Mio raises the Camera Obscura, trying to tear Sae away from Mayu.
Little by little, Mayu’s feelings begin to flow into Mio’s heart.
Mio…
You knew, didn’t you?
You knew that back then, I fell on purpose.
I was afraid.
I thought you might leave me behind and go somewhere far away without me.
That is why I fell from the cliff.
But after that, you stayed beside me.
You protected me.
You listened to what I said.
Each time this leg hurt, I was happy.
Because it meant you were still here.
You will not leave me behind anymore, will you?
We will always be together, won’t we?
Then let us go together.
To a deeper place.
Deeper and deeper…
To a place where we will never have to be apart again…
Mio fires the final shot from the Camera Obscura.
At that moment, Mayu’s feelings, overlapping with Sae’s, pour into Mio.
I always knew.
No matter how strongly we felt…
we’re still separate people…
Even though we were born together…
we’ll live separately…
and die separately.
Because I know it, it hurts.
Because I understand it, I cannot bear it.
“So, it’s okay…
Kill me… kill me… kill me… kill me…”
Sae is pushed back into the Utsuro.
Mayu and Sae separate from each other as they fall into the dark depths.
Mio’s mind flashes back to That Day.
Mayu is falling again…!
That day, on the mountain path…
I let go of Mayu’s hand and ran ahead.
Because of that, Mayu fell from the cliff.
If only I hadn’t let go of her hand then…
If only I had stayed by her side then…
This time, I’ll save her…!
Mio throws away the Camera Obscura and rushes toward Mayu.
Mio reaches out.
Her hand catches Mayu’s.
“M… Mio…!”
Mayu clings to Mio’s slender arm.
Mio desperately tries to pull Mayu up from the Utsuro.
But she has already used up all her strength, and she cannot support Mayu’s weight.
At that moment, Itsuki’s warning cuts through Mio’s mind.
“Don’t look down there!”
Mio catches her breath.
The place she must not look into.
The forbidden place she must never turn her eyes toward.
And just as her hand begins to slip, Mio instinctively looks into the Utsuro.
All sound disappears.
Time itself seems to stop.
In that silence, only Mio’s consciousness sinks toward the bottom of the Utsuro.
(I mustn’t… look…)
Even if she thinks she must not look, she can no longer turn back.
In the dim depths, she sees something like a pale mass.
The moment Mio recognizes it, countless images flood into her.
Bodies beyond counting, piled together, writhing.
Endless darkness.
Endless pain.
Endless madness.
In a place where time does not move, all of it continues without end.
And then, all of it looks at Mio at once.
In the next instant, the face of a dead soul burns itself into her eyes.
A scream tears through her throat.
Mio collapses, clutching her eyes.
Crimson blood spills between her fingers.
Behind her, Mayu desperately crawls up from the edge of the Utsuro.
Then she rushes to Mio and instinctively throws her arms around her from behind.
“M…Mio…!”
After that, how had they left the village?
How had they returned?
Mio had no idea.
When she came to, she was lying near the stream together with Mayu.
And Minakami Village had become a place they could never return to…
Minakami Village now lies beneath a dam lake.
The late-summer sunlight glints dully across the surface of the water.
Mio and Mayu sit side by side on a bench by the lakeshore.
Bandages are wrapped around Mio’s eyes.
Since that day, Mio has lost her light.
Even so, Mayu is here.
I made it in time.
This time, I was able to save Mayu.
Feeling Mayu’s warmth leaning against her shoulder, Mio believes this to be true.
Until now, Mio had been the one supporting Mayu, whose injured leg made it difficult for her to walk.
From now on, Mayu will be the one supporting Mio, who has lost her sight.
Mayu holds Mio’s hand tightly, a gentle smile on her face.
“Mio…
Let’s go home.”
“Okay.”
Still nestled close to Mio, Mayu softly whispers:
“Together…
forever…”
Those words of promise remain inside Mio, as gentle as they were in childhood—
and as impossible to untie as a knot that will never come loose.
A room opening onto the veranda.
Mio is sleeping on the bed.
Mayu is beside her.
But Mio’s sleep is far from peaceful.
The bottom of the Utsuro, which she had seen only once, returns to her again and again.
Bodies piled on top of one another…
Endless pain…
The face she saw at the very end…
Those visions repeat again and again inside her mind.
“Ugh… u… ah…”
Drenched in sweat, Mio twists in pain.
“Aaaah!!”
Mio wakes with a scream.
Mayu notices and helps Mio sit up.
Then, with practiced hands, she gently wipes the sweat from Mio’s face.
“…Forget it now. Everything. I’ll always be by your side…”
Still trying to catch her breath, Mio clings to Mayu.
Mayu holds Mio tightly in return.
Seeing that Mio has calmed down, Mayu stands up without a sound.
“I’ll get you some water.”
With those words, Mayu leaves the room.
The evening sun is shining in.
Mio cannot see that light.
Even so, from the warmth touching her skin, she knows that dusk has come.
A small sense of wrongness stirs inside her.
When Mayu had embraced her just moments ago, Mio felt something in her heart turn terribly cold.
(Was the one beside me… not Mayu…?)
Another image rises in Mio’s mind.
At the edge of the Utsuro, I reach out to Mayu.
The hand I grasp belongs to Sae.
And the real Mayu falls into the dark depths.
That can’t be true!
Mayu is here…
Even if I can’t see, I know that much…
Then what was that coldness?
Sae, who fell from the cliff after Yae left her behind…
Mayu, who fell from the cliff after I left her behind…
The two of them are far too alike.
If the Camera Obscura was not enough to tear apart two souls bound so deeply together…
…then could Sae still be inside Mayu?
Another vision rises inside Mio’s mind.
A room at dusk.
A shadow beside her.
The one there is not Mayu, smiling gently.
It is Sae, soaked in blood, clinging to Mio—
At that moment, the evening sunlight touching Mio’s face is suddenly blocked.
Before she knows it, Mayu is standing in front of her.
In her hand is a glass of water.
Mayu says nothing.
Mio feels a cold gaze she should not be able to see.
Mio cannot move.
Outside the room, the cries of cicadas ring painfully loud.
The heat of the evening sun still lingers on her skin.
And yet, deep within her chest, a coldness begins to spread.
Mayu narrows her eyes, ever so slightly.
Feeling that presence, Mio holds her breath.
Is the one here now truly Mayu?
Only that question remains in the room at dusk, lingering there forever.
The Abyss Ending Analysis
This time, Mio did not let go of Mayu’s hand.
She pulled Mayu back from the Utsuro.
But was what remained beyond that truly salvation?
From here, I will examine Sae’s and Mayu’s true feelings, the meaning of Mio losing her light, and why this ending leaves such an unsettling aftertaste.
Sae’s True Feelings | Why She Kept Waiting While Hating Yae
Sae hated Yae.
- Yae told me, “Let’s run away together.”
- Believing Yae’s words, I dreamed of a future where Yae and I could live outside the village.
- But Yae let go of my hand, left me behind, and I was hanged by the priests.
It is certain that this pain remained inside Sae.
However, what we see in The Abyss Ending is not something that can be explained by hatred alone.
The contradiction of love and hatred that kept Sae bound to the bottom of the Utsuro.
I hate Yae…
And yet, I keep waiting for her…
I cannot forgive her for leaving me behind…
And yet, I cannot give up on the wish to end by her hand…
“Kill me… kill me… kill me… kill me…”
This voice was born from Sae’s contradiction, where hatred and love existed at the same time.
Sae did not want Yae to come back and save her.
As her final wish, she wanted Yae to end her life.
If they were going to be separated, she wanted Yae to kill her.
She wanted to become a butterfly by Yae’s hand.
- If Yae’s hands close around my neck, I can remain inside Yae.
- I can escape the reality where Yae and I have to live separately… and die separately.
For Sae, this was what she needed in order to complete the promise of “Together forever.”
That is why Sae keeps waiting for Yae at the edge of the Utsuro.
The voice crying “Kill me” was likely the remnant of a distorted promise, woven in a place where Sae believed she could melt together with Yae and never be separated again.
Mayu’s True Feelings | Even So, Mio Reaches Out
“You knew, didn’t you?
You knew that back then, I fell on purpose.”
Mayu was afraid that Mio would leave her behind.
On that day, Mio looked as if she might go somewhere far away.
That is why Mayu fell from the cliff.
It was the sudden act of a child who could no longer bear reality.
- Mio worried about me.
- Mio protected me.
- Mio looked only at me.
For Mayu, the injury to her leg was not only pain.
It became a distorted bond that kept Mio by her side.
“Each time this leg hurt, I was happy.”
- Each time it hurt, I could confirm that Mio had a reason to stay beside me.
- Each time it hurt, I could believe I would no longer be left behind.
- Each time it hurt, I could feel that my bond with Mio had not been severed.
What existed there was a relief that tried to keep someone precious tied down through pain—childish, fragile, and far too earnest.
“You will not leave me behind anymore, will you?
We will always be together, won’t we?”
What Mayu wanted was not a future in which she and Mio would live on and return together.
What she wanted was a place where she would never have to be apart from Mio again.
Even if that place was the bottom of the Utsuro, to Mayu, it looked like a place where “Together forever” could finally come true.
- I wanted to bring Mio with me to the end.
- I did not want to be left behind.
- If separation was inevitable, I wanted to sink into a deeper place.
What Mayu desired was to head toward an ending together with Mio.
For Mio, this is an unbearably cruel truth.
- I had run ahead.
- I had left Mayu behind.
- Because of that, Mayu fell from the cliff and injured her leg.
Mio had always carried the childhood cliff accident as her own sin.
However, the meaning of that accident begins to shake violently here.
Mayu was the one Mio thought she had protected.
Mayu was the one Mio thought she had wounded.
And that same Mayu had been keeping Mio by her side through that wound.
Now, Mayu wishes to reach the end together with Mio.
Here, the relationship sustained by Mio’s guilt collapses at its very foundation.
Even so, Mio reaches out to Mayu.
Even after learning the distortion in Mayu’s depths.
Even after seeing the same deep darkness that belonged to Sae.
She still reaches out—
to bring Mayu back to a future where they can live together.
Why Did Mio Look into the Utsuro?
The regret of letting go of Mayu’s hand on that day had remained inside Mio all this time.
Mayu is falling again…
The same thing that happened that day is happening again right in front of me…
Mio throws away the Camera Obscura and rushes toward Mayu.
She catches Mayu’s hand.
But Mio has already used up all her strength, and she cannot support Mayu’s weight.
At that moment, Itsuki’s warning cuts through Mio’s mind.
“Don’t look down there!”
The place she must not look into.
The forbidden place she must never turn her eyes toward.
Even without being told, Mio already understood that.
But the moment the hand she had finally grasped began to slip, she could not simply keep her eyes closed.
The Utsuro enters her field of vision—
Even so, I’ll save Mayu…!!
In order not to let go of the hand she had released on that day, Mio did not look away, even when the Utsuro came into sight.
She did not repeat the regret of that day.
But in exchange, her sight was taken from her.
This is where the pain of The Abyss Ending lies.
Mio lost her light as the price for saving Mayu.
From the moment she pulled Mayu back from the Utsuro, Mio herself had fallen into a world where she could no longer move forward without Mayu…
Mio, Who Lost Her Light, and Mayu With Her Injured Leg
Mio cared for Mayu, protected Mayu, and took her by the hand.
Ever since the accident in childhood, their relationship had continued in the form of Mio supporting Mayu, whose leg was injured.
However, in The Abyss Ending, that form is reversed.
It becomes a relationship where Mayu supports Mio, who has lost her light.
At first glance, Mayu staying close to Mio appears gentle.
It looks like a bond between sisters, where one quietly makes up for what the other has lost.
And yet, there is something unsettling about this kindness.
Mio can no longer see the outside world on her own.
When she walks, when she moves forward, she must rely on Mayu’s hand and Mayu’s voice.
- Mayu supports Mio.
- Mio needs Mayu’s hand.
Their relationship becomes more deeply bound than before.
But what exists here is slightly different from a freely chosen form of “being together.”
It is a form of “being together” in which they can no longer separate, because each now fills what the other lacks.
In exchange for pulling Mayu back from the Utsuro, Mio falls into a world without light.
And in that world, the one closest to Mio is Mayu.
The one who speaks to her.
The one who leads her by the hand.
The one who shows her where to go.
From now on, all of that belongs to Mayu.
- Mayu, whose leg was injured
- Mio, who lost her light
When the things each of them has lost fit together, The Abyss Ending begins to look like salvation, while binding them once again into a closed relationship.
Mayu staying close to Mio appears gentle at first glance.
But that closeness was not only for the sake of supporting Mio.
It was also a quiet weight meant to keep Mio by Mayu’s side.
Was Mayu’s Final Smile Kindness, or Possessiveness?
At the end of The Abyss Ending, Mio and Mayu are sitting side by side on a bench by the lakeshore.
Bandages are wrapped around Mio’s eyes, and Mayu is nestled close beside her.
“Mio…
Let’s go home.”
A calm smile appears on Mayu’s face as she speaks to Mio.
Then she softly whispers:
“Together…
forever…”
At this moment, Mayu’s smile looks very gentle.
- She is trying to support Mio, who has lost her light.
- She is telling Mio that she will stay beside her from now on.
- She is promising that Mio will no longer be alone.
In that sense, this scene can be read as a quiet form of salvation.
However, the horror of The Abyss Ending lies in the fact that her smile cannot be accepted as kindness alone.
- At last, Mio can no longer see the outside world.
- At last, Mio can no longer leave me.
- At last, I have Mio beside me, unable to leave me behind.
It is also possible to read that joy beneath the surface of Mayu’s smile.
“Each time this leg hurt, I was happy.”
Once we know Mayu’s true feelings, that smile can also look like the smile of someone whose possessiveness has finally been fulfilled.
- Is it the gentle face of someone trying to support Mio?
- Or is it the face of joy at having kept Mio by her side?
Surely, both feelings had dissolved into that calm smile without ever fully separating.
The Far End of the Abyss | Was the One Mio Saved Really Mayu?
Mio grasped Mayu’s hand as Mayu was falling into the Utsuro.
- The hand she had let go of on the cliff that day
- The hand she did not let go of this time
On the surface, it appears that Sae fell into the Utsuro, while Mayu was saved by Mio.
However, in The Far End of the Abyss, that understanding quietly begins to waver.
Mio continues to suffer from the visions she saw at the bottom of the Utsuro.
- Bodies piled on top of one another
- Endless pain
- Countless shadows all looking toward her at once
Even after losing her light, those visions alone refuse to disappear.
Mayu gently stays beside Mio.
“…Forget it now. Everything. I’ll always be by your side…”
Taken on its own, this line makes it seem as though Mayu is trying to support Mio.
But within that embrace, Mio senses something wrong.
The moment Mayu holds her, Mio feels as if her heart has turned terribly cold.
And then, a single question rises within her.
Was the one I saved back then truly Mayu…?
The most terrifying vision crosses Mio’s mind.
- At the edge of the Utsuro, the hand I grasped was not Mayu’s, but Sae’s.
- The real Mayu fell all the way into the depths of the Utsuro.
Of course, this is never confirmed as fact.
But the truly frightening part of this doubt is that, even if no replacement occurred, the unease still cannot be wiped away.
The desire inside Mayu—“I do not want to be separated from Mio”—was not something that appeared for the first time because she was possessed by Sae.
- She had fallen from the cliff on purpose.
- She had felt happy whenever her leg hurt.
- She had been satisfied that Mio cared about her.
All of those feelings had originally existed inside Mayu herself.
That is why, even if Sae truly did fall into the Utsuro, we still cannot say that the coldness deep inside Mayu disappeared with her.
It is not frightening simply because Sae might still remain.
What is frightening is that, even if Sae truly disappeared, the same wish may still remain inside Mayu herself.
- Sae, who was left behind by Yae
- Mayu, who was left behind by Mio
The two of them were far too alike.
That is why Mio can no longer know.
Is the one beside her Mayu?
Is it Sae wearing Mayu’s form?
Or is it an existence in which the boundary between the two remains blurred?
Mio, who has lost her light, can no longer confirm the answer.
The Abyss Ending seemed to have ended peacefully.
But The Far End of the Abyss brings back to the surface the unease that had been lying sunken beneath it.
- Mio saved Mayu.
- But we do not know whether she was able to save Mayu from the wish that remained deep inside her.
- Sae fell into the Utsuro.
- But we do not know whether Sae and Mayu were truly separated.
Is the one standing before Mio truly the Mayu she knows…?
Only that question remains in the room at dusk.
Summary: What Was The Abyss Ending?
Mio pulled Mayu back from the Utsuro.
- Mayu survived.
- This time, Mio did not repeat the regret of letting Mayu go.
On the surface, this is a happy ending.
And yet—
- Even though Mio appears to have saved Mayu, we do not know whether she was able to save Mayu from the darkness that lay deep inside her.
- Even though Mio saved Mayu, she can no longer confirm with her own eyes whether the one she saved was truly Mayu.
Unable to distinguish anything with certainty, Mio will continue to carry that unease from this point onward.
The Abyss Ending was an ending where Mio, still holding an ambiguous fear, had no choice but to depend on the Mayu she was supposed to have saved.
The relationship between the two can no longer return to its original form.
If The Abyss is an ending where Mio loses her light and, while still alive, her relationship with Mayu reverses into dependence, then Futagomori / Twin Enclosure is an ending where they give up on returning alive and close themselves into a fusion meant only for the two of them, deep within the darkness.
Next time, I will examine what the Futagomori / Twin Enclosure Ending reveals—a completion in which Mio dissolves together with Mayu’s feelings.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you will stay with me for the next article.
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis Hub
Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis Series
Analysis Article #2: The Cliff Scene｜Why Mio and Mayu See Different Worlds
Analysis Article #5: The Opening Scene｜The Unfinished Words and Their Connection to the Endings
Analysis Article #6: Main Story Analysis｜How Did Mio Change Throughout the Story?
Analysis Article #7: Crimson Butterfly Ending｜Why Did Mio End Up Killing Mayu?
Analysis Article #8: Lonely Road Home / One Wing Endings｜Explaining the Price Mio Had to Bear
Analysis Article #9: Frozen Butterfly Ending｜Mayu’s Tearful Smile and the Head in the Hina Doll Room
Analysis Article #10: Shadow Festival Ending｜Why Did Mio Say, “This Time, We Fall Together”?
Analysis Article #11: The Promise Ending｜The Meaning of “I’ll Never Let You Go Again”
Analysis Article #14: Sprouting Wings + Remaining Sun Endings｜What It Means for Mio and Mayu to Return Alive
*This article is part of the “Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Analysis” series.
*The images used in this article include unofficial AI-generated images inspired by the world of the game, as well as screenshots from FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE and Project Zero 2: Wii Edition. All rights to Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly belong to Koei Tecmo Games.
*This article refers to certain official materials that are currently difficult to obtain. Their contents are summarized only where necessary for understanding the story, while the article itself focuses mainly on analysis and interpretation.
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