Fairest 12

Synopsis
''Rapunzel discovers that bloody vengeance will come back to haunt you. Frau Totenkinder and Bigby get caught in a war between Tomoko's yakuza gangsters and Katagiri's not-so-unassuming sumo school. There's murder, mayhem, terrible compromises and unholy hairballs deep in the heart of a dark forest and in the frenetic streets of Tokyo.''

Plot
Long ago, the ghost of Mayumi searched out Tomoko and the other Yokai, bringing her the FoxFire that she stole from the traitorous general Ryogan's safe. The Celestial City had been destroyed, and Mayumi lied that it had been Tomoko's lover, Rapunzel who caused most of the destruction; that she had betrayed them.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, had been left to die in a well in the Garden of Nara. She survived for days by eating her own hair, but she eventually vomited them up as bezoars, which seemed to be sentient. Controlling them with her mind, she used them to climb up out of the well. When she found Ryogan, she choked him to death with her hair before letting the living bezoars tear him apart. She left the city alone, not bothering to look back at how her bezoars were breaking it down into dust. Tomoko, meanwhile, led her people to the gate between worlds - to earth.

Now, Rapunzel has returned to that well, and discovered that all of those bezoars have been waiting there for her. Mayumi has cornered her there, and accuses her of being a traitor. Given how she suffered to save people like Mayumi, this enrages Rapunzel, and her rage brings the bezoars under her control again.

Meanwhile, at Tomoko's CEG building she is annoyed to see that Bigby Wolf and Totenkinder have come, interrupting her enjoyment of draining Jack Horner of his blood. Quietly, the cat loyal to Katagiri sneaks into her chambers and steals Katagiri's severed head back, causing a ruckus. Angrily, Tomoko leaves a lackey to watch Jack while she chases after the cat. Bigby and Totenkinder spot the cat, and realize that the man they are looking for, the one who sent them thousands of invitational paper cranes, is on his way out the door. Bigby catches up to the cat and hustles it into the car, making an escape. Further annoyed, Tomoko promises to kill all of her enemies, later.

After returning Katagiri's head to his body, the frog-man revives and explains how Tomoko led the Yokai into the world of Mundies. Following the second world war, there were food shortages, and though she had magic thanks to her Foxfire, she had no means of getting them food besides black marketeering. That transitioned into entering the Yakuza, and she soon became a powerful leader within it. She had done what she thought she had to do to survive, but some had disagreed - Katagiri included. He had sent out messages every week for years, hoping he might reach Rapunzel, one day. It had finally worked - eventually. Totenkinder warns that their help will come at a price; they will require the Foxfire. Katagiri has no use for it, and agrees. Bigby, though, is annoyed to have become involved in what will become a magical war that runs the risk of alerting Mundies to the existence of Fables.

Angrily, Rapunzel sets her bezoars on Mayumi, who escapes into a mirror that Tomoko left for her to watch over the gateway between worlds. Together, she and Joel hope that they and the bezoars can do all they can to fix all that has gone wrong.

Jack, meanwhile, having easily outsmarted his captor, pulls a gun on Tomoko when she returns to her room, but he soon discovers that he is in her thrall, and can't pull the trigger. Dragging him outside, she warns that his friends will have to be ready, as she has assembled an army, and war is coming.

Featured Characters

 * Rapunzel

Supporting Characters

 * Bigby Wolf
 * Joel Crow
 * Totenkinder

Antagonists

 * Mayumi (Flashback and main story)
 * Ryogan (Dies in flashback)
 * Tomoko

Other Characters

 * Jack Horner
 * Katagiri
 * Neko
 * Sumos



Locations

 * Japan
 * Tokyo
 * Hidden Kingdom
 * Celestial City
 * Garden of Nara

Items

 * Bezoars