Fairest 10

Synopsis
''In part 3 of "The Hidden Kingdom," Rapunzel kicks ass when hungry ghosts and angry Yakuza storm the skyscraper. Meanwhile, Bigby and Frau Totenkinder arrive in Japan only to get captured by local Harijuku girls. And back in the dark, simmering pit that is the witching well, something is stirring - and it wants out.''

Plot
After having sex with her friend and hair-cutter Joel as a means of causing her hair to grow so long that they could secretly escape from the building owned by her former lover turned Takuza Obadan Tomoko, Rapunzel is stuck dealing with Joel's displeasure at being used.

After cutting the long hair short, Rapunzel and Joel are surprised by the sight of a giant talking cat who claims to be an emissary from Mr. Katagiri, the man who had met them when they first arrived in Tokyo, and was apparently murdered before their eyes by Tomoko's assassin Mayumi. The cat drops them off at the train station, claiming that Rapunzel's long lost children can be found in Nara.

Mayumi, meanwhile, has in fact decapitated Katagiri - his second death since Rapunzel arrived. She returns to Tomoko with the head, as Tomoko herself has just killed Jack Horner - or rather, thought she had, until he suddenly sputters to life. Before Tomoko can decide what to do with him, news comes of Rapunzel's escape, and she sends Mayumi to prevent her from getting to the gate to the Homelands.

Before catching the train, Joel gives Rapunzel another haircut, glad of the enchanted hair pin that prevents her hair from growing back instantly. Dealing with her hair is no small feat, as the discarded hair must be treated with bleach in order to prevent it from continuing to grow, even when separated from her body. They learned this the heard way after trying to sell her discarded hair untreated, and it got out of control. As Joel is still angry about being used, being kept in the dark about what's really happening, and always having to clean up her messes, he decides to abandon her to the rest of her journey.

On the train, Rapunzel remembers how she had fallen in love with her prince, long ago, and hadn't told her adoptive mother about him yet. However, when Frau Totenkinder discovered the relationship on her own, and revealed that Rapunzel had become pregnant, she ran away from the tower, afraid she would be forced to give the child up. She searched for her prince, but she never saw him again. Eventually, she was forced to live in a nest that she had created out of her own hair.

When it was time for the baby to come, she was forced to start the deliver herself. Fortunately, a woman passed by, and offered to help. But the woman drugged her, and stole her twin daughters away. She always assumed it was Totenkinder, but there was never any way to verify it, and since leaving the Homelands, she had amnesty for her crimes.

Meanwhile, Totenkinder watches Rapunzel's progress through a magic mirror, and is interrupted by Bigby who announces that - whether she wants to or not - they are both going to Japan to bring Rapunzel back to Fabletown.

Unexpectedly, Joel returns, giving up his red hat for Rapunzel to make an offering to the Japanese god Jizo Bosatsu, who protects lost children. She agrees to reveal her life story, finally, explaining how she searched the world over for centuries, looking for the twins that might have been her stolen babes - all to no avail.

Wandering into a clearing at Nara, Rapunzel finds a familiar stone well, remembering its horrific connection to her past. As Mayumi catches up to them, Rapunzel realizes that the note she received wasn't warning about her real children, it was warning about the untreated, discarded hair that had continued to grow in her absence for centuries, deep in that well.

Featured Characters

 * Rapunzel

Supporting Characters

 * Joel Crow
 * Jack Horner
 * Frau Totenkinder (Flashback and main story)

Antagonists

 * Tomoko
 * Mayumi

Other Characters

 * Bigby
 * Romulus (Flashback only)
 * Remus (Flashback only)
 * Minotaur (Flashback only)
 * Katagiri (Appears only as a corpse)

Locations

 * Japan
 * Tokyo
 * Nara
 * Homelands (Flashback only)
 * New York City
 * Fabletown