In the previous chapter, when Sorcha asked how someone with an unclean spirit to destroy the fatalis flower, it was meant to say that someone with a clean spirit could destroy it for them. Hope it clears things up!
Dipper sat upright abruptly and fixed his gaze on his sister. Something had awoken him, and he was certain it was her. Sunken cheeks, thin arms, jagged scars, dark circles... Dipper was sure he looked like a male version of her. Mabel was propped up on her elbow and staring at the rising sun.
"Did you scream?" he heard himself ask suddenly.
"Yeah," she replied vaguely. Dipper stretched his arms out to her, and she crawled in like a little girl. They clung to each other, their only source of comfort from the evil world.
"They were memories, Dipper. They started out sweet and nice and then they jut got all crazy. It just made me wish I hadn't messed with Sorcha's plans, after all," Mabel confessed.
"Sorcha!? As in Sorcha-Leigh!? Don't tell me she's in this too!" Dipper groaned. Mabel smacked her forehead.
"Of course you don't know about Sorcha! I was too caught up in trying to do things for myself I didn't even think once about telling you. I'm so stupid!" Mabel said, distraught. She decided to confide in her brother about everything- Sorcha making her first appearance in the dream, then the mirror, then the slope... her countless appearances had something to do with the fatalis flower and the power within the destruction of it...
Mabel explained everything in great detail, and when she was finished Dipper stared at her in shock.
"Everything just got a bit more complicated then, didn't it?" he asked. Mabel said nothing, and then she started to laugh. Dipper joined in, and soon they were shouting remarks of glee, on how all of this had to happen to them."Eight planets, seven continents..." Dipper grinned.
"196 countries..." Mabel giggled.
"And probably a billion people," Dipper added.
"And for some reason it was us that were chosen to go through all this!" Mabel finished.
"And I know why," Dipper said.
"What!?"
"We have an old copier that can copy humans! We have an army!" Dipper yelled. Mabel stood up and jumped up and down.
"We're gonna win! You're a genius!" she shouted.
"I'm Einstein coming back from the dead!"
"You discovered the laws of time!"
"I know how to send up radioactive waves and reflective gadgets to make lunar eclipses hot pink!"
"You are going to win, Dipper," Mabel said softly. Dipper stopped dancing.
"What do you mean, I'm going to win!? So are you!" he said. Mabel shook her head lightly and laughed.
"You don't think revenge won't overpower Mel, do you? She's going to try to murder me. Now I don't know if I can beat her, but- just don't get your hopes up, okay?" she choked out. Dipper shook his head.
"I will," he said, and gave his twin a hug. "Don't cry. Just don't cry."
"Where do you think you're going?" Sally teased the hurriedly packing and working twins.
"Home," Mabel replied breathlessly. "All set?"
"Yep," Dipper answered. "Let's go." Sally hopped up quickly.
"Hey, hey, hey! I thought we were working together now... as a team!" she said quickly.
"Did we say that?" Mabel questioned, scratching her head bandages.
"I thought my story was enough," Sally said sadly. Dipper looked at his sister and gave a 'Should we?' glance. Mabel gave a little sigh and nodded.
"You're part of the team, now," she said wearily.
"Yes!" Sally pumped her fists. "Where are we going now?"
"Like I said," Mabel answered. "Home."
"Shh!" Dipper hissed as Mabel loudly tripped over a loosened floorboard of the Mystery Shack.
"Sorry!" she mouthed.
"Why are we sneaking around again?" Sally whispered. "You said we were going to your house."
"Yeah, but everyone thinks we're dead. Don't want to give anyone a heart attack too soon," Dipper answered. Sally nodded. The party quietly entered Stan's office and lifted the old machine's cover.
"Ready?" Mabel asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be," Dipper answered as he hopped on. As he laid there, Mabel tapped a button multiple times and sat back to watch. When it was over, the side panel spit out one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, and up. Higher the stack became until it reached one hundred sheets of paper. "Done?" he asked.
"Yeah," Mabel answered, and gave him a hand to jump off. Now she took her place uncomfortably as Dipper replenished the stack of paper.
"We can take the paper out when you're done," Dipper explained.
"Am I doing this right?" Mabel asked.
"Oh, right. You've never done this before," Dipper laughed and looked over. "Yeah, you're fine." Mabel sat back contentedly and watched Dipper punch the button quickly until it looked like his finger was blue.
"A hundred times?" she asked. Dipper nodded and stepped back.
The machine coughed out sheet after sheet, paper after paper.
"What the hell are you guys doing!?" Sally asked. "That's a really bad waste of paper!" Dipper made a face.
"It copies humans," he said dryly. "You won't understand a lot of things we do. So maybe you should just go on and live your dreams in Atlanta." Sally started to cry and Mabel made an attempt to slap him laying down. But there was something off about her sobs. The jerking bouncing of shoulders, the squeezing of eyes forcefully so that tears could pour out... she was faking.
"You're the only kids I have left," she cried. "And I don't even think you like me!"
"Sally, will you please tell me exactly where you were before you met up with us in the clearing?" Dipper asked. She abruptly stopped crying.
"In... another clearing," she said.
"And where did you get your bag... you know, the one with the apples?" Dipper asked. "Because... if you were in the hospital... and food was supplied in the cafeteria... what need would there be for a bag of apples?"
"Where did I get the apples? Uh... well I had a bag on me, and as I was running through the forest, I saw an apple tree and picked the apples from there and kept them in the bag. Duh," Sally laughed. Dipper laughed as well.
"Sally. Apple trees don't grow in the forest."
"Well of course they do!" Sally exclaimed.
"Open the bag," Dipper demanded quietly.
"It's nothing!" Sally said.
Mabel stared at her brother.
"Dipper, what are you talking about?" she asked worriedly.
"Open it," Dipper said again. "The second I met you and saw that bag it was reeking. Now open it." Mabel sniffed. Was he right? Her brother was known to be paranoid like this. But- this time... She sniffed the air one more time to be sure. She had remembered something, but put it in the back of her mind to be polite. But it was true. A definite stench was emitting from Sally's bag. When the girl did nothing, Dipper walked over and snatched the garment from her hands, and opened it.
Out dropped a severed leg. Then an arm.
Moldy, bloody, old body parts, until the most disgusting and horrific.
A head.
Stringy, greasy, rotting hair fell in clumps across the monster, occasionally dropping off. It was a girl, with horribly creased and bloody eyelids covered with the remains of bright blue eyeshadow.
Mabel screamed.
Sally growled.
"I told you there was nothing!" she hissed.
"Mabel..." Dipper said steadily. "Meet Sally Alder."
"The real one," Mabel whispered, now standing up.
"Who are you, and what do you want with us?" Dipper asked.
"I want you to finish what you were starting. That's what Mel wants you to do anyway, for the time being," came the reply.
"Mel! You've been with Mel! The whole time. I can't believe it. Is there anyone we can trust anymore!?" Dipper sighed. The older girl shrugged her shoulders.
"You ruined it with Wendy and all. You weren't supposed to find out. Meddling messes almost everything up," she said.
"So... Wendy- no- you are like a sort of like a babysitter? Track us and find us and make sure we're still going to Mel's house?" Dipper asked in disbelief.
"Sorta."
"What's your name?" Mabel asked.
"I wouldn't go down that road again," the older girl answered.
"How did you-" Mabel started.
"How did I know that you were the one who discovered it was Wendy by being the most obnoxious little puss in the world and pulling off her cloak? And brave, never-going-to-let-you-take-the-blame brother covered for you? It was all from Mel. She's very powerful, you know." She took a step closer to Mabel. "And don't you start annoying me," she warned.
"Just give us the name!" Dipper insisted.
"Like it matters to you. Neither of you even know me. My name isn't even anything you can hold against me!"
"Try us," Dipper replied with gritted teeth.
"Emma Alder," she answered, and kicked the dissected head. "That's my sister." Mabel gaped at her in shock.
"Your story... it was fake!?" she asked. Emma laughed.
"Of course it was fake."
"Then how did you know about the fatalis!?" Dipper cut in.
"Well... most of it was fake. You see, I've known about this flower more than you know. I wasn't lying when I'd said I'd lived here my whole life."
"But how did you know about it!?"
"Mel, of course. We'd been friends for a bit."
"Really!? You're nineteen!" Mabel exclaimed.
"No, fourteen. I'm really tall for my age. Sally's my older sister. Mel explained about the fatalis flower and told me it would be the easiest way to kill my sister and impersonate her to gain your trust as a poor hospital escapee. Sally did escape. Because of me. I also needed to know about the flower to tell you that horrible and sad story about poor Sally Alder and her beloved little sister. Sally hated me. She was always better at me at everything, so I know why," Emma explained.
"Emma. Why are you doing this?" Mabel asked quietly. "You just killed your sister. And- euggh- cut her up to fit in your bag!"
"Why else? I love any type of revenge, whether it's mine or not! I'm going to love helping you both die. Hurry up, now and finish your little copy job. Mel is expecting you."