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The puff of cigarette smoke curled in the air, and Kyle tapped the ashes onto the cement sidewalk. It was a chilly night, but he only sported a t-shirt and sweatpants. He had woken from a nightmare, sweating and craving the cooler climate the outdoors brought. Their motel lay on the outskirts of town this time, and there was very little noise in the late hours of the night. There were the regular crickets, but only the occasional car passing by. Sitting on the curb gave him a perfect view of the closed Indian restaurant and pawn shop, among other closed buildings across the street.
Kyle was taking another drag when he heard the door behind him open. He turned slightly as footsteps approached him and saw his older brother looking slightly timidly at him.
"Hey Sam, what brings you out here? Come for a smoke?" Kyle joked. Sam was, in fact, the reason he carried a packet of gum around with him; his brother hated cigarettes and he tried to smoke around him as little as possible.
Sam huffed a laugh and sat down next to him on the curb, his long limbs folding up, never taking his eyes off Kyle. "Yeah, I was actually thinking I've really been craving some lung cancer."
"Hey, no time like the present. I bet you're like one of five hunters that don't smoke." Kyle remarked.
"Seems like every hunter drowns their sorrows and anxieties in alcohol and cigarettes." Sam switched his gaze to the empty parking lot and the buildings across the street. There was a nice moment of silence while Kyle took another pull from the cigarette. "What're you trying to drown this time?"
There was another beat of silence. "The regular stuff. Nightmares." He shrugged slightly and shifted to cross his legs on the ground beneath him. Sam nodded in the corner of his vision.
"Anything you wanna talk about?" The older Winchester asked. "Seems pretty intense if you left the room." Sam looked pointedly at his bare, freckled arms. "Without a jacket, too."
"Nothing crazy. Just reliving a bad memory." Kyle could feel his brother's eyes on him, but he couldn't bring himself to meet his eyes. "And I was hot," He said defensively.
"Right. Well, how about you finish that cigarette so we can go back inside?" Sam replied. Kyle rolled his eyes but took another pull. Suddenly, Sam let out a gasp of pain and clutched his head.
"Sam? What is it?" Kyle asked worriedly.
"Gah, my head," Sam cried out, pain heavy in his voice. He leaned forward so that his knees were on either side of his face. Kyle tossed the cigarette aside and moved in front of his brother, crouching and trying to get a look at his hidden face. Sam let out another moan of pain, and Kyle's heart clenched as he tried to figure out what to do. Just as he debated going in to get Dean, Sam let out a strangled gasp and opened his eyes. Kyle let out a gasp of his own. His brother's eyes were pure white.
"What the fuck?" Kyle exclaimed under his breath. Shaking his shoulders, he tried to rouse Sam from whatever was happening to him, but he stared blankly ahead. "Sam? Sam? Shit. Fuck it. Dean! Get the fuck out here! Something's happening to Sam!" He looked back down but saw no change in Sam. The door banged open, and Dean ran out and dropped beside them. He put an arm on Sam's shoulder and lowered his head to see his face. Dean's eyes widened and he whipped around to look at Kyle.
"What the fuck? What happened?" Dean demanded.
"We were just talking, and his head started hurting him really badly. He was doubled over like he is now and grabbing it, he let out a gasp, then opened his eyes, and they were white. I don't know, he's been staring like this since." Kyle gestured vaguely. He felt completely useless, and he hated it. It wasn't a completely uncommon feeling; he often felt like he wasn't doing much compared to his brothers, who were far more physically built than he was, but seeing his brother in pain with no idea what was going on was a new low.
"Shit," Dean declared as he ran a hand over his face. "Do we just… wait?"
Kyle shrugged, grimacing. "I guess? I mean, I don't know what else we could-" A shuddering gasp from Sam cut him off. Kyle and Dean hurried to look at their brother. Sam blinked and his normal hazel eyes returned.
"Sammy?" Dean asked gently, intense worry evident in his tight shoulders and tone.
Sam blinked a few more times, pain still etched into his face, and looked up at them. "Dean." The oldest let out a sigh and closed his eyes, tension sloughing out of his body at hearing his brother's voice.
"You okay?" Dean pressed as he rubbed Sam's back. Sam looked between Dean and Kyle with a look of confusion.
"Uh… yeah, I guess. I don't…" He trailed off, still looking lost.
"How about we get back inside?" Dean suggested. "Off this curb and onto a bed." Kyle smiled slightly despite the situation at seeing the oldest brother role Dean slipped into with ease, even with the years apart from Sam.
Sam nodded and they both helped him up. Dean slung his arm over his shoulders as Kyle went to open the door for them. His brothers made their way inside and Sam collapsed onto his bed.
"You good?" Kyle asked. Sam nodded wearily. "Okay, good. What the fuck was that?" Sam winced, his eyes darting from him to the floor.
"Um, a vision. I think." He grimaced in anticipation of their reactions.
"A vision?" Dean exclaimed, eyebrows shooting up. Kyle felt himself mimic his brother. "What the hell do you mean 'a vision'?"
"Like… seeing things before they happen. It's happened before. I saw um…" Sam's face grew pained and sad, and he looked down at the edge of the blanket he was fidgeting with. "Jess. I saw the fire weeks before it happened. I thought they were just nightmares. It's never happened during the day before, though."
Kyle stared speechlessly at Sam for the second time that night. "Jesus." Sam looked up at him. "You saw Jess die?" Sam nodded.
"Yeah, for a few weeks before. Just while I was sleeping, though." He cleared his throat and blinked away tears.
"So this is the first time you've had the headache and white eyes?"
Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. "White eyes?" He asked, stunned.
"Yeah dude, your eyes were completely white. Pretty freaky if I'm honest." Dean remarked. He sat down heavily on the other bed, but Kyle felt himself rooted to the spot.
"Oh," Sam replied quietly, his eyes downcast again. Kyle gave his oldest brother a dude, shut it look before continuing.
"What did you see? Kinda seems like they're visions of bad things before they happen, right? If it was Jess before. So maybe we can try and figure out what is and try and stop it," Kyle suggested, moving his hands as he talked.
"Uh… it was this guy. He got home, and the garage closed without him doing anything. Then the car doors and windows locked as well, and… the uh, the engine started running. He uh, died," Sam finished with another pained look.
"Shit," Kyle declared. Sam huffed a laugh in agreement.
"Did you see anything that we could use to figure out who this guy is?" Dean still looked spooked, and Kyle could see him glancing at Sam warily every so often.
Sam nodded and swallowed. "Yeah. A license plate."
"Okay, you get some sleep, and we'll find your vision guy in the morning," Dean instructed, pointing at his brother.
"No, Dean, we need to leave now. We don't know how soon this is gonna happen. I can sleep in the car." Sam insisted, sitting up in his bed.
"Sammy-" The oldest started.
"Dean." Sam pleaded. His brother relented with a sigh, rolling his eyes.
"Fine. Let's get going then. Where are we heading?" Dean got up and started packing his bags, and Kyle did the same, grabbing Sam's stuff for him as well.
"Michigan," Sam replied. Kyle pulled out the bottle of painkillers of his duffel and shot his brother a questioning look. After a few seconds, Sam nodded, and Kyle tossed the bottle and gave him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Thankfully, it seemed to be, and Sam returned it as he dry swallowed a few pills.
A few minutes later, their stuff was packed, they headed out to the Impala, and Dean headed to the office to check out. "Sam, why don't you take the back seat? Get some sleep," Kyle suggested, nodding to his usual seat. Sam opened his mouth before nodding and climbing into the back seat, stretching his long body across the bench. Kyle tossed the duffels into the trunk before snatching a bag of candy from his and heading to the front seat. By the time Dean had settled into the front seat after checking out, Kyle was tossing jellybeans into his mouth, and Sam was already passed out. Dean threw a worried glance at his sleeping brother as he started the car.
"He's gonna be okay," Kyle reassured. "We'll make sure of it." Dean's shoulders loosened a bit, and he nodded, pulling out of the parking lot into the night.