A/N: So... Been writing a lot lately. A little bit on every story as I get inspired. Sorry it takes so long between updates, I just hate trying to force myself to write. Hope it's worth the wait for the few of you that are actually reading this!

"They're getting close, what's the plan?" A scruffy young man in a leather jacket picked dirt from under his nails with a knife, looking up at his leader.

"That is the plan. There's nothing they can do to me. If the Winchester kid kills me, that spell will turn rotten and I just know he won't be able to live with himself after what it will make him do." She leaned against the counter, cockiness written all over her face.

"But what if he kills the kid after he finds out?" They'd been over the plan a half dozen times, but the dirty crony wasn't the smartest guy around. He was the hired muscle, anyway, not the brains.

"As much as his instinct will tell him that he should, he won't be able to. By this time, the spell has already gotten a hold of him. He should be head over heels by now and to live after having killed the person you're in love with… I have a feeling it would drive him insane." She chuckled to herself, full of excitement for the days to come.

No one escaped Dean Winchester once in his sights, but she had outsmarted him and in the end, she would be the one to kill him. First, though, she would turn his world upside down.

- On the Road -

They sat in a Metallica-filled silence after they had run out of things to talk about. After 10 hours on the road, Dean had run out of things to say, not being able to divulge much about himself and Kyle didn't seem to like being the subject of conversation.

Kyle broke the quiet with a small grunt. "Dean, I don't feel so good… Can you pull over?"

He looked over skeptically. "Right now? We're in the middle of nowhere.."

The young man grabbed his stomach and groaned louder. "Yes, now! God, I think I'm gonna be sick…"

Dean swerved quickly to the side of the road, slamming on the brakes. "Not in my car!" As they stopped, he got out and ran to the passenger side, opening the door just in time for Kyle to throw himself onto the ground, emptying his stomach.

He held onto the car's frame as he heaved forward, shaking. Kyle felt his head being petted almost, Dean's fingers running across his hair sympathetically. As he finished, breathing heavily, he sat back and closed his eyes.

"You okay?" Dean had pulled some napkins from the to-go boxes in the back seat and offered them along with a bottle of whiskey.

Kyle gladly took them, cleaning himself up as he nodded. "Yeah, I guess I ate something bad, I don't know…" He swished some of the whiskey around in his mouth and spit it out on the ground. It was only a slight upgrade from the taste he was trying to wash out.

"Yeah, I guess." Dean agreed, but that excuse didn't sit well with him. They'd ordered the same thing at the diner, Kyle must have remembered that... He shrugged it off, obviously he wasn't feeling well, he probably wasn't thinking straight.

"Next town we hit, can we stop somewhere with a restroom?" He sounded pathetic, even to himself and Dean felt sorry for him. He had been handling trip surprisingly well, rarely asking for a break or complaining.

"Yeah, sure." He brushed a piece of the brunette's wavy hair out of his face and they both got back in the car. Dean kept glancing over, worried for the small boy in the passenger seat.

They pulled up to a small 24 hour diner and Dean ordered their food as Kyle excused himself. The restroom was a single-serve, not stalls, for which Kyle was very thankful. He locked the door and turned the fan and sink on, wanting to make some distracting noise.

He took his clothing off, setting it in a neat pile next to the sink before staring at his naked body in the mirror. Satisfied that he had taken it all in, he reached up, covering his mouth. He couldn't afford for Dean to hear him.

He held his hand tight across his lips as his skin bubbled and flexed, bones stretching under the surface. He used to have to remove his skin to change, but he had learned to shift in a much less messy way with practice. He'd never been so glad for that.

"You okay in there?" Dean came knocking on the door just as he had started shifting back into a new Kyle. He closed his eyes, remembering every detail of the way he looked before. One small mistake and Dean could find out about him.

After he finished, he could feel that Dean was outside waiting for him, though he hadn't said anything else. "Sorry, I'm fine now. I'll be out in a minute. Don't eat my food!" He looked himself over in the mirror and thought to himself that he did a pretty good job, hoping that Dean couldn't tell.

As he walked up to the booth where Dean was sitting, he stopped in his tracks, staring out the window. "You still feel sick?" The hunter looked at him, trying to hide his worry.

"Isn't that one of the guys we're looking for?" He tilted his head and squinted a bit, the setting sun obscuring his view.

Dean looked over as he jerked Kyle into the booth, trying to hide him. "Yeah, that's one of them. Keep an eye out for the others, they won't be far away."

Kyle's stomach dropped as the mood got serious. The guy he spotted didn't look so huge from the picture. He knew that Dean was in good shape and was clearly good at what he did, but the thought of him going one-on-one with that giant made him nervous.

"I'm not really in the mood for eating..." Kyle noticed that the food hadn't been brought yet.

"Let's go." Dean was glad that the kid understood the subtlety of their situation and that they no longer could afford to stay where they were.

They shuffled out of the booth as quickly as they could, the waitress hollering behind them as the walked out the door. They almost made it to the car when the brute of a man ran up behind Kyle, grabbing the shocked boy around the waist. Dean drew his gun as the man held a knife against the boy's throat and looked across the top of the car at Dean.

"Drop the gun." He demanded with no hesitation as two others walked up behind Dean, both heavily armed. Dean did as he was told and shortly after, felt a sharp pain as everything went black.

Kyle's eyes were wide as Dean dropped to the ground after one of the men hit him with the butt of his pistol. His breathing was rough and he whimpered as the towering man pushed him into the back seat of the Impala, sitting next to him.

The men from the other side loaded Dean's limp body in the back seat next to Kyle, before moving to the front of the car. He felt completely helpless, but did the best he could to focus, remembering the directions for where they were going. He wasn't sure it would be helpful, but it would keep his mind occupied.

If he had to guess, he'd say it had taken about half an hour to get to the run-down warehouse outside of town. The jolt of the stop caused Dean to stir, eyes cracking open just in time to see Kyle being pulled out of the car, kicking and screaming. "Dean!"

The world was spinning, before he could get a grip on it, the door behind him opened and a gun was aimed at his head. "Get out."

He almost rolled out of the car as he looked around, realizing that they had driven them somewhere else. The thought of the man in front of him driving his baby made his blood boil almost as much as the sight of the larger man sending Kyle to the ground with a punch to the jaw.

Dean stopped in his tracks, watching Kyle on the ground, breathing a sigh of relief when he started to move, pushing himself up. The big man grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him back up to standing. He shoved the kid forward into the building as Dean was led the same way at gunpoint.

"Good evening, gentlement." The witch came up to greet them once they were inside, her tongue running along her teeth as she smirked. They stood close together, but the fact that he couldn't reach out and comfort Kyle meant that they may as well have been in different towns.

The last man in barred the door with a loud, metallic clang. They had fortified the building for this encounter, no doubt. Dean let her talk as he surveyed the surroundings, scouting for exits and potential weapons.

"I told you not to follow me, Dean. I told you I'd hurt him and here you brought him right to me. Are you TRYING to test me?" He voice went from calm to outraged in one breath, raising her hand as if to hit Kyle, but stopped, taking a deep breath.

She was right, he brought a civilian into this dangerous situation and whatever happened, it would be his fault. He looked at Kyle, fear in his eyes, his bottom lip bleeding and he got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"It's okay, Dean. I'm not going to hurt him. I'll leave that to you." She smiled at him again, with a look in her eyes that said she was up to something. When Dean didn't budge, she raised her eyebrows and chuckled as she circled Dean, her hands playing with his jacket. "It'll make sense soon enough."

She stopped behind Dean. her head peeking up over his shoulder, her nose rubbing against his neck. His lip turned up into a silent snarl, not in a position to push her away.

"You know that Dean isn't really a bounty hunter, right?" She asked Kyle, her grin widening as the boy tried to hide his confusion. Dean bit his lip in annoyance. What was she getting at?

"He IS a hunter, though. He hunts monsters." She pushed off of Dean, strolling casually between the two of them. "Like me, for example, I'm a witch and he wants to kill me."

Dean watched the color drained from Kyle's face as she spoke, moving toward him. "He hunts demons, and ghosts..." She pulled a knife from behind her back and slashed across the boy's arm before he knew what was happening.

"And shapeshifters." The muscular henchman grabbed Kyle's arm, holding it out for everyone to see. Dean's anger was boiling over as he saw the way the skin reacted to the blade, confusing him.

"Dean, it's not what you think!" He barely managed to scream before the man covered his mouth.

"Whatever kind of trick you're playing here, let's get to the point already." Dean was pissed and confused, but wanted to get to the end game.

She walked back over to Dean, clearly not having gotten the response she was looking for. "There's no trick, Dean. He's a monster, just like me and if you don't put him down, I will."

Dean couldn't hold his anger anymore, reaching out to backhand the witch while she was close enough to strike. Before he could do anything else, the men behind him ran up with their guns. She held her hands up, calling them off as she wiped the blood from her mouth.

"Here's how this is going to work, Dean. I'm going to bleed you out at midnight as a part of the ritual that you interrupted last week. I don't need him. I could kill him now, but... No. I'll let you do your job, Dean. He's a monster, kill him."

She jerked her head to the side, motioning for them to be transported to the cellar. "Oh, and Dean? If I have to kill him later, it won't be pretty."

Both captives walked silently, lead down a dark hallway to the bottom of a set of stairs. The room they were put in was empty, nothing but a light in the center of the ceiling. The door was heavy and there were no windows. They wouldn't be able to escape.

Once the door was shut and they were alone, Dean spoke up. "Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?" His voice was hard and rough and Kyle shook as he spoke, frightened of what Dean might do to him.

"I..." Kyle shook as Dean slammed his fist against the wall.

Dean took a deep breath and ran his hands through his hair. As angry and confused as he was, he didn't want to scare Kyle. "Look at me." He waited patiently as Kyle raised his head, clearly terrified of Dean.

He reached out his hand to touch Kyle, to try to comfort him in some way, but was rejected. Kyle jerked back against the wall, eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"I'm not going to hurt you, okay? We got bigger things to deal with, but you gotta work with me here. I just found out I've been bunkmates with a damn shapeshifter for the past week and if we don't get a plan together on how to gank this bitch in the next few hours, we're both dead."

Kyle nodded, but stayed where he was.

"First, let's get that cut wrapped up, okay?" Dean reached out again, this time more slowly. He was a little relieved when the boy didn't pull away from him.

Once his wound was taken care of, Dean went to pull away when Kyle grabbed his hand. "I have an idea." He closed his eyes, pulling his hand back, clenching his fist. He cried out as his skin started to move. Dean reached out to see if he was all right, but Kyle evaded his touch. "No! Don't..."

Dean just stood back and watched as Kyle shifted, torn between wanting to be sick and wanting to hold him. It didn't make sense to him until his new shape started forming, with long blonde hair and dark brown eyes.

Kyle coughed and dry heaved for a moment before regaining his composure. He looked up at Dean, feeling a pang in his chest at the look of horror on his face. It had been a long time since he'd seen that face.

"Wow." Dean didn't know what to say. He'd read the lore about shapeshifters, but had never encountered one before, much less seen one change with his own eyes. "Well, that's something."

Kyle stared off into space as if he was searching the witch's mind for information. "This ritual tonight... She wants to summon a demon and bind him..." He grabbed his head as the thoughts came pouring through.

Dean reached out again, not taking no for an answer. It felt weird to be holding him when he looked like the witch, but it felt more weird to not hold him.

"Dean... She put a spell on us." He looked up at Dean with his new brown eyes.

"What?" Dean felt dirty to know what the bitch had hexed them.

"It's a love spell. If you kill her, the spell will backfire and you'll kill me and then yourself. Or you'll go crazy... I don't think she's sure what will happen, but it won't be good." He felt his heart sink a little to know that Dean only cared about him because of this witches tricks.

Dean went to curse, but bit his tongue, trying to appear calm in front of Kyle. "Is there a way to undo it?"

Kyle paused for a moment, searching for the information, frowning when he came up empty. "There's not a way to break the spell. It breaks when she dies."

"But we can't kill her?" Dean rubbed his hands through his hair, frustrated beyond belief.

"...WE can't kill her." Kyle emphasized.

Dean raised his eyebrows, smiling a little. "Right. Now I have an idea."

Kyle still looked worried, afraid of what would happen between him and Dean after the witch was dealt with.

They killed the time by working out their plan, both avoiding the uncomfortable subject of what would happen later.

"Dean... I can't stay like this." He motioned to the witch's body. "She's not strong and even though I know how to use the spells she knows, we don't have anything to make use of that."

"And if she sees you like that, she'll know that we know what she's up to." Dean didn't have any idea what to do next. "How did you turn into her anyway? You can just be anybody you want?"

"No... It doesn't work quite like that. I have to touch someone to become them." When he saw Dean trying to work it out, he stepped in. "You had her blood on your hand."

"Right. What do we do then?" Dean hated to feel helpless, but he was clueless about what their options were. He did his best to hide his worry.

Kyle looked like he wanted to say something, but was afraid to speak up. "There are a couple of options... I touched two of the guards."

"Well, for strength, that would be an upgrade. For brains... Not so much."

Kyle smiled a little at the comment, knowing from the witch's thoughts that he was right about them not being the brightest henchmen around. "It would be better... If I became you." He spoke softly, unsure of himself and the way that Dean would react to the suggestion.

Dean blinked, having not considered that option. He opened his mouth to speak, but couldn't find anything to say.

"It would give us the best advantage. You're strong AND smart and you know about monsters and..." Kyle rambled on, trying to explain himself.

"It's a good idea." Dean cut him off. As much as he didn't want the kid to have access to his every thought and memory, it was their best chance.

"Are you sure?" He didn't want Dean to hate him more than he probably already did.

When Dean nodded, he turned around, not wanting to see the look of disgust again so soon. He twisted and shifted, his delicate female form stretching and filling out. He dropped down to his knees, the stress of having changed too many times in such a short span overwhelming him.

"Kyle!" Dean ran over to him, catching him as he collapsed onto the floor. It was messing with his head to look down at himself, unconscious.

It was only a few moments before his eyes creaked open, staring up at Dean, happy to see a look of worry instead of disdain.

"You okay?" Dean was short with him, but meant well.

"Yeah..." Dean helped him sit up. "Changing back to back like that is kind of rough." He leaned his head back against the wall, trying to absorb everything that was coming to him from Dean's mind. "And earlier too..."

"Earlier?" Dean thought back to the way his gut had told him that something wasn't right with Kyler earlier in the day. "That's what that was about?"

Kyle nodded, eyes still closed. There was so much about Dean to take in, it was overwhelming. "When I stay in one body for too long... It gets hard to hold on."

"But you looked the same." Dean paused for a moment, thinking back to Kyle's eyes that he swore were blue. "Almost."

"I have to change, but it's been a long time since I've been anyone else." He looked up at Dean with a stare that made it hard to recognize himself. It was like looking into a mirror where all of his walls and guards were let down. He'd felt vulnerable before, but he'd never let it show, not even to himself.

"Who is he?" Dean reached out and ran his hand across the stubbly cheek.

"If we make it out of this alive, I'll tell you about him." He smiled a bittersweet smile, the only kind he could manage when thinking about the real Kyle. After what he'd learned in the few minutes of being Dean, he wanted to tell him everything. He wanted Dean to know that he wasn't the only one that had lost everything he'd ever had.

-TBC-