Yo, just so you know, this takes place just a day after the human transmutation.

William peered into the room, a pang of guilt felt in his heart as he indeed saw his metal bound brother sitting there, still awake. It had been a day since his two siblings had attempted human transmutation, but he hadn't found out that Alphonse couldn't sleep anymore until now. The previous night had been insane. He had spent the entire night searching the woods for the thing his brothers had created but couldn't find hide nor hare of it. He hoped that it had just crawled outside and gotten eaten by a wild animal, but he had a sickening feeling that someone had been there waiting to take it. When he had gotten back he had been two wracked with guilt over the whole situation to do anything. Why did he have to leave them? Why did he have to go looking for their father? He should have stayed behind and taken care of them like he had promised, but he had just been so overwhelmed in trying to look after him...He needed his father's help...Some good that little quest had done him.

And then the next morning he had spent arguing with Ed over him trying to become a state alchemist. The kid was determined, and fought him on the subject all day. He kept shouting at him that this was his mistake and he had to fix it.

…..

"I don't want you to swoop in and try to solve our problems for us like you always do!"he had snapped pounding his fist on his bed, "I'm sick not being able to solve my own problems. I'm sick of being the mess you always have to clean up! I got us into this...and I want to be the one to get us out." The boy looked down sadly with guilt in his eyes. "It's the least I can do to make up for this," he muttered, voice weak, "I don't think I could ever forgive myself for what happened to Al otherwise…"

….

William had dropped the subject with him after that, but the conversation was far from over. He still planned on discussing what exactly he was planning on doing, but Ed needed to get automail before he could do anything anyways. And right now, he had another little sibling to worry about.

"Alphonse?" William had said, grabbing his attention. The boy in the suit looked up at him. He couldn't read his facial expressions anymore, so he couldn't tell what kind of state the boy was in. "Hey buddy…" he said softly, trying to smile as he walked up to him and sat next to him, "How are you doing?" It was strange that he now had to look up to make eye contact with his little brother.

"I…I don't know..." he said looking away, "I'm not in any pain if that's what you're asking but..."

William's brow furrowed. "But what?" He pressed, worried for his brother.

Alphonse looked down, twiddling his thumbs for a moment before speaking. "...I can't feel anything anymore," he admitted. Williams eyes widened as he felt his heart stop for a moment at those words before getting a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. "I can't feel pain, or heat, or..or taste anything…" he said, curling in on himself, "I can't even sleep! I don't know what to do and I'm scared…"

"Oh Alphonse…" William whispered his heart breaking. He wanted to hug his brother to assure him, but as he reached to do that, he realized how ineffective that would be. He bit his lip as he looked down. "I'm sorry…" he said, "I'm so sorry…" This was his fault. He should have been there. He should have stayed so he could stop them...but he hadn't.

"Wha?" The boy started in surprise, "N-no! Don't be! It's our fault. You told us not to try and bring back mom." "A-and I'm grateful Ed did this to save my life but…"he continued, looking down, "But...I just wish I didn't have to be up all night alone." He wrapped his arms around his knees. "It's too quiet...and I was so scared last night...I was all alone with my thoughts and I couldn't get the image of that...thing out of my head!" he said, "And I kept worrying about what this meant for us I couldn't even get my mind off of it…"

William felt his heart ache for his brother. He was in such emotionally pain and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn't even offer him physical assurance and comfort if he tried. That didn't stop him, however, as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Al, It's gonna be alright," he said quietly and comfortingly, "We'll figure this out. You'll see. We'll get you back into your body...or make one for you, or something!" "It's gonna be ok," he said before giving an amused huff, "You're brother's already working on a plan, actually." Will's mouth twitched as Alphonse nodded. "And until then…" William said, "I can stay up with you, if you like."

Alphonse turned to him in surprise. "What? You can't do that! You have to sleep sometime, or you'll give out! I don't want to get sick from lack of sleep!" He cried in distress.

William chuckled and waved him off. "Nah, I'll be fine," he said, "I'm a homunculus. I don't really need sleep anyways."

Alphonse gave him a confused look. "What does not sleeping have to do with being a homunculus?" he questioned, "Doesn't being a homunculus just mean you're really strong, can change your body, live a really long time, and don't get hurt easily?"

William winced as he realized he never told his brothers everything about being a homunculus. "Well yeah, but I have a few special abilities. For instance I don't need to eat or sleep much. I like doing it, but I don't have to," he explained, "Also, I can regenerate, so it's a lot harder to kill me. I can still get hurt like any human but I just heal whatever injury I got in a few seconds."

"Oh…" Alphonse said looking down. He was silent for a moment before speaking. "Brother...When you were gone for so long, he thought you might have been killed. We didn't get any letters, and we didn't know where you were…" he admitted quietly, "So we panicked…"

William winced and felt even guiltier than before. He would have been sending letters, but he had been worried Dante might be intercepting them somehow. He had no idea what she looked like now, or how many homunculi she had working for her. It had been too dangerous. "I'm sorry…" he said quietly before standing up and facing Al, "But you know what? I'm here now. And I'm going to make sure I can do whatever I can to help you two. And if that means losing a little sleep, I don't mind that."

Al sat up. For a moment, William swore he saw a flicker of emotion in those glowing, soul fire eyes. "Brother…" he said quietly, deeply touched by this, "You don't have to-"

"Nonsense!" William said with a smile as he walked over to the bookcase next to them, "I want to do this. Besides, this isn't the first time I've stayed up for you."

He turned to him with a smile before elaborating, "Remember those times when T-Mom had a terrible flu and I had to calm you down when you had nightmares? I spent hours reading you bedtime stories to help you fall back asleep!" He then pulled out a book and dusted off the cover before walking over and sitting down next to him, "I say lets start doing that again, huh? Now I know you're a bit old for fairy tales, so how about something more closer to your age range. Like this: 'Hessingart James: Raiders of the Lost Temple of Xerxes'." He looked up at him with a mischievous glint. "I bet we can finish it in one night! What do you think?" he said.

Alphonse's eyes lit up. He would have smiled if he could. "I'd say, I'm up for the challenge. Ready when you are, brother!" he chirped, now very much excited for the story.

"Alright then!" William said, cracking open the book and flipping to the first page, "Let's see here...the jungles of Hevea were hot and humid, and the team of explorers could feel their clothes sticking to them and their gear weighing them down as they trudged through the underbrush…" Alphonse relaxed as he listened to his brother's voice, allowing it to carry him away from his worries to the world of the Amestrian explorer instead.