mynameisbonni

okay so in this AU, Excelsius adopts Bronco after a failure to produce a son. He's singled out by Fifi as one of the stronger and more intelligent children for Excel to raise (but as far as bronco's aware, excelsius found him and picked him)

Excelsius however, does not want to even risk the chance of his father finding Bronco and goes out of his way to hunt down any information on him

Bronco is also pulled out of school and is sent to an expensive private school. He keeps in contact with Simeon by sending letters to him, but Excelsius often overseas them and later on, starts throwing away the letters (but claims they're lost in the mail) so bronco can focus on school

however, excelsius successfully has biological son, which is obviously eustace. Bronco immediately feels jealous because Excelsius is giving him extra attention

which is then made worse when Eustace becomes a child prodigy at such a young age. And while Bronco is incredibly skilled, he isnt half as rewarded in school as eustace is

of course, it was intentional (you all already know why for eustace), but for Bronco, Excelsius didn't tamper with his grades. not only is Bronco a legitimately good student but his desperation to appeal to his father makes him work twice as hard

Excelsius eventually begins to praise and reward Eustace in front of Bronco so that he keeps trying harder and harder in school, and slowly Bronco begins to resent Eustace, despite Eustace's genuine affection for him

however in an unexpectated moment of emotional vulnerability, Bronco actually realizes his jealousy is misplaced and confronts excelsius, which was a huge mistake

he admits that he's feeling resentful towards his brother and that he sometimes doesn't feel like he's part of the family anymore after he showed up

he also tells excelsius that he feels like he doesn't love him the way he loves eustace

excelsius for the first and only time, "apologizes" to bronco for making him feel left out of the family, and promises to make him feel more included

A few months later, Bronco's father is finally located. Due to his passing, all of his belongings are sent directly to Excelsius who is meant to hand it to Bronco

Instead, Excelsius burns everything that belongs to Frost, and makes sure Bronco sees all of it. As both punishment for trying to tell him what to do as well as keeping Bronco in line

While the items burn away, Excelsius informs bronco that he did a bit of research on Frost, and discovered that Frost has a history of violent outbursts, and that Bronco shouldn't be looking up to such a dangerous and evil man, that Bronco is so much better than his father.

Despite everything, Bronco keeps the stamp on him and hides it from Excelsius. But has fully rejected Frost as his father, and accepts Excelsius as his "real" dad

Time jump to years later, bronco is now an exceptional defense attorney, but he's infamous for being cruel, threatening and mean-spirited, often talking down to his clients

despite all that, bronco has an intense sense of justice and views himself as the knight for the "kingdom of good", sometimes forcing himself onto crime scenes even when he's not invited. Despite his claims of being "the knight for the kingdom of good", Bronco's sense of morality is deeply warped. he's instead driven to appease his father

in an alternative version of turnabout trigger, Tabby is accused of attempting to assassinate the president, and Bronco jumps in to defend her. Rook is instead exposed for attempting to kill the president, but edgeworth finds some of the evidence contradictory, but without much proof, ends up getting rook arrested.

Unbeknownst to everyone but Bronco, Bronco was sent over by his father to hide any evidence of the fake assassination plan. Bronco was convinced that Wang was simply doing the right thing

later on, Bronco gets a letter from his friend Simeon, inviting him to a circus performance

Bronco visits the prison to watch Simeon perform, but gets an unexpected letter from his father asking him to visit the prison warden

Bronco later finds out its Fifi, and excitedly enters her office to greet her, but to his shock she attempts to stab him with a confiscated knife

Bronco successfully avoids her attack and kills her in retaliation, immediately regretting his decision

Simeon is accused of being her killer due to lacking an alibi and entering her office on camera (the truth was that he was sneaking in false letters in her office to trick Fifi into thinking Kanis was sending a man to kill her)

Bronco is exposed as the killer and Simeon successfully avoids imprisonment

In an odd decision, Bronco both expresses remorse and denies that he did anything wrong. Insisting that he's a good person who doesn't deserve to be punished

Bronco returns, this time with Eustace and Verity, to the surprise of everyone. Apparently all the evidence proving his guilt had magically disappeared and Bronco was walking around like nothing had happen

Bronco recognizes his father's face but doesn't recognize Gusto, Edgeworth is also hiding evidence from Bronco this time due to newfound distrust in him, so he never sees the photo

Bronco discovers just how horrible his father is, which triggers a flashback. Bronco remembers that Frost was extremely physically abusive to him, which furthers his resolve to make Excelsius proud (not recognizing that Excel is extremely emotionally and mentally abusive to him)

Bronco aids Edgeworth in finding the real killer of the case, hoping to make amends for his behavior in case 1 ( Bronco completely ignoring that he also murdered someone). unfortunately Edgeworth can't push him aside and puts up with him

Bronco is genuinely helpful this time, but Eustace makes a fool of himself in front of Edgeworth. Bronco doesn't say a word to Eustace but looks visibly annoyed.

After Gusto is caught, Edgeworth shares the photo with Bronco, and Bronco realizes that he recognizes Gusto as Simeon's dad, but doesn't say a word

Bronco is with Excelsius before the investigation begins, he tries to have a bit of vulnerability with his father after constant flashbacks of his abusive upbringing with frost haunts him at night, but Excelsius is noticeably disturbed

when confronting Excelsius finally happens, Bronco is immediately on the defensive to protect his father. Eustace however, blurts out something about his face. Excelsius brutally berates Eustace, and Bronco, who has never seen Excelsius be so openly cruel to Eustace jumps to his defense, but Excelsius simply turns his insults towards Bronco. Telling him that he only faked Eustace's results because Bronco was such an utter failure that his lack of skill was bringing shame and embarassment to the family.

Bronco storms off and Eustace, in follows after him. Both of them leaving the building

Eustace tries to reassure Bronco, but Bronco blows up at Eustace, saying that Excelsius was right about him and he should have known that he was an utter failure. Bronco abandons Eustace in anger, but turns around when he suddenly hears Eustace's screams of terror

several men arrive to kidnap Eustace and attempt to stuff him in the car. Bronco runs back and tries to fight them off, but is momentarily distracted when Eustace's screams for them to let him go and the rope around his hands reminds him of a horrible memory Bronco has tried to suppress

In his moment of confusion, Bronco is bashed in the head and then shot by one of the panic guards and left on the grass.

In his knocked out state, Bronco remembers the incident in the car, but his brain forces him to twist the facts. Instead of Bronco tying up Simeon, it was his father, locking both of them in the car and leaving them to die

Bronco wakes up in Simeon's dressing room, Simeon is in tears and hugs Bronco

Simeon informs Bronco that he found him on the ground while on a nightly stroll, and in a panic, dragged him back to his room to tend to his wounds.

Bronco confesses to Simeon that he remembers what happened and that his father kidnapped the both of them and left them to die. Simeon is noticeably angry, but Bronco interprets it as his own trauma bubbling up

Bronco then remembers Eustace and tries to find him, but Simeon coldly tells him that Eustace is fine and is in court right now (he avoids telling him who he's prosecuting to avoid upsetting Bronco)

Simeon then tells Bronco that he's a wanted criminal, all thanks to Edgeworth

Simeon confesses his feelings to Bronco and begs him to stay with him and that he'll hide from the police (planning on getting Bronco killed and pinning it on the animals or Max)

Unfortunately, Edgeworth and his group arrive just in time to accuse Simeon of being the mastermind

Simeon and Bronco manage to overpower edgeworth through their manipulation and reasoning, but when edgeworth catches Simeon on a noticeable contradiction, Simeon in a panic switches sides and plays the victim, accusing Bronco of being the real mastermind

He claims that Bronco knew about Excelsius and Fifi's plans to hunt down Simeon and kill him, and that Bronco killed Fifi to keep her mouth shut

He then accuses Bronco of helping his father kidnap Eustace and faked his own death to traumatize Eustace further (Eustace saw his own brother shot and assumed he died because of him)

Finally he says that Bronco is the reason why all the bad things happened to him. Bronco denies every claim, but is most baffled by the last one. insisting that Simeon should at least remember who kidnapped him.

Bronco's insistence that he did nothing wrong finally pushes Simeon to snapping and revealing the full truth to Bronco

In a fit of anger Simeon reveals that Bronco was the one who tied them up and then stupidly got them both trapped in the car. And because of that, its Bronco's fault that Frost is dead

Initially in denial, the memories he spent years suppressing finally return with one hopeless realization: Bronco was always terrible

There is no knight for the kingdom of good, but the pathetic dreams of a delusional child who has followed the path of corruption and dishonesty to appease his murderous, abusive father.

Bronco sees himself as no better than Frost, he's a coward, he's violent and worst of all, he's a traitor

Something inside of Bronco's brain cracks

Bronco believes that both he and simeon are broken beyond repair, and its all his fault. in a flash, he pulls out a knife (stolen from the second case) and holds Simeon hostage

He pulls Simeon to the roof of the circus, still holding the knife to his throat. Simeon is in a panic, unable to fight back and too afraid to even move

Bronco apologizes to Simeon for being such an unfaithful friend and then calmly tells Simeon he's going to kill them both

He hopes that they'll be reformed in the next life, promising to always stay loyal to him. And if he fails, he'll keep trying until they're both happy together

Before Bronco makes one final jump, he's distracted by a familiar voice: It's Eustace, riding one of the circus balloons -Eustace pleads with Bronco not to jump, telling him that it's not too late to change, and that he's not evil, he just did some bad things

Eustace tells Bronco he blamed himself for Bronco being "killed" but that Edgeworth reassured him that you can't spend the rest of your life blaming yourself for everything, that he knew the only ones at fault were the men trying to hurt him, but couldn't stop blaming himself because he wasn't strong enough to stop them. And that Bronco shouldn't let his upbringing and trauma convince him that he's unforgivable. Despite everything, Eustace still loves him

Bronco hesitates, but then grabs Eustace's hand, pulling himself and Simeon back into the balloon

Bronco turns himself in, as well as confessing to the crime of killing Fifi and tampering with the evidence in the first case to protect Rook

Both of the brothers hug each other and cry, though Bronco sobs even more, as he never got the chance to really express his sadness, thanks to excelsius's abuse and wanting to look strong for eustace

Bronco is unsure what to say to Simeon, a mix between genuine heartbreak, anger and guilt courses through him. instead giving him a meek "i'm sorry" before they're both pulled away in separate police cars

Before Bronco leaves, Eustace tells him that when he leaves prison (bronco tries to insist it'll be an "if", but Eustace ignores him), he promises to do a full movie marathon with him, just like when they were kids

Bronco promises that it'll be the first thing he'll do when he leaves prison, and he can't wait to see Eustace's stupid smile again

Simeon’s phone: