Imagine one of the only parental figures you have left being killed in front of you and when you are still deeply hurt by it, you find out they have been brought as an undead slave by the very being who killed them and is trying to kill/and or capture you for said monster
(For anyone reading this without context, this is a follow up to this ask about this fic)
Thinking about this through each character’s POV:
Jubilee - DEVASTATED. That’s her dad
I think in the Apocalypse arc of the fic, Jubilee stayed with Jean’s parents during the whole thing due to her age (8, I think). She’s young enough that life at the mansion is most of what she remembers and everyone there is her family.
She’s not dumb though. She remembers they were separated when Xavier died, so as upset as she is about Magneto, there is still a large part of her that is just scared, and that is enough to keep her from going into full meltdown mode.
She knows how dire the situation is, so she tries her best to be good. I'm pretty sure she hasn't gotten her powers yet in the fic, so she knows she needs to stay out of the way when the others are planning, but she quietly seeks attention because she's scared she's going to lose them too.
Morph - Understandably upset. Also traumatized.
Morph is a system in the fic, playing off of how Sinestro created a second "personality" for him in the original show (which, of course, isn't DID, so this fic was playing with the concept by making him a proper system to the best of my ability). I'm pretty sure this was revealed in the Apocalypse arc, Morph taking a step back and letting someone else step forward because he didn't know how to deal with everything.
If Magneto went horseman zombie, Morph would probably have a similar reaction and let his adult headmate front, who I'm pretty sure is referred to with Morph's last name, Sydney.
If switching out wasn't an option, I think Morph would be pretty understandably upset about Magneto's death and horrified about the whole horseman thing. He adapted pretty well to Magneto being his new dad, but his past keeps him from really believing anything is permanent, so he's not as upset as he could be.
Bishop already has a dad (Cable). I'm pretty sure he declined letting Magneto adopt him in the fic. He fully sees staying at the mansion as Cable trying to keep him safe, and he likes the other people at the mansion, but he doesn't see them as his family, though that is changing against his will.
Being from the future, he sees Magneto's death and horsemanification less as "oh no something is happening to my dad" and more in the context of "I'm from the future and I know how this is going to end." He's more focused on stopping Apocalypse, though he is very close with Jubilee, Morph, and Bobby, so he is sensitive to how they're feeling.
Bobby doesn't really know Magneto that well. In the fic, I think he maybe lived at the mansion for a month or two before the Apocalypse arc. He likes Magneto and respects that he is his guardian, but he doesn't have any familial feelings towards him or the other kids.
He's mostly just worried about how they're probably all going to die. He is brave about it, but he's more focused on the threat than his feelings.
Kurt - Upset but relatively fine
Like Bobby, Kurt hasn't been at the mansion for long. Xavier's death meant the loss of an opportunity to go to the US and be around others like him, and Magneto let that dream happen, so he likes him, but he doesn't see him as family (yet).
He is more upset about it than Bobby, though, because he wants the X-Men to be his family, even if those feelings haven't had time to settle yet. Like Jubilee, he is scared that he's going to lose this new life he's built at the mansion.
Rogue - The most fucked up out of all of them
Magneto is her dad. Of all the characters, they are the closest. She is devastated by his death and utterly horrified by his horsemanificiation, but, as much as she hates it and wants Magneto to be laid to rest, she's clinging to some hope that they can save him and everything can go back to normal.
She's definitely on the brink of falling apart the whole time. She wants to help and is trying really hard to stay strong, but she is on the verge of breaking down and crying basically the whole time. She avoids talking to anyone because she knows if they ask how she is, she's not going to be able to hold it together.
I could see her coping by using her powers, honestly. Like microdosing on losing herself.
Gambit - Pretends he's fine but he is not
Gambit also declined getting adopted by Magneto because he also has a dad, but, unlike Bishop, his dad isn't in his life and he has all kinds of complicated feelings about it (I had an arc planned/started writing an arc about this but I scrapped it because it was based too much on the TAS episode and I wanted to focus on 97 stuff).
So, like, Magneto isn't his dad, but he is? Gambit has super complicated feelings about it, and he doesn't totally realize it until Magneto is dead, and his reaction kind of makes his feelings more clear.
Like Rogue, I could see him secretly holding onto some hope that they can save Magneto and things can go back to normal, but he tries to stomp those feelings down and tries convincing the others Magneto can't be saved (mostly to convince himself).
Hank - The most okay out of everyone
None of the older kids had Magneto adopt them, which is understandable. Hank is old enough that he doesn't really want to replace his parents and he's made his peace with that.
That being said, he and Magneto are pretty close, not in the same way that Magneto and Rogue are, but still close. He respects him, and he looks up to him a lot, and they spent a lot of time together, mostly because of Hank's education, so they definitely have a strong relationship.
That was shaken up a bit in Hank's chapter where he became, y'know, blue, so I could see Hank feeling guilty for how he acted, especially considering he already lost Xavier and knows how fleeting time can be. He misses Magneto, but he also recognizes hey we're all going to die if we don't do something and is more focused on that.
In this fic, Hank and Bobby develop a friendship, mimicking how close they were in the original comics, so I could see Hank trying to comfort/guide Bobby through his own feelings.
Storm - Sad but in a normal way
Storm is sad, but not like in a falling apart way. Like just kind of how you're sad when someone you know dies, but it wasn't someone you were super close to. Something less than a grandparent, maybe.
I think in her chapter, Magneto was very deliberately trying to foster their relationship, which Storm was confused by. Xavier didn't neglect any of them, but it was very much "the kids" and not, like, them as individuals, at least in the parenting department, and Magneto very intentionally tried to avoid that, and Storm saw a lot of that effort leading up to the Apocalypse arc.
So she's sad, and she misses him, and she's letting herself feel those feelings.
Jean is really underdeveloped in the fic, which is kind of on me. She's Scott's girlfriend, not one of the kids, so she just kind of visits sometimes. I don't really remember if she liked Magneto or not, but they don't really have a relationship other than vague respect for what the other is doing to make sure the kids stay together.
Like Storm, she's kind of a normal amount of sad. As the least affected, I could see her falling into some kind of leadership role while everyone else is grappling with her feelings.
Scott - Honestly? Ready to kill Magneto if it comes down to it
Scott doesn't really like Magneto. The whole beginning of the fic was about how Scott expected to get custody, and then Magneto stepped in. But he has grown to trust and respect him, and he is even willing to say Magneto's done a better job than he would with the kids, and he's happy to be free of the responsibility for taking care of his family
He feels the burden again now that Magneto is gone. Some old feelings from Xavier's death are brought up, but he represses the hell out of it and is 100% committed to keeping his siblings safe.
Warren - Repressing and focused on the kids
Magneto and Warren didn't have a lot of time together, but Warren liked him, and he is upset that he's gone. He was grateful for what Magneto did for the kids, and he was perfectly happy stepping up to help Magneto take care of them.
Like Bobby and Hank, he's more focused on the Apocalypse threat, and like Scott, he is primarily focused on keeping the kids safe.
Wanda - Grieving but largely okay
Wanda didn't have a lot of time with Magneto either, but she wanted to explore their relationship and hoped to feel like father and daughter one day, especially after Xavier's death. She is sad that they won't have that now, but is a normal amount of sad.
In the fic, Wanda and her siblings (Pietro, Kevin, and David) were groomed to be offered to Apocalypse as horsemen. If we're running with that plotline, she's probably dealing with more feelings of guilt as Magneto being taken instead of her and relief that she and her brothers were spared.
Pietro - Sad and repressing but fine
Like Wanda, Pietro didn't have a lot of time with Magneto, but he didn't really want to have a relationship with him.
I do love adaptations of Quicksilver, but to me, a core part of his character from the comics is that he does not really want to be here. This interpretation comes from how he behaves in the 70s Avengers comics. Pietro's character revolves around keeping Wanda safe, very Type A to her Type B. He doesn't care about Magneto, but was willing to go to New York to stay with Wanda, and struggled to find his own place there when Wanda started having her own life.
He made friends eventually, but he did end up bonding with Magneto a bit. Enough to have feelings about his death. He did step up a lot in taking care of the kids, so I could see his priorities shifting to keeping everyone safe and seeing Horseman Magneto as something empty and lifeless. Not his dad anymore, just a threat to his family, and focusing on taking him down/keeping him away from his family.
He also has more feelings about being groomed to be a horseman than Wanda. Of the four of them, he is the weakest/the most normal, so he always had these feelings of inadequacy. Wanda didn't really think about becoming a horseman that much, but Pietro did, and he's definitely relieved that he didn't, and he's grateful that Magneto become a horseman instead of him and his siblings, though he does feel a little guilty about it
Logan isn't one of the kids, obviously, but he is there. He and Magneto are old friends, and they grew closer when they started co-parenting.
There were too many characters in the fic to really dive into anyone's grief and processing death, but I do see that as important for Logan. When you're young or you lose someone super close to you, it feels like your world is falling apart. But when you're older or have experienced a lot of death, it is sad, but just kind of another thing.
Logan is normal about it. He's also ready to step up as parent. He does feel a little bad he wasn't around when Xavier died, and he knows the kids somewhat expected him to take over as their parent, which is why he started sticking around more. He knows Magneto is a better parent than he is, but he's ready to do what he needs to do and take care of the kids.
