A/N: So, here is another thing in the works! This is a work dedicated to my friend for being as awesome as she is. People may have seen it posted around before, so I want to reassure everyone that this is just me under a different pen name and NOT plagiarism. I won't reveal said pen names because they do not matter. Anyways, this is something that is completely AU and it starts right after the first Avengers movie. I hope everyone likes it!

Happy reading y'all!

Disclaimer: I still own nothing!

Prologue

Maggie

Maggie let out a small contented noise. She and her room mate who was also her best friend, Emily were currently shopping for vintage stuff. It was similar to antiquing but more geared to clothing and accessories rather than straight up furniture. In her case, that also meant retro video games and toys.

Every Saturday, she and Emily would spend the whole day going from vintage shop to vintage shop. They also visited every decent pawn shop and thrift store they could find.

Considering that she was the head repair tech at a used video game store and Emily was the assistant manager a vintage shop, they both knew what they were doing and it helped them find the best deals.

Going vintage shopping was the best way to let off steam after a crappy week of trying to tell people that never want to listen what to do.

Turning her attention to Emily for a moment, she inwardly snorted to herself. If it there was one thing that Emily hated, it was over priced vintage goods and she knew her stuff.

Her small nose was wrinkled and she was giving the girl standing behind the counter serious stink-eye. Honestly, she had no idea what she would do or even where she would be right now without her Em&Em.

When she first got to New York, it was her first time in such a huge city and she didn't know her own asshole from a hole in the ground or manhole in New York's case. She was completely new to the city and completely scared out of her mind. She had just gone through the worst break up of her life and decided that she needed to get as far away from her small town home as fast as she could. Everybody in that small town knew who she was and what had happened to her.

The worst part of the whole sordid thing was that no matter how many times she tried to set the story straight, she just couldn't get anyone to believe her. Not even her own parents believed her. It was awful and she just had to get away and start fresh in a place where nobody knew her.

No matter how hard she tried, there was just no way to escape it and her reputation had been permanently destroyed by her ex. She had to get out of the sake of her health and her sanity. She chose New York because it was the complete opposite of what she was accustomed to and that was exactly what she needed.

Plus it was the home of Stark Tower and all of the Avengers which was a huge freaking bonus in her mind.

Unfortunately, her first day in New York had been at a total and complete unmitigated disaster. Her plane arrived late, she lost half of what little luggage she had and by the time she got the apartment she had all lined up months before she even left for New York, the landlord had given it away to the next people in line for it because she had been considered a 'no show' for it.

It was three hours, she had been only three hours late. She had even notified the landlord that she would be and that did jack shit all. It made her insanely angry that the asshole couldn't even wait three extra hours for her even after she notified him of her situation.

Needless to say, after weeping in a park on a bench for over an hour about the situation she currently found herself in, she decided that she really, really needed a coffee. Like stat. She located directions to the nearest coffee place on her phone and wasted no time in going there.

When she got to the little café, she was not shocked to see that it was completely packed with people. She nearly wanted to start weeping all over again. She didn't do massive amounts of people very well but she was desperate for a coffee. After she got her iced heaven in a cup, she tried to find a place to sit and there was legitimately nowhere to sit. She even swallowed what little pride she had left and asked people if she could sit with them (she figured that it would be a good way to try and make a friend) and all she got was a bunch of stink-eye in return.

As she was about to give up and go back to her bench, she heard someone call out to her. She turned in the direction of the voice and was shocked to see this girl that couldn't be much older than she was waving her over.

Being desperate for human interaction that wasn't going to end in ass or more tears, she wasted no time in going over and sitting down. It turned out to be the best decision that she ever made in the whole debacle that was her life. This girl sat there and listened to her whole sob story from beginning to end.

By the time she was finished, she was just about weeping all over again. Thankfully, this complete stranger (clearly sent from heaven) who she learned was named Emily happened to be in the market for a new room mate and decided to take pity upon her soul.

Since then, they had become best friends and totally inseparable. They were like platonic soulmates, sisters in arms and it was always them against the world no matter what happened. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by an excited high-pitched squeal. Clearly, Emily had found something good. She was standing by the jewellery cases and waving her over.

Curiosity good and piqued, she decided to go and see what Emily found. When she got to the counter, Emily was holding two pendants in her hand.

"Look Magpie! Aren't these bad ass or what?" She exclaimed excitedly.

She had to admit that the pendants did in indeed look very bad ass.

One pendent was made up of some kind of of ruby-like red stone set in what looked like a gold sun on a gold chain with the astrological sign for Leo engraved into the centre of it in gold. The other pendant had some kind of blue opal like stone set in something that looked like waves going around it on a silver chain with the astrological sign for Cancer engraved into it in silver instead of gold.

The two pendants looked like they belonged together like they were a matching set or something. She had never seen anything like them before in her whole life. They were very odd.

She picked up the Cancer pendant from the palm of Emily's hand and realized that the gem had something ornate sticking out the bottom of it that resembled some kind of a weird key.

As she continued to examine the weird key-pendant in her hand, a strange feeling jolted through her entire body from the top of her head all the way to the bottom of her feet.

Looking at Emily, it was clear that she just experienced the same thing.

Why in the HELL did it feel like she was holding Pandora's Pendant in the palm of her hand?