Author Note: So this is all a work in progress, as in - I'm mostly writing this as I go with no solid plan ahead, but this is mostly for my own benefit. As an overall note, this will have violence and sexual themes for later chapters, most of the beginning chapters will be as a set up, with a bit of campiness (we'll see ;] ) and some OC-ness too (but not in the way that is most often done[as in OC gets with a canon character :P which I'll refuse to do unless I see an interest in it but more than likely it's not gonna happen]) this is mostly because I don't like things to be just thrown together, then again I can be hypocritical...so there's that. To whomever decides to read this, thank you. :)

Running to the Sea

I could hear them howling from afar
I saw them rushing to your car
In a moment all went screaming wild
Until the darkness killed the light.

-Röyksopp

Ch.1

Things were very different now. In ways she guessed that it was going to turn out this way but never this much of a change. How could people just change and not think twice about what that meant? But she couldn't simply blame all the changes on her friends, that wouldn't be fair of her. Friendship was a two way street. And no one seemed to be following the rules. Including her.

It started with school, at first, then it was her job, and finally it was the first realization that she didn't feel like she was the main character in her own life. It happened so quickly and innocently. Like those thoughts spoken in a whisper so that you weren't terrified of how much volume it held. But it had creeped it's way into her mind. It would find her in the halls of the college, when she studied in the library, and it lulled her to sleep at night. But it wasn't just her fault. All her friends decided to do their own things and go their own ways. How was she supposed to combat that? Elena would go from blatantly ignoring her homework to binge studying. And Bonnie decided that school wasn't helping her cope with the loss of her father and her status as an anchor, so she left to find herself. At least this time they were able to keep in touch and she was very much alive when they saw her off. Caroline liked to fancy the idea that she was the glue that held everyone together but it was really Bonnie. She was the one that kept the gang together. When she was dead and no one but Jeremy knew about it Elena and Caroline barely spoke. Could anyone blame her though, Elena and Damon were inseparable and that was a package deal that she couldn't deal with for any extended period of time. True, Elena was her friend and she would always love her but things were starting to get more complicated faster than she cared for. How was a girl supposed to handle school, work, and a social life while still keeping up with her friends? The truth was college was much harder than Caroline thought. She usually passed her classes, fought off badies while orchestrating parties and club activities, and balance enough time for her and Tyler.

Life wasn't fair. Caroline would be the first to tell anyone that...but dammit she was tired of everything! Why couldn't she just skip classes and find a way to Miami with a handsome stranger to keep her company? But she refused to think along those lines for longer than a minute. Who was she kidding, she was Caroline Forbes! And Caroline wasn't someone who met a challenge with regret and a turned back. She fixed things she got through them. With that in mind she sent Elena a simple text: "Hey! How've you been?" She was about to add more but decided against sending a wall of text to her after they hadn't talked for such a long time. They had slowly distanced themselves- not on purpose of course, becoming those roommates that only saw each other in passing or when the other was sleeping.

The door to her dorm room swung open in a wide arc, hitting the wall with a loud bang. Caroline forced herself to stay still and not cringe at the thought that her newer roommate would break something. After their first year at college, after things seemed to eerily calm down, and it didn't look like Bonnie was going to come back, they reluctantly acquired a new roommate. Oddly enough she went by Foxy Moxie, Caroline still didn't know her last name- well, didn't care enough to really snoop around to find it. Moxie walked into the room holding a cardboard box and various other bags filled with art supplies. No matter how many times Caroline chastised the other girl she would leave her stuff everywhere. It wasn't her art supplies that frustrated her the most, omitting the various jars of muddy liquid in random places. Or the fact that there would always be small amounts of white paint in random places, like on her favorite blouse. She was still seething about that and it had been a month since it happened. No, the most annoying aspect of her roommate was her clothes and belongings laying around everywhere. It was a match made in dormitory hell, Caroline the clean and organized and Moxie the messy and chaotic. She was beginning to wonder if all artists were like this. Except maybe Klaus. She froze in her chair, where the hell did that thought come from? Since she saw him last she banished all thoughts of guys, exes, and past flings to a corner in her mind where they couldn't torment her with guilt or any other emotion from finding her. And she liked it that way. She had successfully staved off any guy that even attempted to get involved with her.

Since becoming single, she had discovered some things about herself that she hadn't thought or noticed before. Like how she had always felt like she needed to be wanted instead of wanting herself. She wasn't as confident as she made everyone believe. She had a lot of insecurities and flaws, but that was good- it made her human...or more human at least.

"CRSSH! Earth to Caroline! We can't seem to detect life. Do you read me? Hellllooo, Captain!" Moxie was a foot from Caroline's face, her voice sounding like an old Sci-Fi show. She tossed her bright pink hair over her shoulder. "Good you're alive! Was just wondering if you'd be up for maybe modeling for me. My teacher said we had to start finding models outside of class time to practice." Moxie walked over to her side of the room and picked up a few of her shirts off the ground. "Oh and I almost forgot, there's a wicked rave, would you be interested?"

Caroline blinked a few times. And people always thought that she was bad at over talking. Before her roommate could continue on Caroline spoke up, "Hey, yeah- sorry, I zoned out for a few seconds. And why me? Why not Elena? Or any of your other friends..." Caroline didn't have time to simply just sit and do nothing for a few hours. She had homework and tests to study for, not to mention lines to memorize, the articles she had to write for her job at the school's paper, and a group project in her bio class. She couldn't just stop doing everything and...sit.

Moxie found a shirt she deemed acceptable, striped her current one off, and placed it on her lean frame. The girl could've been a runway model. Moxie was 6'2" with sharp green eyes and a symmetrically angular face. Not to mention she was thin and all legs. But she was also a gifted painter. Her paintings were simply beautiful and breath taking, causing the viewer to take a new appreciation to the human figure. Caroline tried not to notice Moxie's amazing talents, it always sent a little tremor to the back of her mind and she'd rather leave those thoughts to their slumber. Caroline had never modeled for something like a painting. Moxie's class didn't use clothed models either, and Caroline didn't really like the idea of sitting around their dorm naked while someone stared at her. But it was for art and she didn't see too much harm in it. She supposed it wouldn't hurt, as long as it didn't interfere with her work.

"Hey, man, my other friends ditch out every time I get them to do simple things, helping with homework isn't gonna be any different." Moxie was now clearing a space for all her painting supplies on her cluttered desk. Shoving things into boxes that she kept as storage. Caroline let out a sigh that said she was reluctant in what she was about to say, "Fine, I'll do it but you've got to promise me that no one's going to see it other than your class, or be put up in a gallery somewhere okay? I don't need this to pop up later in my life. And I can't sit for hours on end I have things to do."

"Slow down, brown cow! It's cool, we haven't put anything from this class up in the halls. And we paint in increments of 20 minutes with 10 minute breaks so you'll be fine. And I'm not gonna paint for more than 2 hours each session. But this is for our midterm and so I'm gonna need you to do 3 sessions." Moxie saw the look on her face and quickly remedied the situation, "I can pay you for your time, and work with your schedule." She then plastered her face with an over exaggerated sad pout. "Pweesseee Caroline!" Caroline looked at her and rolled her eyes in a somewhat playful manner, "Fine! But you can pay for my cover fee at the rave and for my drinks...for the next two times we go as well." The pink haired woman jumped up and down with joy, "Yay! It's a deal!" Moxie went back to setting up her paints and things while Caroline went back to her studies. Since Moxie introduced her to the idea of a rave, Caroline found she was going to them more and more. She was surprised that she liked them so much. It certainly wasn't something she normally did, or even thought about doing before meeting Moxie. But there was something freeing about them, she could let go and enjoy herself. She didn't have to worry about other people, how they felt, if they were in danger, all she had to do was let go and feel the music take her to a place where it was all about her. And that was more rewarding then she had thought. Moxie was slowly working her way into Caroline's heart.