Disclaimer: ABC doesn't come up with extended metaphors, but they do own Once Upon a Time.

Emma's life had always been like a game of chess.

When she was little, she had been nothing more than a pawn – a thing with no control over her own life. She had been in so many families, so many homes, all of them full of other pawns – children who had learned long ago that happy endings were a far off thought. That sooner or later, the king and queen would get tired of them, and they would be sent into the field of battle with social workers and briefcases and then a new king and queen to fight for.

As soon as she could, she left, and she became a queen, ruler of her own chessboard, her own life. She didn't care about what other people – other pieces who infringed upon her board – wanted her to do. She was the queen. Not any of the foster mothers or social workers she had met with when she was younger.

But then she found a king, somebody who was just as alone as she was. She loved him. She trusted him.

In the end, all he did was turn her back into a pawn – something easily used, then easily disposed of when there was no longer any need for her. She had fallen off her throne, and landed into a tiny cell.

It took her years to become an almost-queen again. She was not as powerful she had been before, but she had a little chessboard to call her own – a flat, an adorable yellow car, and a job.

(And a son, but she tried not to think about him because it brought back too many regrets and might have beens).

Then, the son she tried not to think about found her, and persuaded her to come with him. He tried to tell her she was a knight, but he didn't understand. She had been a pawn, a queen – but she wasn't a knight.

So she went to the town – Storybrooke, a funny name, an odd name, like something gout of a fairy tale. She didn't plan to stay. Standing still was never the best strategy, because then you found yourself trapped into a corner with responsibilities and friends and the ability to get hurt. Then you're trapped even more and checkmate – you're crushed. But then she realized there was another queen in this game – a black queen on the opposite side of the board – and that the prize of this game was her son. Suddenly, the price of leaving seemed too high to pay.

So she stayed, and she actually broke the curse like her son had said she would, but she still wasn't a knight. She was just a pawn in this game, in Gold's game, and had been before she was even born. All she did was play the part that was meant for her, and nothing more.

No, that's wrong. It wasn't her part to have a son, to love him, to be sheriff…that was all her. And it wasn't Gold who gave her the power of True Love.

Her life had been a game of chess, but it wasn't until she got to Storybrooke that she finally realized what piece she was meant to be. She wasn't a pawn, or a queen. She wasn't a knight. She wasn't even a piece on the board.

She was just Emma.

Thanks for reading everybody!