story idea based on some conversation with @vyr

a demon who was sent to corrupt a little outpost of the church finds a paladin who easily saw through her disguise... only to ask her for help with the fact that she's lesbian/trans/both. so they talk (and do more than talk), and live in this uneasy truce. the demon doesn't try to corrupt things *too* much, and the paladin doesn't reveal who she is.

then, one day, the paladin is gone. the demon asks around in her mortal disguise for what happened, and discovers that the paladin's been discovered by the church, shipped off to be 'corrected'/tried/executed.

but, somehow, her sword was left behind. and the demon takes it up, and its enchantments of light yield to her. and the demon reflects on something the paladin told her: that unlike most of the holy swords, hers was special. it only kills monsters. she draws it across the back of her hand, experimentally. no blood.

but oh, does it draw blood from those that stand between her and her journey to rescue the paladin.

but not the paladin herself, during their confrontation. she'd been broken, twisted against herself, made to believe she was a monster that could only find salvation in destruction. but when the demon brings her sword to her neck, nothing happens. not even the slightest scratch. and the demon implores her to *remember*, to remember what they shared, the love they had. to remember that she's not a monster.

and the impossibly-bright halo shatters, the searing armor fades, and the paladin collapses in to the arms of the demon, of the only person who ever truly knew her.

and together, they find their freedom.