A/N: A 221B is a ficlet told in 221 words with the final word commencing with the letter 'B'. I assume this excludes author notes and titles, otherwise I've failed the challenge miserably! I used the Doc Manager word count which assures me the story text is 221 words :D

Just a tiny idea that I had in my head, but I thought I'd restrict myself to this format because I have far too many ongoing writing projects. I enjoyed this little diversion immensely, and I hope you will too!

-elbafo

Tueuse

Her voice floated through the thick fog. He knew it, but there was something wrong with the cadence.

"Tu te souviens de moi, ou bien t'as effacé de ton fichu palais mental tout ce qu'on a vécu ensemble?"

That sounds better, he thought. Fichu palais mental? She'd said that before, too. But everything we'd experienced? Was she talking about leaning her full-body weight into that insurgent's windpipe, or shoving snow into the female double-agent's mouth until she suffocated? Or... oh... that experience.

They'd worked together—perhaps they'd shared some physical comfort during a particularly harrowing ordeal. They were stuck in a stakeout for two weeks, plus another month to find base-camp. How did she find him? He'd posed as Altamont, an Irish-American; she was a French freelance agent, assigned by Mycroft's minions.

But why did she care? She had walked away at the end of the Scandanavian part of his mission without so much as an Adieu.

She reverted to English once more. Sherlock struggled to open his eyes. The voice was all wrong again, but eerily familiar. She called him—he could just make out her silhouette as she spoke. "And you don't tell John," she said softly.

Marie, he thought, before his vision blurred.

-oOo-

Author's Note:

Thanks to the lovely Lucy36 who provided the French translation and the wonderful French title, Tueuse, which means "Killer" by the way.

The English translation for Marie's comment is something like, "Do you remember me, or have you deleted everything we experienced together from that freaking mind palace of yours?"

Did you get that Marie's new identity is Mary Watson? It was so hard to not include everything I originally thought of, and I don't know if people are familiar enough with the words Mary uttered to Sherlock as he is slipping in and out of his morphine-induced state in HLV. This is just a naughty bit of history for them then :)