The pulse was more stable now, and Mello was satisfied. He wasn't paying attention to whatever nonsense the blond gurgled. As long as he was speaking, he was breathing, and as long as he was breathing, he'd stay alive. He pulled his hand back from his neck and straightened up, barely resisting the impulse to raise his fingers to his mouth.

The next most important thing was to stop the bleeding, and most of the bleeding seemed to come from the man's forearm. The gauze wasn't stopping much, but once he pressed his hands over the wet fabric, he could feel that the fracture had already been aligned. Why was there so much blood?

Maybe there were different requirements for survival here, he thought as he checked the distal pulse to be sure that blood was making its way through the man's forearm. Maybe this was some kind of proving ground for people who'd lived and died violently. That wouldn't explain L's presence, though, and Tamaki didn't seem to be the type either.

He stood quietly, frowning in thought. Nothing about this made sense.