Zuko hung, suspended from the ceiling by chains manacled to his wrists. His feet don't touch the floor. He has been there for almost three days, with his only visitors being the gangly freak that comes by daily to interrogate him. He had been captured while he had been scouting out the area around their campsite, and had strayed farther from it than he had intended to.
While wandering through the woods, he had been ambushed by Fire Nation soldiers, all of them benders. He had been forced to flee deeper into the woods, hoping to lead them further away from the Avatar and his friends. It was then that he realized that he had been led into a trap. He had burst into a clearing to find himself surrounded on all sides by Firebenders, soldiers as well as Yu Yan Archers. He had put up a fight, hoping to make enough noise to warn the others of the threat before he was brought down by six arrows, 4 pinning his clothes to a tree while two pierced his right shoulder and left upper arm.
After that he was knocked unconscious, and awoke in his current situation. That was three days ago. During that time he hadn't eaten or had anything to drink and had barely slept, unless you counted falling unconscious as sleeping.
Anyway, back to his 'interrogation'. It occurred daily and consisted of a tall freak asking him questions about the Avatar before inflicting varying levels of pain upon him, usually using different mediums to accomplish it. So far, he had been branded on his left forearm with the word "TRAITOR"; he had been whipped mercilessly across his back until the skin had split; and he had had various cuts inflicted across his body, each differing in location, length and depth. The worst was a deep cut that followed the path of one of his ribs on his right side. It stretched from his spine, all the way around to the center of his stomach. But he had not said a word to him. His only response to the questions and the torture had been a pained smirk and the occasional cackle.
His mind began to stray towards the others: Aang, Toph, Sokka, Suki, and Katara. He knew that they had escaped, they wouldn't be questioning about the Avatar if they had him in custody. He hoped that Aang was keeping up with his Firebending practice and not falling behind just because his teacher had been captured.
As he thought these things, he heard the sound of his cell door being unlocked. He painfully raised his head and leveled a glare at the person entering. His interrogator. "Good afternoon, Prince Zuko. It's time for you to answer some questions. Where is the Avatar?" Zuko's only response was to spit blood at the torturer's feet. The man's face became a blank mask, devoid of emotion. "I see that you are still choosing to be uncooperative, Prince Zuko. A pity. I guess I shall have to motivate towards speaking. Oh, well." He walked over to a lever on the far wall and used it to lower Zuko until he was kneeling on the floor. He then reached into his leather apron and removed another branding iron, a different one to the first. This one read, "FAILURE". The man began to heat it using Firebending. He then slowly applied it to Zuko's right forearm, pressing it down firmly. Zuko held in screams of pain, gritting his teeth in a savage snarl. The man eventually removed the branding iron, leaving a bright red cop in its place on his arm. He then said, "I'll leave you to contemplate that and we will continue the questioning later." He turned around and left the cell, locking the door behind him. Zuko was left in darkness and pain.