Fandom: World of Warcraft
Pairing: Garrosh Hellscream & Thrall & Male OC [Platonic/Familial]
Rating: Mature
Content: PTSD, Self-harm, Vague references to past abuse, Orcish bloodlust
Date written: 4th September 2019
Summary: He wasn’t able to process anything other than the memories that invaded his mind, and when he thought he’d beaten his mind at it’s own game and distracted himself with his father’s voice and purring, they came back in full force.

He didn't want to wake up screaming again.

Author's notes: This is a fanfic in which my half-orc OC Emmerich has been adopted by Thrall. He is 18 in this fic, and this is set in an AU in which Garrosh didn't go absolutely apeshit as Warchief LMAO. Really self-indulgent stuff. Like most of my writing. lmfao.

Also orcs purr. Because I said so. And Garrosh is kinda like Ememrich's uncle.

Tendrils of darkness slithered around his blurry vision. He felt numb, but the looming feeling of his inevitable doom was creeping closer into his mind, into his heart and his lungs, and into his very bones. He could see images of things he thought he recognised, thoughts he thought he understood, and memories that he was uncertain were fantasy or reality. He toed the line of consciousness and this dream-like state, between reality and his own mind, not knowing where he was or what he was doing. All he knew was that it all felt horrible. He felt like he was unable to get help, unable to help himself, unable to escape. He panicked as he wandered around aimlessly within this odd world he found himself in, searching for the answers to a question that he'd yet to ask.

Then he saw that monster’s face. It’s smile was sweet and eyes pure, but he knew better. He knew better...he should know better! He should’ve known...

He woke up screaming.

He didn’t realise he was actually awake until he was being squished into the arms of his father, embraced into warmth and a purring chest, being told that ‘everything’s okay now’. It wasn’t enough to chase away the things he’d seen in his dreams- in his memories- and all of the emotions boiled up in his heart and mind and soul, and it came out of him in the form of a guttural howling sound. It wasn’t quite a scream or a growl, but it was something in between. It was grief and pain and torture coming out of his throat, and he was incapable of stopping himself from pounding his skull with his fist, hoping that somehow if he hit his head hard enough that the memories would escape to never bother him again. Thrall quickly stopped him, but Emmerich simply directed his suffering towards him now, almost against his will. He quickly stopped once he realised his movements were being restricted, if only to protect himself more than Thrall.

He wasn’t able to process anything other than the memories that invaded his mind, and when he thought he’d beaten his mind at it’s own game and distracted himself with his father’s voice and purring, they came back in full force, sending him back down a spiral he thought he’d managed to escape.

He could barely register the petting of his hair and the warmth of a large hand on his back that was attempting to soothe him anymore. He almost couldn’t hear or feel the purring anymore either, and he suddenly became terrified that he might be slipping back into that mind-bending dream state that he always hated and felt like he couldn’t escape from. He started to panic.

He felt more than saw the monster coming closer, his vision going almost entirely black, as if to spare him the details of something that he’d already experienced too many times before. His body felt numb and his lungs burned as he struggled to bring enough air inside his ribcage. He felt like he couldn’t breathe, like he was suffocating- or being strangled by someone. He felt pain and he cried out-

“NO!!!”

Emmerich thrashed his entire body around, almost entirely unaware of his surroundings; Unaware of his father’s presence, unaware that he was still awake and alive, unaware that he was no longer being kept in captivity like a mangy dog. All he could comprehend were the memories and thoughts that intruded violently into his mind.

He growled and snapped his jaw, howling and screaming as he threw his fists at anything that dared to come too close. He couldn’t see anything but red- blood. He wasn’t sure if the blood was his own or someone else's, and he couldn’t tell if the blood was from the past or the present, but it covered his entire vision, and sent him into a blind, frothing rage.

He saw a figure in front of him, and this time it was much bigger than anything he’d seen in his memories or nightmares. He let out a piercing howl as he went straight for it, clawing, punching, kicking and biting at it. It did not fight back, but it also did not simply let Emmerich hit it, either. It blocked his punches and kicks, and it kept his jaw away so that flesh could not be ripped off of its body.

Emmerich started to tire as he realised the pointlessness of fighting something bigger than him that would not fight back, and he cried out in frustration and anger and fear.

He was very suddenly pulled into and embrace, and the sheer heat of the arms and chest that he found himself squished against helped to ground him. It was only when he started to feel the familiar rumbling of an orc purring did he start to truly calm down.

He was gently guided to sit down on a nearby surface which Emmerich thought might’ve been his bed, seeing as how it dipped down under his weight, and was kept close to the purring individual.

Ten minutes went by before he realised where he actually was, and who was holding him. He was almost surprised to see that it was Garrosh that had gripped him tight and started purring in order to calm him, but he knew better than to make assumptions about what other people were capable of.

He cried for a long time. Cried because he was exhausted, cried because he'd lost control, and cried over things stolen from him.E

Garrosh's purring was the only thing he could really focus on and hear any more, and he felt relieved for it.

Emmerich still had tears rolling down his cheeks, but with every tear that fell, Garrosh simply wiped it away until the tears eventually stopped. Faintly, Emmerich could hear the purring of another orc in the room. Thrall had sat himself on the other side of Emmerich as Garrosh had essentially restrained the young orc and purred him into submission. He still shivered and quietly sobbed, but the worst of it was over.

He wasn't quite sure he'd be able to get to sleep, but his eyelids were getting heavy and the purring of the other two orcs was too convincing and calming for him to be able to keep his eyes open...besides, he was exhausted after all the emotions he had just experienced...it couldn't hurt to just...

He'd already fallen asleep.

Garrosh decided he wasn't going to leave just because Emmerich had finally been able to go through his emotions and had fallen asleep. He could very well wake up screaming again, and everything that he and Thrall had just done to help the half-orc would've been completely pointless. He would stay, and continue purring for Emmerich until he woke up again, in a much more peaceful manner.

As a distraught Emmerich slept, Garrosh thought he could hear a faint purr from the whelp's ribcage.

End notes: I wrote this in a couple of hours so if it seems like shit, that's cuz it is LMAO