Brandishing in self defense is often an excellent thing to do that prevents the basic crime and does it without actually discharging the firearm, thereby avoiding any injury to anybody. Indeed, research by John Lott and others has shown mere brandishing without discharging the weapon prevents the basic crime in about 95% of the cases.
In North Carolina you will be prosecuted.
The theory is that if you were really afraid for your life, you would have fired.
I think that is stupid as it could cause one to fire when firing was not really the correct thing to do but NC defense law is full of traps.
Firing a warning shot is also frowned upon and will get you prosecuted.
Warning shots are a bad idea anyway...There are two possibilities, neither of which is predictable. They are: He will run (desirable) or he will shoot back (not desirable).