"You made a very valid point," Shiller said, "Just based on your temperament, or your methods of doing things, it can't be determined that you aren't Damian. After all, falling from a tall building is a truly terrifying experience. In those brief seconds, it can entirely destroy a person's personality, causing them to change their character out of fear.
"You were provoked by Neway, wanting to seek an explanation from your father. Although somewhat irrational, considering your age, it's not unacceptable."
"Then why exactly?!"
"Because of love."
"What?"
"You don't love Batman." Shiller looked at Damian and said, "Not just you. Batman won't love anyone who doesn't love him. In other words, he only gives love to those who love him."
Damian seemed to have been hit on the head, standing there stunned and silent for a while. Shiller picked up his cup and took a sip of water, then said, "Those Batman loves might have all sorts of flaws, even possibly greater than those you display. They might cause trouble, make mistakes, complain, and get angry. However, because they love Batman passionately, Batman will also love them and tolerate these flaws.
"Conversely, someone perfect, without any flaws, never making mistakes, doing everything possible, yet if they don't love Batman, Batman won't invest too much energy on them."
"Why?" Damian couldn't help but ask, "Why is it like this?"
"Because Batman is very aware that his love is limited." Shiller pondered and said, "He has too many things to consider, too many things he wants to do. He doesn't have that much time to invest emotions in others, and because of personal experiences, he doesn't have that much emotion to invest. Therefore, he must weigh carefully and cannot waste it arbitrarily.
"Allocating love based on ability or character is unreliable. Because everyone needs emotional compensation, investing emotion requires reciprocation; otherwise, it will lead to pain ultimately. To not increase his pain without reason, the best method is to measure his investment by the other person's input.
"If you don't love him, he won't love you either. Always staying rational, never investing an extra ounce. I believe your situation is just like that. It's normal for you to feel resentment, and it's understandable for you to lose your temper. But this is built on the foundation that you don't love him, so naturally, he won't be understanding or tolerant."
Shiller sighed and continued, "It's not just Batman. It applies to anyone. If you don't love someone, then any negative emotions you express, any mistakes you make in front of them, they have no obligation to provide any reaction. Because you haven't invested emotions in them, they don't have to invest in you. It's equivalent exchange, very reasonable."
"But... but..." Damian stammered for a while, then said, "No, according to what you said, Joker loves Batman so much, Batman should love him in return?"
"How do you know Batman doesn't love him? Batman wouldn't constantly think about rescuing him if he didn't love him?"
Damian was stunned again. Actually, Shiller didn't know Batman's attitude towards Joker in this cosmos, but judging from other Batmans, one can't say Batman doesn't love Joker.
However, the love referred to here is not romantic love. It encompasses all forms of affection, including familial love, friendship, or universal love.
Batman's feelings towards Joker certainly include universal love. He wishes to save him. Even if it's because he wants to save everyone, including Joker, one cannot say this isn't love.
Nonetheless, precisely because Batman's investment in Joker has always been universal love, similar to his savior sentiment towards others, Joker remains unsatisfied. He desires Batman's special love, exclusive to him alone, not even shared with Robin or Catwoman. It must be unique and unmatched love.
However, evidently, Batman can't give it. In fact, no one can give it. Thus, they are forever a pair of unfortunate lovers, entangled all the way to the ends of the earth.
"Then how do I... how can I show that I love him?"
Shiller looked puzzled and said, "Love doesn't need to be shown. When you love someone, you need to make an effort to restrain yourself from acting too excessively. If you need to try hard to appear as though you love someone, then you don't love them."
Damian clearly was bewildered. Shiller thought for a moment and said, "Don't you remember how you did it before?"
"I..." Damian stood there stunned again, like a system crash. After a while, he slowly stood up and said, "Batman is right."
"Sorry, what?"
"Someone meddled." Damian said, "I can only remember what I did before, but I don't remember how I felt at the time."
Shiller squinted his eyes, "Can you elaborate a bit?"
"You asked me to recall what I used to do, so I started to think about what I've done with Batman. We've done a lot together. Besides the daily routines, we've been through many adventures.
"For example, once we went to fight crime. The process was thrilling, and when Batman was in danger, I pulled him up with a hook. Then we successfully subdued the criminal. Batman praised me as a good assistant."
Shiller also noticed something was off. Damian described the situation quite clearly, but the problem was, there was no emotion in his tone.
Given their relationship, being both biological father and son as well as mentor and apprentice, and detective and assistant, Damian should have been very worried in such dangerous situations, but it was completely unnoticeable. Also, subduing a criminal is something worth rejoicing over, yet there was no fluctuation in Damian's tone. Moreover, what should have truly moved Robin was Batman praising him. If it were any of those few from the Prime Universe, even if they appeared restrained and acted as if they didn't care externally, they couldn't hide the pride in their tone.
Even Prime Universe Jason, who also experienced death and revival, could perfectly mimic the situation, scene, and Batman's tone when he mentioned how Batman praised him for learning quickly just two months into being his assistant. Such a small thing, he could go on about it for several minutes, being modest then proud, proud then modest again.
But Damian was completely different. His description was straightforward and emotionless, without any unnecessary rambling. This was clearly abnormal.
No matter how restrained or unwilling to be verbose a person is, when describing an important or exciting moment, it's hard to avoid using some emotional modifiers by instinct like "simply," "finally," "almost," "quickly," etc. It's an instinctual behavior that's hard to completely avoid.
If Damian was normal, he would describe this part likely not exaggeratedly, but possibly like: "We went to fight crime, and at that time it was extremely dangerous; Batman almost got shot, but luckily I reacted quickly, pulled out the hook, and pulled him up. Thankfully, we successfully subdued the criminal afterward. Batman even praised me as a good assistant."
"It seems this is the key," Shiller said, "Memory consists of two parts. One part is the memory of the situation at the time, which is what you've described. The other part is the feeling, which is the emotion in your heart when this happened. The person who revived you likely erased the latter part.
"But they might not have deleted it entirely, perhaps they erased the good parts, leaving only the bad parts. Let's conduct a test."
Shiller thought for a moment, then said, "I've heard Batman mention that he was present when you died. Your death is somewhat related to him, isn't it?"
Damian pursed his lips, obviously reluctant to answer, but eventually nodded. Shiller continued, "You also think your death is related to him. You remember the event itself, and the emotion when you fell. But do you remember your feelings when you saw Batman rushing to save you?"
Damian recalled for a moment, then his expression slowly cracked. He shook his head and said, "No, I don't remember it at all."
Clearly, he had realized too. As a child, particularly one in danger after being kidnapped, it's impossible not to feel excitement in the moment of seeing your father arrive to save you. It's human nature. As long as the mind is normal, there can't be no reaction at all.
But Damian just couldn't remember it. He remembered the event, remembered Batman coming to save him, remembered the conversation between him and Joker, but completely didn't remember what he felt in the moment Batman appeared.
Yet he remembered clearly what he felt the moment he fell.
First was fear, after all, falling from such a high building spelled certain death. Damian was afraid of dying. Secondly was blame, because at that time Batman was furious, pushed Joker, and Joker took the opportunity to let go, causing Damian to fall. It's impossible not to have resentment—why did you push him?
In other words, if you could push him, why couldn't you just subdue him? This was clearly an irrational act of folly.
"Then you may have forgotten more," Shiller said, "The moment you fell, you might have felt resentment, as Batman indeed did something wrong. But you might also have felt worry, like worrying about Batman's self-blame. Or feelings of guilt, thinking you shouldn't have run outside and gotten caught by Joker. There might also have been reluctance, feeling regret that you might never see your father again.
"But all of these were erased, with only resentment left. Hence, you can't rebuild any love towards Batman. All the good times you had become dry procedural logs. The love and warmth you experienced can't be recalled at all. Only the bad impressions from conflicts and confrontations remain. How can you love again?"
Shiller lightly tapped the table, then said, "I'm afraid others are the same. After revival, there's no way to reestablish love towards the others, while hate is amplified. Thus, they all chose to stand against the Justice League."
"But that's not right," Damian spoke again, "That's indeed how I am, but what about The Flash's parents? How could they have any grudge against their own young son? And that PhD, his death shouldn't be related to his friends, right?
"Moreover, that pilot died for his girlfriend, and he didn't seem to hold any resentment but rather an indifferent attitude. Why is that?"
"Their emotions may not necessarily be directed at the Justice League, they could be against the world instead," Shiller spread his hands, "The Allen couple died due to a home invasion robbery, and they may blame society for that. As for Dr. Erdel, there's no need to mention further, he was persecuted to death by some government departments. Steve, having gone through war, naturally is prone to PTSD. Once his mind is filled with horrific battlefield scenes, he might wish for the world to end immediately. The same goes for others, doesn't it?"