Starting in on disc 2, we return to Garnet and Steiner aboard the cable car at South Gate just in time to arrive at the summit. We've got some time to kill while we wait for the car down the other side of the mountain to arrive, so we do a little shopping and chat with the locals until we bump into Cinna and Marcus, which naturally gets Steiner riled up again just as he was starting to loosen up a bit. Marcus is on his way to Treno, following a lead on a special medicine called Supersoft that could save Blank, and is just as curious about what we're up to. Garnet gets indignant when Marcus suggests that she ditched Zidane as soon as he wasn't useful to her anymore, and says that she left him because he was treating her like a child. The conversation is interrupted, though, by an obstacle on the tracks: a demon with a pointy hat.
Yes, Black Waltz #3 is still alive, albeit it much worse for wear. He's too far gone to respond with anything but repetition of his orders when Garnet tries to interrogate him, and attacks. Marcus joins us for the fight, and #3 has somehow acquired a new set of even better gear for us to steal since he became a hobo. I guess the cable car passengers throw out a lot of stuff. He's also learned a new spell called Freeze, which paralyzes one of your party members for a few turns, and will insta-kill them if they're hit with a melee attack while frozen. On the plus side, this lets Steiner do some pretty sick damage with his Minus Strike, which deals damage equal to his lost HP, and the Waltz goes down easily after a few of those.
Marcus informs Garnet that Burmecuia was wiped out by an army of soldiers that looked like the Waltz, to which Garnet somberly replies, "I know...," but Steiner's still in denial that his queen could have had anything to do with the attack.
Steiner's world view is made up of a combination of Black-and-White Morality and Alexandria-Centered Morality. Steiner knows the difference between right and wrong, but in his mind, Alexandria is good, and the very notion that his queen or country could be doing something evil is unimaginable. Steiner's black and white views have been getting challenged by his time in Zidane's company, and his time in Lindblum has challenged his view of Alexandria as the greatest kingdom in the world, but he still can't bring himself to believe that Alexandria could be doing something wrong, even in the face of this mounting evidence. Marcus calls him out on his stubbornness, and another argument seems to be brewing until Garnet puts her foot down. Garnet has accepted the reality that her mother is committing serious crimes, but her belief that her mother will stop if Garnet can just talk to her is just as willfully blind as Steiner's.
Garnet decides to go along with Marcus to get the medicine, since she wants to help Blank, too, and she and Steiner were already planning to pass through Treno on their way to the castle. Oddly, the road on the Alexarian side of the mountain is also guarded by Lindblum soldiers, even though South Gate and its extensions are supposed to be a monument to the friendship between the two nations, and there's no indication that it's unusual for the entire place to be staffed solely by Lindblum troops.
Treno, aka the Dark City, aka the City of Nobles, aka fantasy Las Vegas (what's with cities in this game having static weather patterns?), is a short walk from South Gate. Steiner and Marcus immediately get into an argument, as Marcus plans to steal the medicine rather than buy it, and Garnet just sort of... leaves while they're talking. Good plan, princess. I mean, it's not like you're a young, attractive girl wandering around alone at night in a city full of thieves, thugs, and hedonistic nobles who hold themselves above the law or anything.
Controlling Steiner, we eventually catch up to Garnet in the auction house, where she caught a glimpse of Kuja on a balcony and thought she recognized him, but couldn't remember from where. After that, we catch up to Marcus at the town inn, where Baku has located the Supersoft, and Garnet insists on coming along on the job, much to Steiner's frustration. Cutting to the auction house, we see Kuja chatting with the auctioneer about his plans to invade Cleyra, and making vague references to a delivery. He also starts referring to Garnet as his canary, a reference to the Romeo and Juliet-esque play from the beginning of the game: I Want to Be Your Canary.
Steiner, meanwhile, is having another mental crisis. He's assisting thieves in committing a crime in the name of protecting the princess; another blow to his stark world view that he can only reconcile wit his actions by filing them away as his "duty," and reminding himself to trust in the queen. Baku accused Steiner of having no thoughts of his own, but Steiner tells himself that it's not true; it's simply that the queen's thoughts are too high above his capacity as a lowly knight to understand. He has to believe that there is an explanation that can reconcile his world view with the events unfolding around him, even if he can't understand the explanation: it's practically religious.
The place we're breaking into turns out to be the back of the Treno synth shop, but no sooner have we started searching for the Supersoft than we're discovered by a short man with a gigantic nose. Marcus is about to jump him, when Garnet cuts him off. The little man is Doctor Tot, Garnet's royal tutor, and he sends the group off with directions to meet up with him later. Tot lives in a tower where he's setup an observatory, including a massive globe of the planet, Gaia. He and Garnet reminisce over their lessons when she was a child, including a lecture about the mysterious tribe of summoners who disappeared 500 years ago. Well, obviously that's not an important plot point for later, especially considering that Garnet is herself a summoner. Garnet has had the Summon command and a few spells already learned from the beginning of the game, but their MP costs are so high that she hasn't been able to cast any of them so far.
After hearing our story, and giving Marcus the Supersoft, Tot leads us to an ancient subway station called Gargan Roo that will take us all the way back to Alexandria Castle. The place is named after the gargant, a gigantic insect that serves as the transport by hauling a trolley that hangs from its back while it clings to the ceiling. The insect is stopped with food so we can board, then takes off again once it's finished eating, carrying us all the way back to Alexandria, but not before Tot warns Steiner that he could put Garnet's life at risk if he doesn't start thinking for himself.
Of course, nothing can be that easy, and our trip is interrupted by a giant worm monster blocking the tunnel. The monster uses poison and slow effects, plus Blizzara and physical attacks, and runs away before I can kill it, thereby virtually guaranteeing that I'll have to fight it again at some point.
Arriving in Alexandria, we find ourselves beneath the castle, and soon after, trapped in a cage thanks to Steiner wasting time accusing Marcus of being responsible for the trap being sprung rather than, you know, getting out of the way. Zorn and Thorn appear to gloat, and to further strain Steiner's already fracturing world view when they reveal that the queen sent them to arrest the group and bring Garnet to her, whether she likes it or not.
