i like to think that even if keith did became the black paladin, he will still have a stronger connection with the red lion, so imagine they are on a mission and in the middle of a fight, lance, being the only one who isn’t on his lion because of course he offered to cover up for everyone so they could get to their own, suddenly has his bayard kicked away from his hands, leaving him defenseless and asking for help, only everyone is too busy to do something about it, then he’s literally about to get killed when red appears in front of him and beats the shit out of everyone, letting him in and flying back to the castle to get blue but just when he’s about to ask “how did you do that?” lance hears keith’s voice like if red was talking to him saying “thanks, buddy”