Normally, Dawn would have stopped there, wouldn't have wanted to elaborate on things that were still too painful even after things were back to normal or whatever passed for it. But now, in her dream, the pain was dull and distant and it felt almost cathartic to say it.
"After they bled me to open the portal and Buffy died to save me." It has to be blood, she thinks she remembered Spike saying, although she's quite sure she'd never actually heard him speak those words. "After I served my purpose, I guess. Everyone just assumed the energy had left. I guess I did too."
That wasn't entirely true. She let herself be swept up in the current of believing what everyone else believed, but she knew different. The power didn't feel like it used to, and it certainly didn't roll against her skin like it did when Glory was near, like calling to like, begging to be used, but it was still there, a tiny flickering flame deep within her, smoldering and biding its time. More and more Dawn was beginning to think that time was coming.